Van's UK Dates
06-Apr-2007 Van Morrison Manchester
Bridgewater Hall
07-Apr-2007 Van Morrison Manchester
Bridgewater Hall
13-Apr-2007 Van Morrison Oxford New Theatre
14-Apr-2007 Van Morrison Cardiff Millennium
Centre
Van To Perform At Pre-Academy Awards Party On February 22, 2007
Entertainment Legend To Perform
Multi-award winning singer/songwriter Van Morrison will be honored by the US-Ireland Alliance at its second annual "Oscar Wilde: Honoring Irish Writing in Film" pre-Academy Awards party, Thursday, February 22, 2007 at the Wilshire Ebell in Los Angeles, California.
Hosted by the US-Ireland Alliance, a non-profit organization created to foster ties between the US and Ireland, the star-studded event is designed to honor Irish writing in film. Trina Vargo, founder and president of the Alliance, noted that the event, which is co-sponsored by the Irish Film Board, was created to "bring together leaders in the Irish film community with their Hollywood counterparts at a fun, casual Irish party --a great precursor to the black tie and couture evenings ahead."
Two additional honorees will be announced at a later date. Last year's sold-out event honored Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan and David Holmes and brought out a host of luminaries including Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Anjelica Huston and Disney Chairman Dick Cook.
A native of Belfast, Ireland, Van Morrison has one of the most enduring and consistently impressive careers in music history. His music is included in nearly fifty films including the soon-to-be released Scorsese film, The Departed, as well as Breakfast on Pluto, What A Girl Wants, The Royal Tenenbaums, Bridget Jones' Diary, One Fine Day, When a Man Loves a Woman, Prelude to a Kiss, Thelma & Louise, An Officer and a Gentleman, Proof of Life, and As Good as It Gets.
Morrison’s latest album, Pay The Devil, incorporates the deeply soulful sounds of the American South that have inspired him. For forty years, Morrison has drawn upon the greats of Rhythm & Blues to create his own distinctive and influential blend of soul and Celtic influences. On Pay The Devil, Morrison explores his inner cowboy more than ever before, asserting himself as a working musician who simply follows his own musical muse wherever it may lead him.
Austin City Limits Presents: Van Morrison
Musical legend Van Morrison wraps his incomparable voice around the soul, blues, folk, jazz and country styles that have been the mainstay of his music for four decades.
Featuring songs from his latest album Pay the Devil and timeless Morrison classics, he delivers a spellbinding one hour performance in his first appearance on Austin City Limits.
Van Morrison Song List
Recorded 9/14/06:
Wild Night
Choppin’ Wood
There Stands the Glass
Playhouse
Not Feelin’ It
Cleaning Windows
St. James Infirmary
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Don’t Start Crying Now / Custard Pie
Brown-Eyed Girl
Gloria
Van Morrison, Liverpool Philharmonic Oct 23 2006 By Mike Chapple, Daily Post
HE'S been written off as being past his best.
But dismiss Van Morrison at your peril.
He's not called The Man for nothing and on Saturday night the Phil was in raptures as he and his peerless nine-piece backing band staged a full 90-minute masterclass of unmatchable musical versatility.
Looking less like Uncle Bulgaria these days, he cut a sleeker figure than last remembered Wombling on stage, blowing blues harp as the band cruised into Back On Top, no pompous bluster but merely a statement of fact on this kind of form.
One of Morrison's greatest assets is his understanding of various musical styles and the consequent ability to meld them into transforming the shape of songs from his formidable back catalogue.
This ensures that with Van Live you'll never, ever, get a perfunctory rolling out of the greatest hits; he's always tweaking away and changing the standards which make him, and not Rafa Benitez, the supreme Tinkerman.
So, despite this being the Liverpool Irish Festival, in this incarnation we had not so much the Celtic Come Into Parlour Van but the Mint Julep On The Back Porch Man as he put his philanderings with Country and Western to good use with stunning effect.
