07-September-2022
Wolf Trap
Vienna, USA

Setlist 

Dangerous 

Thank God for the Blues 

Stage Name 

Days Like This 

Have I Told You Lately 

Raincheck 

Dweller on the Threshold 

I've Been Working 

Somebody Have Mercy 

You're Driving Me Crazy 

Laughin' and Clownin' 

Early in the Mornin' 

Baby, Please Don't Go/Got My Mo-Jo Working 

Think Twice Before You Go 

The New Symphony Sid 

I Just Want to Make Love to You 

Down to Joy 

Help Me 

Brown Eyed Girl 

Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)

Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Dave Keary (Guitar)

John Platania (Guitar)
David Hayes (Bass)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)

Brian Byrne (Organ)
Elle Cato (Vocals) 

Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

04-September-2022
Koussevitzky Music Shed
Lenox, USA

Boston Globe (Source)

LENOX — On Sunday night, Van Morrison had the yips. Like, the literal yips. Leading his unimpeachable nine-piece band on the stage of the music shed at Tanglewood, midway through the set he punctuated a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Early in the Morning” with a staccato vocal that consisted solely of several “yips.” 

At 77, the Belfast native can still wring some real elation out of his instrument — his voice. At Tanglewood, his peak moments often came not in the lyrical gold of his own catalog but the wordless pleasure he takes in bopping the old songs that still make him tick. “Shoo bop shoo bop,” he sang on “Travellin’ Light,” a song with lyrics that Johnny Mercer wrote for Billie Holiday in 1942. 

“A-a-a-a-a-a-h!” he blurted a little later, emulating the wobble of the Hammond B-3 organ as he directed his gaze at his keyboardist. Those seem to be the moments that keep Morrison onstage. Most singers would have a hard time suppressing their joy when they hit on an inspiration. Opening act James Hunter certainly grinned broadly when he returned to the stage to sing with the headliner, duetting on Sam Cooke’s “Somebody Have Mercy.” 

But Morrison keeps his emotions under his natty hat. Inscrutable behind his aviator shades, he led his band with an iron fist, punching it in the direction of a soloist when their turn arrived. Once or twice he made a little bursting motion for rhythmic emphasis. His disdain for playing the hits has been well documented. On Sunday, the band played “Jackie Wilson Said” — ting a ling a ling, ting a ling a ling — and sent the sold-out crowd home with what they came for, an obligatory “Brown Eyed Girl” and an incessant “Gloria.” 

But those weren’t the tunes that got him through the night. He opened with “Dangerous,” a recent grievance song (“Somebody said I was dangerous/I must be gettin’ close to the truth”) and another COVID-era original, “Thank God for the Blues.” “Days Like This” felt tossed off, but it put Morrison’s saxophone in his hands, clearing the way for him and the band to segue into a swinging version of “Have I Told You Lately.” The lounge-y arrangements of that and “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” another old standard (1930!), let him stand apart from the band as surely as his white suit contrasted with their all-black wardrobe. 

The latter was the title song of Morrison’s 2018 collaboration with the organist Joey DeFrancesco. Standing at his golden microphone, Morrison paid tribute to the keyboardist, who died in August at age 51. 

As standoffish as he can seem, paying tribute suits him. He sang through his harmonica on “Baby Please Don’t Go,” the blues traditional that gave Morrison his first hit with his youthful band Them. Then he mashed that one up with “Got My Mojo Working.” But the high point might have come halfway through the set, when Morrison doubled down on the Labor Day weekend theme with “I’ve Been Working,” his own song from the 1970 album “His Band and the Street Choir.” 

How many times in a row can he bang on the word “woman,” or the ad-lib “all right”? The answer is, as many times as he’s feeling it. It’s his job. He’s very good at it. If it thrills him, he’s not about to let on. 

-James Sullivan

Setlist

Dangerous

Thank God For The Blues 

Keep Mediocrity At Bay 

Stage Name 

Days Like This

Have I Told You Lately (w/Elle Cato)

Baby Please Don't Go/Got My Mojo Working 

Think Twice Before You Go

Somebody Have Mercy (w/James Hunter)

Dweller On The Threshold 

I've Been Working 

You're Driving Me Crazy (For Joey DeFrancesco) 

Raincheck  

Laughing & Clowning 

Early In The Morning (Just About The Break of Day) 

Travelin' Light 

Jackie Wilson Said 

Down To Joy 

Help Me (w/James Hunter) 

Brown Eyed Girl 

Gloria (w/James Hunter)

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)

Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Dave Keary (Guitar)

John Platania (Guitar)
David Hayes (Bass)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)

Brian Byrne (Organ)
Elle Cato (Vocals) 

Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

03-September-2022
Leader Bank Pavillion
 Boston, USA

Music News (Source)

One of the most legendary natives of Belfast, Ireland, Van Morrison has lived one of the most-storied careers in all of rock history. From the magical days in the '60s when he fronted the blues-pop ensemble, Them, Morrison's pipes are one of the most instantly recognizable ever.

