28-July-2014
Slieve Donard hotel & Spa
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Brenden sent in this review
This was the second night of Van’s now annual stint at Slieve Donard Resort and the fans travelled in large numbers from such far flung places as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a particularly strong presence from the USA. The level of dedication fromthese fans is highly commendable and it is great to see the level of enjoyment they getfrom seeing Van play live so far from their homelands. Van opened with pretty routine versions of Celtic Swing, Close Enough for Jazz and Back on Top which were enjoyable but no more than that. What happened next was far from routine though with a real rare nugget delivered in Someone Like You whichwas quite beautiful with Shana Morrison spectacularly complementing Van’s vocals. There was much debate afterwards among fans as to the last time Van played this song and I cannot recall hearing it played at any concerts I have attended for at least 20 years. The tempo was then raised as Van powered through Choppin Wood before delivering a sublime Enlightenment.The new arrangement of Baby Please Don’t Go merged with Parchment Farm followed and this was pretty powerful and really worked well. Another surprise followed with the legendary Taj Mahal joining Van for Alabamy Bound and It Takes a Worried Man. As per usual with such collaborations, Van was inhis element for these numbers and played guitar on both. We were then transported into mystical territory with Higher than the World followed by Have I Told you Lately with Van on piano and Shana really shining on what was effectively a duet with Van. The seldom played Cleaning Windows followed which was great to hear again although the arrangement was not quite spot on. A strong Whenever God Shines His Light was followed by pretty nondescript versions of Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance. Van then exercised his vocal chords to great effect on That’s Life before re-entering mystical territory for a magical but somewhat brief version of In the Garden with Van thanking the band and leaving the stage with the No Guru No Method No Teacher chant as the audience cheered wildly. Finally, Van returned one more time to deliver an extended version of Ballerina during which he joked with pianist Paul Moran about legendary film star Mae West and her infamous “come up and see me see me sometime" line before finally leaving the stage allowing the band to exercise their considerable music prowess for a rousing finale much to the delight of the appreciative audience.
-Brendan Hynes


Setlist
Celtic swing
Close Enough for Jazz
Back on Top
Someone Like You
Choppin Wood
Enlightenment
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm
Alabamy Bound with Taj Mahal
Takes a Worried Man with Taj Mahal
Higher Than the World
Have I Told You Lately
Cleaning Windows
Whenever God Shines His Light
Brown Eyed Girl
Moondance
That's Life
In the Garden
Ballerina

27-July-2014
Slieve Donard hotel & Spa
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Los Angeles Times

Van Morrison takes his music home with concert near Belfast

me 400,000 Garth Brooks fans may still be licking their wounds over his aborted concerts in Ireland, which were originally scheduled for this past weekend. But Irish musician Van Morrison gave about 400 of his most devoted followers something worth writing home about Sunday with a rare small-venue show virtually in his own back yard.

At one point, the celebrated singer, composer and lyricist grabbed, of all things, a ukulele, pulled a stool up in front of a microphone stand and sat his compact, stocky frame down, announcing to the audience at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa in Newcastle (not far from his hometown of Belfast), “It’s comedy time again.”

It was a rare ... moment of onstage levity, the kind of revealing drop of his guard that few outside an inner circle of close associates ever get to witness.
-
“This is called 'sit-down comedy' -- it was invented by Billy Connolly,” the 68-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said, a broad grin appearing briefly on his ruddy, round face. “Just so you know I’m legitimate, Billy Connolly says I’m very funny. I’m not going to argue with that.”

It was a rare -- for Morrison especially -- moment of onstage levity, the kind of revealing drop of his guard that few outside an inner circle of close associates ever get to witness.

This was why those looking on had forked over close to $400 a ticket to see Morrison in such an intimate setting. About a quarter of the fans crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S., while another sizable portion came from across Europe for the chance to see the artist sometimes referred to as the Belfast Cowboy virtually in his own back yard, said Howard Hastings, managing director of Hastings Hotels.