Fiddle and pedal steel guitar transformed classics such as Moondance into something altogether different.
Another of Morrison's great assets is the ability to control the momentum so that at some stage in the performance there comes a key point which makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand on end, or brings tears welling into the eyes.
This rolling cloud of emotion began somewhere around the typically stylish adaptation of Ray Charles's I Can't Stop Loving You, through Moondance and One Irish Rover, building up to a final downpour during It's All In The Game.
It all ended far too soon with a mass singalong of Brown Eyed Girl and an almost grunge-like encore of Gloria.
It moved even Van, not renowned for being the happy-clappiest of individuals, to sign off with "We've enjoyed our two nights in Liverpool. We had a ball!"
And so did we.
Van & Chrissy Hynde. Dublin 1993.
Going for a song
Going for a song
Ian Rankin on Snow in San Anselmo by Van Morrison
In 1989, I was living in Thatcher-era, red-braced London, earning a pittance as a hi-fi journalist. I’d had two not very successful novels published and was having trouble finding a publisher willing to take a chance on my third. The maisonette I shared with my hard-working wife seemed cramped. I was spending three hours a day commuting across the city. I was 29 and already starting to feel like a burnout.
One morning, as I clambered aboard the train at Victoria, I felt my heart begin to race. There was a whistling in my ears, and I found breathing difficult. I jumped off the train and stood trembling on the platform, waiting for the heart attack. It didn’t come, but I was worried enough to return home and beg an early appointment with my GP. He diagnosed panic attacks and told me to take some rest. I apologised to my wife and workmates, got on an Intercity train, changed at York and found myself in Scarborough. It was autumn, and the place was dead. I found a cheap hotel room and unpacked my bag, concentrating on my Walkman. A few days before, a large parcel of Van Morrison reissues had arrived at the office. I’d brought half a dozen with me. The first into the machine was Hard Nose the Highway. I headed out and began walking along the seashore, the wind howling, while Van Morrison soothed me with the opening track, Snow in San Anselmo, conjuring a world of harmony, casual friendship and everyday miracles.
I didn’t know where San Anselmo was, but it sounded exotic. Van Morrison sang of an all-night pancake house, so I guessed California. Snow was a rarity there, yet it was falling, as the waitress explained to the narrator. The image conjured was of Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks, sleepless souls finding comfort and a kind of communion. Van Morrison seemed to be saying the world was full of possibility. I began to feel better, less stressed, revivified. Maybe out-of-season Scarborough also played its part — there wasn’t much more to do than take day-long walks. I was also thinking that it didn’t really matter whether my third book ever found a publisher; I could always try again. Snow in San Anselmo has been with me ever since. It takes me back to the rocky beach, the low autumn sun and gusts of ozone. It calms me, makes me smile, tells me to take things at my own pace.
Ian Rankin’s latest novel, The Naming of the Dead, is published by Orion
Tom Jones revealed at a recent concert that he has recorded a duet with Van that will be released as a single. It is a remake of Van's "Cry For Home" which Van originally recorded back in 1983. Van and Tom have also worked together in the past and did a duet of "Sometimes We Cry" which came out in 1999.
News from The Band website of a new DVD, The Lost Waltz, may be of interest to Van fans because it includes footage of Van & the late Richard Manuel doing "Tura-Lura-Lural" which was not include in the official movie.
Manuel turned the piano over to John Simon, and began ‘Tura Lura,’ a song about an Irish lullaby; just as Manuel finished the first verse, Van Morrison made his entrance - and he turned the show round. I had seen him not many minutes before prowling the balconies, dressed nondescriptly in a shirt and jeans, scowling; but there he was on stage, in an absurd maroon suit and a green top, singing to the rafters. They cut into ‘Caravan’- with John Simon waving The Band’s volume up and down, and the horns at their most effective - while Van burned holes in the floor. He was magic, and I thought, Why didn’t he join The Band years ago? More than any other singer, he fit in, his music and theirs made sense together. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg in sheer exuberance, and he kicked his way right offstage like a Rockette. The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left.
