03-August-2014
Cambridge Folk Festival
 Cambridge, England

Brendan sent in this review
Not being a fan of open air festival concerts largely attended by inebriated talkative audiences,I travelled to Cambridge with no great expectations that this would be any different and it wasn't really despite Van Morrison's best efforts.Starting with Celtic Swing,Van then performed a really nice Little Village before a strong Whenever God Shines His Light brought the crowd to life in a big way.The first real high point followed with Someone Like You being delivered beautifully for the second time in a week after so many years exclusion from set lists.Unfortunately it's delivery also coincided with an outbreak of loud talking and laughing from a particular group of typical festival attendees who were very annoyed at being asked to keep quiet.I really wish these people would stay out at the bar or better still stay at home altogether and let the music lovers enjoy the show in peace!Next up was the highlight of the show for me with a fantastic rendition of Queen of the Slipstream with Van's vocals being complemented beautifully by Shana Morrison's singing.Van brought the band and indeed the audience into overdrive with a thunderous Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm which nearly brought the tent down.Van then informed us that because it was a folk festival he thought he had better play a folk song so he play Dead or Alive which didn't do much much for me I have to say.Normal business was quickly resumed when Enlightenment followed with nice harmonica from Van and a solid version of Rough God Goes Riding but without the infamous Clint Eastwood impression.This left me wondering if Van may be working on some new impressions which he may unleash on us shortly,particularly now that he has discovered that Billy Connolly thinks he is very funny.
At this point the concert went off in a different direction and in footballing parlance it was the classic concert of two halves.We were now transported very much into festival set territory with Playhouse,Days Like This,Moondance,Precious Time(which went down a storm prompting Van to shout "One more time"before leading another chorus)and Real Real Gone merging with You Send Me being delivered in quick succession.I Can't Stop Loving You brought some respite although Shana's vocal contribution midway through was almost totally drowned out by the noisy chattering masses before Van returned to the microphone with a thunderous vocal performance to counteract the audience noise.The inevitable Brown Eyed Girl(ouch!)followed with the singalong crowd in their element.The concert was nearing it's conclusion now and after Help Me was delivered Van thanked the band and left the stage before quickly returning to deliver Gloria.It looked like a fairly predictable ending but there was a surprise in store when Van left the stage as the band cut loose on a 5 minute James Brown style funk routine which was quite magnificent and breathed new life into the standard set closer.
As festival shows go this was one of the better ones but the behaviour of the audiences at such shows continues to be a source of huge annoyance which detracts from the enjoyment for real music lovers and leads artists like Van into tailoring their sets accordingly.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Little Village
Whenever God Shines His Light
Someone Like You
Queen of the Slipstream
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm
Dead or Alive
Enlightenment
Rough God Goes Riding
Playhouse
Days Like This
Moondance
Precious Time
Real Real Gone/You Send Me
I Can't Stop Loving You
Brown Eyed Girl
Help Me
Gloria