Hastings owns the resort and spa where Morrison performed in the first of two nights in the hotel’s swanky ballroom, which was outfitted for the shows with three dozen white linen-draped tables for 10. It's an elegant room that Hastings said normally hosts local tribute bands and other performers who entertain the seaside hotel’s guests.

But Morrison in recent years has adopted it as his home field performance space of choice, using it to prepare for other tour dates or just to comfortably play for local fans. “He likes it because it feels like the blues clubs he started out in,” Hastings said.

Morrison has long been one of pop music’s most cherished figures, an artist prized for decades by fans, critics and his fellow Rock Hall of Famers including -- but hardly limited to -- Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2.

Even then, you knew he's no copyist. There's a lot of people he likes, but there's nobody like him.
- Taj Mahal, musician

But he’s also long been one of pop’s most mercurial and, at times, hermetic figures, one who rarely grants interviews and during his concerts rarely chats with audiences, opting to let his music say whatever he is in the mood to express on any given night.

Dressed in a black fedora, shades and a dark gray suit, Morrison was accompanied on Sunday by his musician daughter Shana, who opened the evening with a three-song set of American country-inspired songs, and an accomplished six-piece band.

Like many of the musicians and writers who influenced him, Morrison has been deeply inspired by where he grew up, and over the decades has sung about the cobblestone streets, the undulating hills and the mystic mists of Ireland.

But like so many other European musicians, he’s also been powerfully drawn to American music and culture, which was reflected Sunday in a rendition of “Rough God Goes Riding,” a song about the loss of heroes. Morrison name-checked a string of Old West outlaws that extended from Jesse James and Billy the Kid through Clint Eastwood, which drew a laugh from fans.

Those fans, Hastings noted, are largely the kind who can spot a nugget such as “Green Mansions” when Morrison reaches deep into his vast songbook, or recognize the first time in years that he’s picked up a guitar to play instead of his more typical blues harmonica or alto sax.

As much as these lighter moments allowed Morrison to figuratively let down his hair, it was the songs in which he invoked the transcendent spirituality at the core of much of his music that was the big payoff.

It was anything but a perfunctory greatest-hits set, with Morrison offering up only a few of his cornerstone numbers near the end of the show. Instead, he opted for gems such as “Queen of the Slipstream,” “So Quiet in Here,” the instrumental “Celtic Swing” and “Whenever God Shines His Light.”

During “In the Garden,” he voiced lyrics that can stand alone as poetry on a par with countrymen such as William Butler Yeats, against a soulful arrangement that equaled the best of one of Morrison's heroes, Ray Charles:

The olden summer breeze was blowing against your face, alright
The light of God was shining on your countenance divine
And you were a violet color as you sat beside your father
And your mother in the garden

The song shifted into a mantra on the phrase “no guru, no method, no teacher,” one of several moments Morrison allowed the music to transport him, and his audience, to another place. At 68, his vocal tone and phrasing is as good or better than ever, and he drew a standing ovation in the 100-plus-year-old hotel.

“I first heard him in the ‘60s, at a show with Aretha Franklin and Dr. John, and I thought then, ‘Who IS this guy?’ ” said 72-year-old blues-folk great Taj Mahal, another Morrison fan who caught Sunday’s show after recently wrapping up his own European tour in Paris. “Even then, you knew he’s no copyist. There’s a lot of people he likes, but there’s nobody like him.”

Morrison historically has danced only to the tunes he calls, but he indulged at least one request Sunday: Hastings noted during his introduction of Morrison that one couple in the house were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

The wife’s name? Gloria.

Morrison closed the show with a roof-raising performance of his career-establishing 1964 hit with Them. Chalk up another win for the hometown fans.
-Randy Lewis

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Back on Top
So Quiet in Here
Rough God Goes Riding
Queen of the Slipstream
Keep it Simple
Too Many Myths
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Sometimes We Cry
Who Can I Turn To
In the Garden
Into the Mystic
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Ballerina
Gloria

22-July-2014
Festival Theatre
 Edinburgh, Scotland

The Herald

SARTORIALLY, Van Morrison seems to be modelling himself on Al Capone these days. Squeezed into a black suit, his face obscured by shades and a fedora, the marquee name at this year's Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival looked like a man wanted by the FBI.