-Greil Marcus
Review: Van Morrison, The Barbican Centre, York VAN Morrison has a career that has spanned not only decades but generations, and on Saturday night at the Barbican it was clear to see why.
Without hesitation, Van The Man broke straight into his set, demonstrating exactly how a man born the son of a shipyard worker in 1945 took the influences of music from the likes of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and made a genre all of his own, with tracks displaying major leanings towards R&B, soul and rock, many of which had a distinct taste of the South.
The performance was flawless, as Van and his band belted out hit after hit, including the classics In The Midnight, What Makes The Irish Heart Beat, Big Blue Diamonds and the amazing Back On Top.
continued...
Personally. I would have loved to have heard a track or two from Irish Heartbeats, especially Ta Mo Chleamhnas Deanta.
But Morrison can still get the audience whooping and dancing after four decades in the business, and Saturday night was no exception.
This was a highly-polished performance which is no less than you would expect from a man who has perfected his art in both America and Ireland.
The tracks that stood out were the timeless Moondance and no Van Morrison set would be complete without Brown Eyed Girl, a track which he closed on, and is as every bit as strong today as it was when he first recorded it in 1967 for his first solo album Blowin' Your Mind.
And that's exactly what he does, every time.
Festival de Jazz 2006 Translated by google.
The Festival of Jazz 2006 will tell to east year with the presence of the
mythical musician Morrison, who will delight to the zaragozanos with his talent days 17 and 18 of November. The event will count, in addition, with important new features, like diverse complementary activities or the Jazz pa you, directed to inculcar to the children the liking by this type of music.
The festival will include nine concerts, that will take with the performanceof the pianista Herbie Hancock. In addition to Van Morrison, Aragoneseartists will act, like the group Left Margin or the guitarist MarianoConget. The pianista Chano DomÃnguez will act Thursday 9 of November. The entrances are worth of 15 to 55 euros and they will be possible to be acquired from Tuesday 17 of October in the tellers of Ibercaja, Fnac or in the ticket offices of the audience. There are 350 installments to a price of 100 euros.
Movie Review: "The Departed" “The Departed” is entertaining and worth watching for the acting and suspense. But don’t expect any point to it or any easing off on profanity or violence right to the end.
One final note: in the soundtrack, and featured on the film’s trailers, is the seldom heard rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” performed by Van Morrison live at Roger Waters’ July 1900 “The Wall” concert in Berlin. The event drew half a million commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall at the same site seven months earlier. The film is almost worth the price of admission for that alone.
It is taken from this 1990 performance:
Van Sings "Comfortably Numb" in Berlin At Roger Water's "The Wall".
Country-blues legend Van Morrison has added yet more dates to his busy 2006 tour schedule
Van Morrison Blackpool Opera House 06 Oct 2006
Van Morrison York Barbican Centre 07 Oct 2006
Van Morrison Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 20 Oct 2006
Van Morrison Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 21 Oct 2006
Van Morrison Edinburgh Usher Hall 01 Dec 2006
Van Morrison Gateshead Sage Arena 02 Dec 2006
Van Morrison Malvern Forum Theatre 08 Dec 2006
Van Morrison Bristol Colston Hall 09 Dec 2006
Van Morrison Glasgow Clyde Auditorium 15 Dec 2006
Mose Allison: Ever Since I Stole the Blues BBC 2 Friday 29th September at 11.35pm
Mose Allison, white Jazz and Blues legend from the Mississippi Delta, inspired key figures in Rock'n'Roll. As Pete Townsend says in the film:
‘Without Mose I wouldn’t have written My Generation’. The film also features Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Frank Black, Loudon Wainwright, Ben Sidran, Keb Mo’ and Georgie Fame.
The film also contains exclusive performances of Mose classics by Van Morrison and Loudon Wainwright along with The Who’s barnstorming take on Mose’s Young Man Blues.