Morrison performed to a near sold-out audience at the Leader Bank Pavillion in Boston, Massachusetts on September 3, 2022. 

While his voice is always in top form, Morrison sounded spectacular on the opening cuts of newer material such as "Dangerous" (from 2022's "What's It Gonna Take?" album), and "Thank God For The Blues" (lifted from 2021's "Latest Record Project, Volume 1"). 

Never shy about going deep into his catalog, Morrison did a beautiful rendition of "Precious Time" (from his criminally underrated 1999 disc, "Back On Top"). He also created some amazing blues moments at the Pavillion, during both an interpretation of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Tell Me" and a medley of "Baby, Please Don't Go"/"Got My Mojo Working", when Morrison played his most impressive harmonica work of the night. Sandwiched in between the blues numbers, Morrison gave a nod to the Motown sound, with a rollicking take of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)". 

Morrison threw out a tasteful cover of John Lee Hooker's "Think Twice Before You Go", followed by a most surprising song choice in honor of recently-deceased jazz multi-instrumentalist, Joey DeFrancesco, whom Morrison had played with. He performed "You're Driving Me Crazy" (written in the '30s, the song was made popular by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians). 

Except for moments as when he dedicated the song to DeFrancesco, Morrison kept the between-song chatter to a minimum. 

While he did not join him onstage, Peter Wolf (lead singer of The J. Geils Band) was spotted in the Pavillion during the evening. Not surprising, as the two have had a decades-long friendship going back to when Morrison resided in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the late '60s. 

After the spiritually-inspired "In the Garden" and "Down to Joy", which was most recently featured in the 2021 film, "Belfast", Morrison's set really caught fire. Beginning with a raucous "Wild Night" and an outstanding interpretation of Sonny Boy Williamson's blues classic, "Help Me", Morrison concluded the show with his iconic "Brown Eyed Girl", followed by an epic version of "Gloria". 

While "Gloria" was penned by Morrison during his time in Them, it was The Shadows of Knight who recorded the most popular version of the song, which cracked the Top-10 in 1966. Sadly, The Shadows of Knight's lead vocalist, Jimy Sohms, passed away last month. Although Morrison never said a word about his death (being a man of few words), it very well may have been his unspoken tribute to Sohms. 

Morrison left the stage during "Gloria" and his phenomenal nine-piece-backing band continued to jam on "Gloria" for nearly another 10 minutes, each taking brief solos on their respective instruments. And while the crowd seemingly expected Morrison to return at some point, he never did. So, when the jam ended, the concert did as well. 

-John Reed

Setlist 

Dangerous

Thank God For The Blurs 

Stage Name 

Days Like This 

Think Twice Before You Go

Raincheck 

Precious Time 

Tell Me (Have Mercy Baby?) 

Money 

Baby Please Don't Go /Got My Mojo Working

These Dreams Of You 

You’re Drivin' Me Crazy (For Joey DeFrancesco)

I’ve Been Workin' 

Dweller on the Threshold 

In The Garden 

Down To Joy 

Wild Night 

Help Me 

Brown Eyed Girl 

Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)

Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Dave Keary (Guitar)

John Platania (Guitar)
David Hayes (Bass)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)

Brian Byrne (Organ)
Elle Cato (Vocals) 

Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

01-September-2022
Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
 Bridgeport, USA

Setlist (Thanks Art S.)

Dangerous 

Thank God For The Blues/

Keep Mediocrity at Bay 

Up County Down 

Days Like This 

Baby Please Don't Go/Got My Mojo Working 

Think Twice Before You Go 

Precious Time Money (with James Hunter) 

Baby what You Want Me To Do (with James Hunter) 

Dweller On The Threshold 

I've Been Working 

Have I Told You Lately (with Elle Cato) 

Raincheck 

Early In The Morning (Just About The Break of Day) 

Laughing & Clowning 

Jackie Wilson Said 

Wild Night 

Down To Joy 

Help Me (with James Hunter) 

Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria (with James Hunter)

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)

Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Dave Keary (Guitar)

John Platania (Guitar)
David Hayes (Bass)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)

Brian Byrne (Organ)
Elle Cato (Vocals) 

Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)