Saturday, April 21, 2018

21-April-2018
Subturania
London, England

Setlist
You’re Driving Me Crazy
Hold It Right There (Wait A Minute Baby)
Miss Otis Regrets
Things I Used to Do
Magic Time
Centerpiece/Times Gettin' Tougher/Everyday I Have the Blues
Young Lovers Do
Have I Told You Lately
Teardrops on my Pillow
Close Enough for Jazz
Foggy Day in London Town
Moondance
Broken Record

Big Hand For The Band!
Joey DeFrancesco (Organ)
Dan Wilson – guitar
Troy Roberts – tenor saxophone
Michael Ode – drums
Teena Lyle (Percussion, Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

20-April-2018
Subturania
London, England


Brendan checks in with Night 2:
Night two of the three night stint at Subturania followed the pattern of the previous night in that the material was drawn almost entirely from the new album. After opening with You're Driving Me Crazy and Hold It Right There (which saw Van lead the clapping along to extended guitar and saxophone solos) Van introduced Miss Otis Regrets as a song written by Cole Porter for a bet. A deviation from the previous night saw When Shadows Fall performed and this was a real highlight with Joey excelling on piano and organ. Magic Time was a slightly slower version than usual and featured an extended trumpet solo by Joey while the guitarist's excellent solo drew applause from Van. The song ended with Van performing a saxophone solo with great exuberance as his legs pumped furiously. Close enough For Jazz featured some scatting by Van while All Saints Day featured great organ by Joey and was much superior to the previous night's version.Travellin' Light geatured great saxophone and guitar solos while Joey's organ solo pleased Van greatly. The Things I Used To Do/Got My Eyes On You /Dimples medley included a harmonica solo by Van and got the "one more time" treatment. The slow blues which followed consisted as far as I can ascertain of Teardrops On My Pillow/Broken Hearted Blues(correct answers on a postcard please) and included a wonderful guitar solo followed by a saxaphone solo which drew plenty of "yeah"s from Van. There was also a humorous exchange between Joey and Van after Van sang"if I had ten million dollars I would give her every dime" with Joey saying "oh yeah?" to which Van immediately retorted "not really!". Van introduced Money's Getting Cheaper as a Jimmy Witherspoon track he had recorded himself back in 1966 and this was really good. Dana Masters got a nice audience ovation for her vocals on the fast version of Have I Told You Lately and Moondance brought the show towards its end but with Van returning for an encore of Centrepiece/Every Day I Have The Blues before thanking Joey and asking for a "big hand for the band"followed by "big hand for the ladies" directed towards Teena Lyle and Dana Masters.

The level of performance by the musicians on stage was at the virtuoso level with all looking very relaxed and comfortable and given considerable latitude by Van to stretch out and display their considerable talents during extended solos.Van once more seemed to really enjoy himself greatly with plenty of smiles and laughs and humorous interplay with Joey.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
You're Driving Me Crazy
Hold It Right There(Wait A Minute Baby)
Miss Otis Regrets
When Shadows Fall
Magic Time
Close Enough For Jazz
All Saints Day
Travellin' Light
The Things I Used To Do/Got My Eyes On You/Dimples
Teardrops On My Pillow/Broken Hearted Blues
Money's Getting Cheaper
Have I Told You Lately
Moondance/My Funny Valentine
Centrepiece/Every Day I Have The Blues

Set Time 1h 28m

Big Hand For The Band!
Joey DeFrancesco (Organ)
Dan Wilson – guitar
Troy Roberts – tenor saxophone
Michael Ode – drums
Teena Lyle (Percussion, Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

19-April-2018
Subturania
London, England


Brendan Hynes checks in with review of Subturania night 1:
The joint billing for this show was a clear indication that it would draw heavily from the forthcoming album and be very jazz orientated and so it proved as Van advised at the outset that they would be showcasing songs from the new album You're Driving Me Crazy out on 27th April 2018.

After opening with the album title track Van announced the next song as Hold It (full title Hold It Right There) which seems to be exactly the same song as Wait A Minute Baby which Van has performed regularly in recent times.Strange but true! Miss Otis Regrets was the first real highlight and featured a great trumpet solo by the multi talented Joey De Francesco. Things I Used To Do again featured Joey prominently with a brilliant organ solo which prompted Van to lead an audience clap along which continued through great sax and guitar solos by Joey's musicians.

It was the fifth song in before we got a Van original in the form of Magic Time which included a fine trumpet solo by Joey.Close Enough For Jazz saw Van do some scatting with Joey replicating the sounds on organ.Travelling Light was followed by the fast version of Have I Told You Lately which saw Dana Masters get some of the limelight on vocals.The version of the somewhat biographical Goldfish Bowl was particularly good and a great organ solo was applauded by Van who then exclaimed"there's Joey!" before giving the "one more time" instruction towards the song's ending to show that he was really into it.This song got a great crowd reaction.The Way Young Lovers Do featured really good extended organ,guitar and flugelhorn solos and was one of the main highlights. Centrepiece moved into Every Day I Got The Blues before All Saints Day and Moondance/My Funny Valentine brought the show to a conclusion after a relatively short set time of 1h 24m. Joey and the band remained on stage for a while as if expecting Van to return but he was nowhere to be seen.

This show was far removed from a standard Van show and would be appreciated most by those who are jazz fans.The quality of musicianship was of an extremely high level throughout and Van seemed particularly enthused by the playing of the saxaphone player which perhaps might prompt Van to restore the brass section to his own band where the absence of same has left a definite void.Van was very animated throughout the show and clearly enjoying the musical collaboration.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks Michael S.)
You’re Driving Me Crazy
Hold It Right There
Miss Otis Regrets
Things I Used to Do/Got My Eyes On You/Dimples
Magic Time
Close Enough for Jazz
Travelin' Light
Have I Told You
Goldfish Bowl
Young Lovers
/Centerpiece/Everyday I Have The Blues
All Saints Day
Moondance

Big Hand For The Band!
Joey DeFrancesco (Organ)
Dan Wilson – guitar
Troy Roberts – tenor saxophone
Michael Ode – drums
Teena Lyle (Percussion, Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)