"If you're interested in jazz, blues or rock - especially British rock -
then you really need to hear Mose Allison", claims director Paul Bernays.
His film is an affectionate portrait of the jazz-blues legend, taking in
performances and interviews with Mose and such high-profile admirers as Van
Morrison and Elvis Costello.
Lori & Mike Seltzer With Van Before the Ronnie Scott's Gig. It's Also The Seltzer's 30th Wedding Anniversary. Congrats!
Country blues and Celtic soul By Jack Massarik, Evening Standard 25.09.06
Jazz? Well, perhaps not specifically as we know it,
but there's a gritty emotional validity and solid
pulse about Van Morrison's music that always goes
down well at this jazz bastion. And unlike most
chart stars, he also plays acceptable harmonica,
guitar and alto sax.
Two dynamic shows by the Ulster-born
singer-songwriter, whose maverick blend of
countryblues was recently redefined as "Celtic
soul", kept the customers highly satisfied last
night.
Smart in his dark suit and snappy Panama straw hat,
his features no longer obscured by beard and dark
glasses, the former alcoholic and stage-fright
victim sang powerfully and worked hard. Between
numbers he hardly said a word and never cracked a
single smile (in Belfast you can get beaten up for
less) but he did chuckle at his own lyrics
occasionally and looked very nearly laid-back.
Flanked by six men in black and Sarah Jory on
pedal-steel guitar, Morrison revelled in their
warm, Texas-country sound. Fiddler Tom Fitzgibbon,
Hammond-organist Geraint Watkins and Jory were the
pick of the soloists and St James Infirmary also
featured rhythm-guitarist Crawford Bell on trumpet.
Opening with a 1999 hit, Back on Top, the compact
Morrison led them through Mixed Up in Fame,
Stranded on the Edge of World, Choppin' Wood, Tear
Your Playhouse Down, Gotta Stop Drinkin' that Wine,
Precious Time is Slippin' Away and other bluesy
vehicles for his clipped, punchy delivery.
Though not the most inventive of singers, the
62-year-old Van still sounds like a man and knows
how to swing his band. With maturity has also come
the confidence of enjoying a reputation that
passing fashions cannot diminish. By the time he
had got around to Brown-eyed Girl, noisy fans,
including visiting thesps Vince Vaughn and Kevin
Spacey, had been thoroughly converted. And they
didn't even hear Moondance.
Twenty years ago, ravaged and worn, not long before the end of his life, Chet Baker performed at the old-look Ronnie Scott’s, a little frayed at the edges but still a haunting performer.
With him on that night was Van Morrison and together they performed Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Send In The Clowns’. Chet is no longer with us but Van, in rude health at 61, and looking noticeably slimmer, was back at Ronnie’s last night with a few tricks up his sleeve. Whether the tricks were aces or not took a while to reveal. Opening, with ‘Back On Top’, cautiously and none too happy with the microphone. “If this is the best you can do with the vocals,” he told the sound man ominously, “then we’re going to have problems.” You could hear the whispers of “Here we go” from the crowd, who had stumped up £50 a ticket for the first house. But the microphone problem quickly ceased to be an issue for Van and ‘Talk Is Cheap’ that followed was better, but none too startling. By the third tune Van was settled and the momentum started to gather, with the funked up ‘Fame’, not one of the best tracks on his Blue Note album What’s Wrong With This Picture, but wonderfully cussed here with Morrison’s longstanding beef with the media given another airing as Van sang resignedly, “The press have gone and made another mess of it.”
