10-September-2017
Hersheypark Stadium
 Hershey, USA

The Morning Call

REVIEW: Van Morrison's Moondance caps day of highlights at Outlaw Music Festival at HersheyPark stadium

HERSHEY — It was a marvelous night for a Moondance.
With a large, glowing moon filling the late-summer sky above HersheyPark Stadium, Van Morrison, one of the best singers in rock history, showed his still prestigious power in a set that delightfully danced through his career to headline the Outlaw Music Festival.

Morrison’s only East Coast concert this year – and first in Pennsylvania in nearly a decade – was the highlight of a daylong festival that had many highlights, several provided by Lukas Nelson and his band Promise of the Real, and others by a blissfully energetic set by The Avett Brothers and a warm nightcap from festival curator Willie Nelson.

Morrison, in a gray striped suit and matching fedora, wearing dark shades even at night, actually opened his penultimate set with “Moondance” – or, more precisely two versions of it: An instrumental on which Morrison played saxophone, then a very jazzy vocal version with his horn of a voice an equal instrument.

It was a lovely start to an 18-song, 75-minute set that continually pleased with both song selection and powerful performance – putting timeless hits beside wonderful deep cuts and interesting covers.

The second song, “Warm Love,” a Top 40 hit for Morrison 45 years ago, was astonishing – still wonderfully warm with violin from his four-man band and two back-up singers.
On the newer (only 20 years old) song ”Sometimes We Cry,” Morrison snapped out words and pushed his vocals. The song was so good that a good number of the crowd of somewhere around 25,000 danced to it.

And on the new, very bluesy “Roll with the Punches” – the title track to his new album, due out Sept. 22. (It was the only song he played from it) – Morrison showed how much of a bellow his voice still carries.

The first half of the set offered straight-forward, sometimes shortened versions of songs, though many still carried delightful moments: Him playing harmonica and singing through an old radio mic on “Baby Please Don’t Go,” an inspired pairing of “Don’t Start Crying Now” and “Custard Pie.”

But there also were stunning highlights: A powerful version of “Here Comes the Night,” the 1965 hit for Morrison’s pre-solo band Them and an inspired version of his minor hit “Cleaning Windows,” tied to a cover of the Gene Vincent rockabilly classic “Be-Bop-A-Lula.”
But in the second half of Morrison’s set, nearly every song was a highlight.

While pairing “Ancient Highway” and “Raincheck,” Morrison held on the mic stand and rocked front-to-back, then danced slightly. “In the Afternoon” was slow and sensual.
And while it was a pleasure to hear his “Wild Nights,” now more than 45 years old. But to hear it played more muted, as if those wild nights are memories that are still calling, was transcendent.

Morrison’s vocals are universal. His cover of the Ray Charles hit “I Can’t Stop Loving You” was surprisingly country, and he absolutely bellowed the end notes. The gorgeous “Whenever God Shines His Light,” on which Morrison again played harmonica, was very contemporary gospel.

And Morrison wailed – wailed – on the bluesy "Night Time Is the Right Time," another Charles hit. It got a huge response from the crowd.

The fact that Morrison, at 72, still has that kind of power is amazing. He closed his set with a great seven-minute version of Them’s “Gloria,” which had all the power of the original.
But it was the second-last song that showed how good Morrison was. It was another bluesy offering, Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me.” As Morrison played harmonica, many in the crowd danced as if there were no reason for inhibition.

Morrison made sure it was a marvelous night for a moondance.
-John J. Moser

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Celtic Swing
Moondance
Warm Love
Sometimes We Cry
Roll With The Punches
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Cryin' Now/Custard Pie
Here Comes the Night
Cleaning Windows
In the Afternoon
Wild Night
Can't Stop Loving You
Whenever God
Nighttime is the Right Time
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards/Trumpet)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Sumudu (Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)