15-March-2019
Subterania
London, England

Brendan sends in review of night on at Subterania
Van Morrison & Joey De Francesco at Subterania, London, 15th March 2019
As the joint billing suggested would occur this show drew very heavily on the collaborative material with Joey recorded on Van's last couple of albums. As with previous such shows Van used Joey's band plus Dana Masters on backing vocals and Teena Lyle on percussion and vocals. The first real highlight of the show emerged three songs into the set with a fine version of Miss Otis Regrets featuring a brilliant trumpet solo by Joey. Laughin' and Clownin' included excellent organ/piano solos by Joey and also featured a great solo by his saxophonist. Van strapped on his guitar to deliver a great version of Roll With the Punches which was followed by The Party's Over and Dimples.Worried Blues/Rollin' and Tumblin' were really strong and got a great audience reaction.Ain't Gonna Moan No More featured some lovely acoustic guitar and was followed by jazzy arrangements of Have I Told You Lately and Magic Time neither of which were as good as the original ones in my opinion. Teardrops merged into Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket and saw Joey display even further versatility by performing a nice saxaphone solo as a somewhat amused Van looked on approvingly. Got To Go Where The Love Is from the latest album was featured next to be followed by the title track The Prophet Speaks.This sounded almost identical to Ain't Gonna Moan No More and will mainly be remembered by audience members for the rather unedifying sight of Van standing in front of the bass player for an extended period to apparently deliver a public tutorial to him as to how he wanted the song played. I thought that's what rehearsals were designed for! Finally a shortened version of Gloria brought proceedings to a conclusion after an unacceptably shortened set time of merely 75 minutes.
The level of musicianship displayed throughout was at a very high level but these shows will appeal mostly to those who are happy to hear a set consisting almost entirely of jazz and blues numbers (the majority of which are cover versions). For anyone hoping to hear classic Van Morrison material it is pretty much non existent and the 'buyer beware' principle certainly applies.

Set List
Gonna Send You Back To Where I Got You From
Hold It Right There (Wait A Minute Baby)
Miss Otis Regrets
Laughin' and Clownin'
Roll With The Punches
The Party's Over
Dimples
Worried Blues/Rollin' and Tumblin'
Aint Gonna Moan No More
Have I Told You Lately (fast version)
Magic Time
Teardrops/Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket
Got To Go Where The Love Is
The Prophet Speaks
Gloria

Set Time Ih 15m