While Van was in good voice, the band was perfunctory at best. Ned Edwards is a likeable fixture, but no great shakes as either a guitarist or vocalist and it was only Geraint Watkins, on organ, keys and piano who really cut a dash. The violinist Tony Fitzgibbon rose to the occasion but it was the inclusion of a steel guitar player Sarah Jory that really put the stamp on the band. Van has been touring his country album Pay The Devil this year so the inclusion of the steel was not a surprise although the band only played two tunes from the album, the very strongly delivered ‘Playhouse’ and affecting ‘There Stands The Glass’. Interestingly, where the set proved strongest was not in the hits (a tired old stab at ‘Moondance’ and a dull version of ‘Jackie Wilson Said’) but in the blues covers and an affectionate treatment of Mose Allison’s ‘Don’t Worry About A Thing’, actually recorded in Ronnie’s for the album How Long Has This Been Going On? Ronnie’s artistic director Leo Green, who worked with Van for eight years, told me afterwards, “Van’s a blues man, through and through” and on this showing he was at his best when he was at his most primitive and raw as on the dramatic ‘St James’ Infirmary’ and the crowd pleasing ‘Gloria’ that got the well heeled crowd roaring “G-L-O-R-I-A” back at him. It wasn’t quite vintage Van. There was too much ropey saxophone playing made up for by his sassy harmonica lines and the band also failed to add that extra authentic spark he needs. Yet the show acted as a reminder of the abundance of Van’s jazz and blues-rooted vocal gifts. A unique figure, coming to a jazz club he may have done “two bad things: one country, two western”, as he told the audience wryly, but only he can get away with such a mix of music with his miraculous voice and a back catalogue of songs he delivers with rare conviction.
Review: Stephen Graham
Austin City Limits Musical legend Van Morrison wraps his incomparable voice around the soul, blues, folk, jazz and country styles that have been the mainstay of his music for four decades. Featuring songs from his latest album Pay the Devil and timeless Morrison classics, he delivers a spellbinding one hour performance in his first appearance on Austin City Limits.
First broadcast wil be on Nov 18 2006 in some markets and Nov 24th in others - check your local listings for date and time.
Setlist:
1. Choppin' Wood
2. Fame
3. There Stands the Glass
4. Playhouse
5. Stranded
6. Pay the Devil
7. I'm not Feeling it Anymore
8. Cleaning Windows
9. St. James Infirmary
10. That's What Makes the Irish Heart Beat
11. Stop Drinking that Wine Sonny Boy
12. I Can't Stop Loving You
13. Wild Night
14. Cry Cry Baby/Be Bop a Lula
15. Custard Pie
16. Brown Eyed Girl
17. Gloria
Van Morrison Entertains Star-Studded Gala Dinner Belfast-born musician surprises VIP guests on an evening of glitz and glamour at City-West
A VIP guest list of 1,400 attended The Ryder Cup Gala Dinner at Dublin’s City-West Hotel, where they were treated to a surprise performance from rock legend Van Morrison.
Among the assembled diners on Wednesday evening were the European and United States team members and their wives or partners, Arnold Palmer, eight-time Major champion and designer of the Ryder Cup course, Dr Michael Smurfit, owner of The K Club, former England cricketer Ian Botham and leading Irish politicians and business entrepreneurs.
First to arrive at City-West were the US Team, all of whom chose to wear a classic black dinner jacket and matching bow tie.
European Captain Ian Woosnam, accompanied by wife Glen, who was dressed by Paul Costello in a sparkling black number, arrived next and led his players past the crowds that had gathered outside in the wind and rain, all eager to be part of the Ryder Cup experience.
The European players wore white tuxedos and red bow ties for the occasion, while almost all their partners were dressed in black.
The Irish political side was represented by John O’Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, and Mary Coughlan, Minister for Agriculture and Food.
Both will have been delighted with the Irish-inspired menu that included aromatic rack of Wexford lamb with a wild mushroom cream, exclusively prepared by chef Dermot O’Shea.
Van Morrison (Friday)
By John T. Davis
It is one small measure of Van Morrison’s longevity that the last time I saw him was 27-odd years ago at the inevitably-referred-to “late-lamented” Armadillo World Headquarters. Back then, he stayed over and played a night for free, so enamored he was of the ‘Dillo’s shrimp enchiladas. Someone on hand recalled him swinging from the door lintel of the dressing room, lost in simple bliss. Since then he has put out a score of albums reflecting every prismatic nuance of blues, soul, Celtic gospel, rock and (most lately) country.