Musically, however, there was no identity crisis. Although nowadays its idiosyncrasies can grate as well as astound, Morrison's voice remains an hugely powerful and versatile instrument, and after hitting his stride with a glorious Queen of the Slipstream there was simply no stopping him.

Aided by a superb six-piece band augmented with Morrison's daughter Shana on backing vocals, even relative obscurities such as the bad-mood blues of Too Many Myths sounded fierce and fresh.

In fact, the notoriously taciturn 68-year-old seemed perilously close to enjoying himself, bantering about Billy Connolly and offering a bizarre impression of Clint Eastwood during a rousing Rough God Goes Riding. As he became lost in the music he jerked his right arm up and down, like a man ringing an invisible bell.

Moondance was long, liquid and mostly instrumental, Morrison setting up some lovely interplay between his sax and Paul Moran's muted trumpet.

He jazzed up Brown Eyed Girl and tore through the old Them hit Baby Please Don't Go with such ferocity the decades simply melted away.

No matter what it said on the stage backdrop, eventually all genre distinctions dissolved.

To finish his two-hour set Morrison conjured up extended versions of In the Garden, Ballerina and Into the Mystic which were simply breath-taking, the final triumph of an artist still finding new ways to transport and be transported.
-Graeme Thomson

Setlist Thanks Mike S.
Celtic Swing
Close Enough for Jazz
Back on Top
So Quiet in Here
Queen of the Slipstream
Keep it Simple
Choppin Wood 
Who Can I Turn To
Philosophers Stone
Too Many Myths
Talk is Cheap
Rough God Goes Riding
Moondance
Brown Eyed Girl
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm
In the Garden
Ballerina
Into the Mystic

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Special Guest: Shana Morrison (Vocals)

17-July-2014
Stuttgart Jazz Festival
 Stuttgart, Germany

TAZ

Many years ago, Van Morrison was badly defamed by an English newspaper. A reporter had dared to give him the attribute "Rock Star". This could not be allowed to sit on Morrison. In an open letter he distanced himself vehemently from such defamation: "For the benefit of the unenlightened it is not my nature to be a rock star. What I am is a singer who does blues, soul, jazz, etc. etc. etc. "And who did not understand, was "taught again” on his reord “What's Wrong with this Picture”: “I'm singing jazz, blues and funk / Baby, that's not rock 'n' roll."

On a bright glowing summer evening at the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart, the visitors of the Jazzopen could see and hear for themselves that Van Morrison's wonderfully weightless music finds its sources rather in the back catalog of Blue Note or in the Mississippi delta than in the classic rock genre. In the first, glorious swinging instrumental "Celtic Swing" each of the six musicians introduced himself with a solo, and repeatedly Morrison himself was playing the saxophone while the beautifully meandering melodies continued.

What Morrison in a mafia-like outfit - black suit, black hat, dark sunglasses – did with his voice, can only be described in the words of Peter Handke: "He has a wonderful feeling," Handke said about Van Morrison, “and then the "what" "and the “how” will become one.": an immense longing, something unutterable transcendent. The "how", the gift to lend words through a fantastic sense for rhythm, modulation, articulation, the quality of an epiphany. Van Morrison is 68 years old and his lyrical, sometimes breathy sometimes shouting voice seems to still have gained force in recent years.

With so much genius there is of course always also something to complain about. Almost every article about Van Morrison concerts includes a small reference: How sullen, moody, rude the little old man behaves on stage! How he throws nasty looks on his fellow musicians and has no eyes and words at all for the audience. It’s true, he did not care a lot about the audience at the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart, although he probably once mumbled something like "Thank you". But who cares? Who says, someone who makes gorgeous music and is blessed by God with a heart-warming voice, should be everybody’s darling.

However, you seemed to have caught quite a good day on the only concert in Germany: Van Morrison had obvious pleasure, the set was perfectly arranged, all the songs grooved, as if the Schlossplatz were a small jazz or blues cellar. The harmonica shouted, the bass strolled, the Hammond organ roared. In short: the musicians played to the point.

