11-July-2017
Porchester Hall
London, England
Porchester Hall
London, England
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| via Matthew J. |
After experiencing the ‘greatest hits’ at Hampton Court, I was very much hoping that Van would use this concert to depart from those and give us some rarer treats from his fabulous repertoire.
On arrival inside the Hall, it was clear that Van would be show-casing his new CD – Roll With The Punches. Indeed, there were two large display banners either side of the stage, until a few minutes before the concert, to advertise it and to let us know it would be released on 22 September.
A few of the central seats on the front row were reserved. First ‘VIP’ to take their seat turned out to be the sister of Stuart McIlroy, who plays piano on the new album and who was on stage for much of the time. The next (and final) VIP was Lenny Henry and guest, who took their seats just before the lights went down.
“I hope he’s going to remove his f****n hat” whispered my husband, Chris. I don’t think Lenny heard but he did remove his rather natty trilby and then Van and the band came on stage, taking us through the first two familiar numbers of Too Late and Have I Told You Lately.
Van was in chatty mode and told us that his new album would be coming out in September and that this gig was being filmed “for promotional purposes”. He introduced the title track and said the song had been written by Don Black, with Van writing the music. It turned out to be a slow blues number.
He then took us through another six songs from the new album – Bo Diddley’s I Can Tell, a jaunty little ditty that I have seen Van sing at recent gigs, whilst shaking his maracas; Next followed a couple of Van’s songs from the new album. First was, Transformation. Noticeably, this was not a blues number, which is what the majority of the new album will consist of. It sounded to me like he had yet again tweaked the familiar but terrific melody from Tupulo Honey / Crazy Love / Why Must I Always Explain. Next, we got Too Much Trouble – another blues number and one of the better ones that we heard from the new album. These were followed by Bo Diddley’s Right on Josaphine and Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home to Me. Perfectly enjoyable but not necessarily the type of song that I want to hear at a Van Morrison show. For the sixth number, Van welcomed onto stage his “old china plate”, Georgie Fame, to join him for Count Basie’s Goin’ To Chicago, probably the most uninspiring of the songs we had heard so far and, for me, a waste of the duet opportunity.
The last time Chris and I had seen Van Morrison and Georgie Fame on stage together, they ended up playing Symphony Sid. Worried that this gig was going the same way, Chris wasn’t taking any chances, so when there was a pause, he bellowed for Vanlose Stairway. We were only in the second row. Did Van hear? We won’t know, but he turned to his band and instructed them to play Vanlose Stairway. This rendition alone was worth the ticket price and easily the highlight of the night by far. Van played brilliant harmonica and the duet with Fame was sensational. A true feast for the ears! It’s moments like these that make you wonder why Van can’t perform more of his own truly great songs at his gigs? The irony of Van performing a number such as this is that it totally dwarfs the other material. Presumably not the effect which he wishes to produce!
We then came down to earth with a decent version of Sometimes We Cry, with Van chuckling during his pauses. Then the band launched into the immediately recognisable introduction to Fame, which Van introduced as another song from his new album. Just when I was wondering why had Van put this song on his new album when it had already been on What’s Wrong With This Picture?, he told us. He had “re-done it because people didn’t get it the first time” and because his songs weren’t played on the radio so he thought he would release it again. Hmmm, a rather spurious reason for regurgitating what I think is an ordinary song from his back catalogue.
That was it for the new album. Van then trotted out the usual Baby Please Don’t Go medley. Weirdly, during Parchman Farm, he asked if we had heard the song before?!? Hasn’t it appeared on virtually every set list during the past few years?!? Onto Help Me, which was noticeable in its variation through Stuart’s dextrous piano interludes. Unfortunately, it appeared that Van was having a good peer at his stopwatch because Help Me was a somewhat truncated version and, after requesting a big hand for the band, he disappeared off stage at the 70-minute mark. Time had been saved by the non-appearance of BEG and Moondance – no great loss, but it would have been nice to have had something instead. That was not to be. Back he came for a very brief rendition of Gloria, which featured a light-hearted moment when Mez forgot to “Knock Upon My Door”, leaving Van waiting for the drum beat, which didn’t arrive! Van then left the stage for the final time but even the band’s jam was cut short and the house lights came on bringing the concert to a seemingly rather abrupt end at 75 minutes!!! Perhaps Van was paying the film crew by the second?!?
On the way out, I passed a couple discussing how it was a shame that he hadn’t played BEG! For me, perhaps that was one of the reasons why the show was rather better than Hampton Court!!
Clearly, it was interesting to hear songs from the new album but, in my opinion, it is such a pity that after the fantastic Keep Me Singing – surely his best album for many years – Van has focussed this time on the blues with the majority not even being his songs. I am very frustrated that my two favourite artists – Van and Bob Dylan – seem to have become so obsessed with the idea of covering other people’s songs when they have two of the best canons of work of anyone. At least Roll With The Punches is not a triple album, unlike Bob’s Triplicate!
-Pamela Kendix
Setlist (Thanks Malcolm M.)
Too Late
Have I Told You Lately (Swing version)
Roll With The Punches
I Can Tell (Bo Didley song )
Transformation
Too Much Trouble
Ride On Josephine (Bo Didley song)
Bring It On Home To Me
Goin’ To Chicago (with Georgie Fame)
Vanlose Stairway (with Georgie Fame)
Sometimes We Cry
Fame
Baby Please Don’t Go / Parchment Farm / Don’t Start Crying Now / Custard Pie
Help Me
Gloria
Time: 75 min.
Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards/Trumpet)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Sumudu (Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