Now, three decades later, Van the Man was back in town, as natty as a Martin Scorcese gangster in a suit coat, tinted glasses and a pale fedora. (The illusion was not confined to the stage. A cadre of motorcycle cops and dark limos came sweeping through backstage. I thought for a crazy moment that Charles Attal and Charlie Jones had gone into the funeral business. But of course, it was Morrison and his entourage.) 
“Was he always this laid-back?” asked a young fan, who was hoping to hear “Caravan.” Well - yes and no. What might have sounded “laid-back” registered to these ears as smoldering intensity; the precise focus of a master of the game who doesn’t need to squander his focus and energy to achieve a transcendent effect.
Beginning with a tongue-in-groove rendition of “Back On Top,” Morrison wound in and out of his current predilection, country music, as reflected in his latest album, “Pay the Devil.” The Jerry Lee Lewis-weeper “Big Blue Diamonds” shared stage time with a countrypolitan-perfect take on “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” 
But it is part of Morrison’s gift to segue from country to Muscle Shoals-style soul (“It’s All in the Game”) to swampy blues (he pulled out the sax for “St. James Infirmary”) to the Muhammad Ali rock ‘n’ roll combination of “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Wild Night” and “Gloria.”
There is, however, one moment that lingers. Far back in the crowd, a quarter-mile from the stage, a little kid stared in wonderment as all the grown-ups around him rose to their feet and began swaying and singing in unison. He probably didn’t know there was a guy onstage with the improbable name of Van Morrison singing a song called “Brown Eyed Girl.” It hardly mattered. The song still has the power to engender the same sense of wonder and delight in children today as it did in their parents. And, if everything works out just right, that youngster may tell his kids about sitting in a field on a late summer night listening to Van Morrison sing.
Van Morrison makes first Valley visit in 28 years
Michael Senft
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 14, 2006 02:33 AM
Van Morrison Concert - Sept. 13, 2006
It was a marvelous night for a Moondance on Wednesday when Van Morrison made his first Valley appearance in 28 years at Cricket Pavilion. And the legendary Irish singer made up for the wait with a passionate, if short, set to his adoring Valley fans.
Taking the stage at 7:30 without an opening act, many expected Morrison to play an extended set, however he only sang for about 90 minutes.
But what a 90 minutes they were.
After his backup band played the rollicking Boogie Woogie Country Girl with guitarist Ned Edwards handling the vocals, Morrison emerged in a sharp suit and fedora, taking the mike for Back on Top. He proceeded to wail, scat and growl his way through 20 stellar tunes ranging from his days with the garage band Them through his recent country CD, Pay the Devil.
The crowd was most receptive to the classics like Moondance and Cleaning Windows, but his ten-piece band seemed muted on those tunes. While they gave passionate performances, the music was overpowered by Morrison's soulful shouting.
It didn't slow the performance, however.
As the band kicked into the Them classic Here Comes the Night, the show catapulted to a new level of passion. A fiery reading of the R&B chestnut Baby Please Don't Go was another climax.
It also marked Morrison starting to have some sort of technical problem onstage. He was gesturing at his mike and monitors to the roadies during Precious Time, and growing visibly upset as the problems didn't get fixed.
But his anger only seemed to fuel his performance, driving his emotional singing to a new level on the classic Wild Night, which finally got the audience to its feet. And when he followed it with Brown-Eyed Girl they were dancing in the aisles.
A passionate Gloria closed out the evening and Morrison left without an encore.
But truly nothing could have topped the finale he'd already delivered.