Of course, there was no encore. Morrison offered for one and a half hour songs from all phases: "Back on Top”, "Days Like This", "The Philosopher's Stone", "Brown Eyed Girl," "Baby Please Don’t Go" and "Gloria" from Them to "Moondance" and "Whenever God Shines his Light", at times a veritable hit with Cliff Richard, this time presented as a duet with daughter Shana, who somehow fell off as a background singer. Not quite the daddy.
The fact that Morrison quite often conjures up the Lord connects him with the great Mavis Staples, who with her 75 years gave off more energy than the blazing Stuttgart evening sun: drums, guitar, bass, and three very fine accompanying singers - and songs from a time when the Staple Singers marched with Martin Luther King towards a better future: "I'm a living witness," the gospel-Goddess said and intoned Pops Staples' "Freedom Highway". Rough, soulful, enthusiastic. You cannot spend a Thursday evening more beautiful and uplifting.

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
Back On Top
So Quiet In Here
Queen of The Slipstream
Days Like This
Choppin' Wood
Rough God Goes Riding
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm
John Henry
Philosopher's Stone
Lonesome Road
Whenever God Shines His Light
Enlightenment
Moondance
Brown Eyed Girl
In the Garden
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Special Gueust: Shana Morrison (Vocals)

15-July-2014
Stravinski Auditorium
 Montreux, Switzerland

Blues Reissue

Van Morrison at the Montreux Jazz Festival

For over 50 years Van Morrison is now on stage. During this time he has managed to hold despite its polarizing way his audience at bar: Van Morrison released in 2012 with his latest album, "Born to Sing: No Plan B" be a total of 53 work as a solo artist. He remained always faithful to his music, new paths were rarely committed by him. Still, you never know when a concert by Van Morrison what the today 68-year-old musician holds everything and what mood he goes on stage.

In Montreux "Van the Man" is slow in coming. So part of the prelude to the evening concert of his band and singer Shana Morrison, his daughter from his first marriage. This shows the number Julie London "Cry Me A River" which vocal qualities are present in the band.

After three songs then enters the master with his saxophone under great applause the stage. Shana Morrison takes a set further back into place, and leaves her father into the spotlight.

Rare Van Morrison sings about political issues. The Northern Irishman has never considered himself a great protest singer, let alone he ever wanted to stretch his finger warningly. However, in the Auditorium Stravinski sings the 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland-born musician in the song "Open The Door (To Your Heart)" from the new album at the beginning about money, finance and capitalism. Free quotes from the song: "Money does not satisfy you, it is only there to pay your bills."

One is amazed not bad, after having taken a closer look at the stage: The American funk musician and saxophonist Maceo Parker is spontaneously alongside the band members Alistair (trombone, euphonium) and Chris White (sax, clarinet and flute). As this apparently short-term commitment came about, probably few know. For the fans it does not matter, because Parker plays alongside the brothers White a few gifted solos such as in Medley, "It's All In The Game / You Know What They're Writing About / No Plan B".

"In the Garden" from the year 1986, and the acoustically held "Ballerina" from the "Astral Weeks" album of 1968 leaves the fans in the packed auditorium, Stravinski then completely immerse yourself in the world of Van Morrison: And that is not only tormented and angry ("Rough God Goes Riding"), but also dreamy, beautiful sounding and soothing. And because Van Morrison in addition to the instrumental interludes also has this incomparable, demanding voice, this concert is able to touch. Even as the Sonny Boy Williamson Cover "Help Me" then "Van the Man" and his daughter goodbye quietly from the stage.
-Patrice Althaus

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Open The Door (To Your Hear)
Back On Top
So Quiet In Here
Queen Of The Slipstream
What Would I Do
Satisfied
Keep It Simple
Little Village
Who Can I Turn To
Rough Goes Gold Rising
Higher Than The World
Moondance
It's All In The Game/No Plan B/Burning Ground
In The Garden
Ballerina
Help Me

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Special Guest: Shana Morrison (Vocals)
Special Guest: Maceo Parker (Saxaphone)