Setlist:
Boogie Woogie Country Girl
Back on Top
Pay the Devil
Stop Drinking
There Stands the Glass
Cleaning Windows
Days Like This
Wonderful Remark
Stranded
Moondance
Jackie Wilson Said
Bright Side of the Road
Playhouse
Here Comes the Night
Help Me
Baby Please Don't Go
Precious Time
Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie
Wild Night
Brown-Eyed Girl
Gloria
Van Morrison plays no-frills show at Cricket
By Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out
September 14, 2006
Rock stars are known for many things, but punctuality and a strict onstage demeanor are not among them. For instance, when it says "7:30 p.m." on a concert ticket, that usually means the show will start at 8 p.m. or so, after the crowd has all wandered through the gates and finished standing in the long beer lines.
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Wednesday night, before rock legend Van Morrison took the stage to play his first Valley concert in 28 years, Cricket Pavilion staffers walked the parking lot announcing through booming megaphones that the show would "begin at 7:30 SHARP!"
Signs at the box office reminded concert-goers of the same thing, with strategically placed flyers, adding that there would be no opening act.
And they weren't kidding.
While the crowd was still filtering in to reserved seating and the lawn area was about half full, Morrison's 10 piece band (which included Asleep At The Wheel's famed pedal steel player Cindy Cashdollar) played "Boogie Woogie Country Girl," and then the legend himself, dressed in a black suit, white fedora and sunglasses, took the stage at just after 7:30 p.m., sending the late arrivals scrambling for their seats.
The Belfast, Northern Ireland-born Morrison kicked off his set with the title cut to his latest album, "Pay the Devil," which is largely a disc of classic country covers and a few self-penned tunes, and kept things rolling with the Webb Pierce honky tonk classic "There Stands the Glass."
If most of the fans were there to hear Morrison's 1967 Top 10 hit "Brown Eyed Girl," they had to wait a while, as the singer slowly added older tunes such as "Cleaning Windows" and "Days Like This" before donning a saxophone for the jazzy classic "Moondance," which had the crowd singing, clapping and snapping their fingers as Morrison showed some impressive sax chops during the solo section.
The artist, whose stage presense when not singing, consists of standing in one spot and pointing to band members when it's their turn to solo, revved things up with the Them (Morrison's mid-'60s band) classic "Here Comes the Night," then closed the tight 90-minute set with his hits “Wild Night,” “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Gloria.”
While Morrison barely spoke to the crowd, save for a "thank you" after a few selections, he did audibly tell his guitarist to "play rhythm" on a song the guy was playing lead on, and brought a stage hand over to chide, "There's too much echo in the mics."
"It sounds like he's shaking the dust out of the closet," said Patrick Whalen, 49, of Scottsdale. "He's rough on his band -- he should loosen up and let it flow from the soul. He's a great musician, though -- he's written some of the best music ever."
It was not a grandiose stage production, however, that brought fans out, it was Morrison's timeless R&B-laced rock 'n' roll.
Tony Duran, 59, of Phoenix said Van Morrison was much better on Wednesday than the previous time he saw him perform.
"The last time I saw him, 28 years ago at the Celebrity Theatre, a drunken guest threw a beer can on stage and he walked off and didn't come back," Duran says. "This time there was no jive, he just played. It was like watching a jazz band."
Van's 'Back on Top' in Berkeley By Jim Harrington
The Belfast Cowboy rode into Berkeley and presented a very memorable night of music Tuesday.
It wasn't quite as good as the show Van Morrison put on at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco back in March. But it was far better than the majority of Morrison gigs that I've seen in 14 years of reviewing live music in the Bay Area.
The 61-year-old native of Northern Ireland, as has been well documented, has certainly turned in his share of mediocre performances over the course of his legendary career. Yet it's been impossible to write him off as live performer since he's sporadically shown the ability to lift his game to a very high level — which is exactly what happened at the Greek Theatre.
Tuesday night's show had one thing going for it from the get-go: the start time.
Earlier this year, his Masonic gig started promptly at 6:45 p.m. On a Friday night. In the parking hell of San Francisco's Nob Hill. That meant that anyone who didn't live in the City by the Bay had a really difficult time getting to the show on time.
In contrast, his Greek gig started at the more reasonably time of 7:30 p.m. That made things easier, but still not great. Without the cushion provided by an opening act, Van the Man took the stage promptly at 7:30 p.m. (maybe 7:28 p.m.) and many folks were still trying to find their seats as late as the fourth song.
Those latecomers didn't miss all that much. It took Morrison a few songs to warm up, and he really didn't start rolling until a third of the way into his 90-minute set.
Backed by a group of fine players, including steel-guitar guru Cindy Cashdollar, the rock icon first hit the crowd with an average take on the title track on 1999's "Back on Top."
At this point, we were forced to take his word — he didn't initially do anything to show us that he was, indeed, "Back on Top." He followed with another lukewarm offering, the title track to this year's "Pay the Devil."
Things began to click for Van the Man a few songs later as he jumped and jived his way through "Fame," one of the more memorable cuts from 2003's jazz-influenced "What's Wrong With This Picture?" CD. His winning ways continued on the sweet "Irish Heartbeat."
Morrison was really feeling it by the time he hit, ironically, "I'm Not Feeling It Anymore" from 1991's superb
"Hymns to the Silence" disc. The band, which seemed to feed off its leader instead of the other way around, was also flying at full throttle by midway through the concert.
The vocalist then called out a special guest — and, no, it wasn't Carlos Santana, the usual guest at seemingly all Bay Area concerts. He brought out his daughter Shana Morrison for a touching family duet on "Sometimes We Cry," the tender ballad found on 1997's "Healing Game."
Making an abrupt left turn, Morrison plunged headfirst into the rowdy rambler "Playhouse," one of a handful original compositions from the cover-song heavy "Pay the Devil." The tune featured some of Cashdollar's most impressive slide work of the night.
The highlight of the show came when Morrison grabbed the alto sax for the traditional "Saint James Infirmary," a tune he recorded on the "What's Wrong With This Picture?" album. That gorgeous number is a regular highlight of recent Morrison shows, and it certainly wowed fans at the Masonic back in March.
Vocally, Morrison played it fairly straightforward, keeping the scatting and tomfoolery to a minimum, as he sang warm versions of the classic hits "Moondance" and "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)." In general, he did a better job with the hits on this night than he did at the Masonic. Conversely, the "Pay the Devil" tracks performed at the Greek didn't quite live up to the memories of March.
Morrison closed the show strongly, ending the main set with hyped-up versions of "Wild Night" and "Brown Eyed Girl" then returning for an encore of the immortal "Gloria."
It's hard to argue with those three selections, so I won't even try. Instead, I'll just hand it to Van the Man for living up to his nickname in Berkeley.
Write music critic Jim Harrington at jharrington@angnewspapers.com. For more concert coverage, visit http://www.insidebayarea.com/music.
Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film Van Morrison is to be honoured for his musical contribution to film at a star-studded bash ahead of next year’s Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, it was revealed today.
The Belfast-born star is to be one of three Irish people recognised at the second annual Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film party in February. The other two have yet to be named.
Morrison’s music has featured in nearly 50 films including the upcoming Martin Scorcese crime thriller The Departed.
His songs have also appeared in Breakfast On Pluto, What a Girl Wants, The Royal Tenenbaums, Brigid Jones’ Diary, One Fine Day, When a Man Love a Woman, Thelma and Louise and As Good As It Gets.
Film directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, along with music producer and DJ David Holmes, were honoured at last year’s inaugural celebration.
Big screen luminaries including Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard and Angelica Houston were among those who turned out for the party.
The US-Ireland Alliance, set up to foster links between both countries, co-hosts the event with the Irish Film Board before the annual Academy Awards ceremony.
Trina Vargo, founder and president of the alliance, said the event was also about bringing together leaders in Irish and Hollywood film at a fun, casual party.
She said it was a great precursor to the black tie and couture evenings during the Oscars.
