New Exclusive Van Interview In The Word

The Word magazine has a new 5 page interview with Van.

Excerpts from interview:

On the creative process:
You've got this stuff running through your head all the time. Sometimes you just want to turn it off. It can be annoying to have to go and get a paper an write it all down.

These thoughts, these half dreams, these bits and pieces that people might say. it can be so annoying that sometimes you just want it to go away.

On Being A Rock Star:
Being famous is f*****g hard work. It's not a f*****g privileged position.

On Writing New Songs:
It gets harder not easier as you get older.. Iwrite songs now people don't
relate to.

On Radio:
Most of the stuff on the radio is crap pop music that I don't want to listen to.

On iPods:
Why would I need one. I've been listening to music all my life without one.

Van revealed how his best albums would have been much better if he hadn't
been so broke when he first recorded them in the 1960's. He explained 'there was no money coming through to do what I really wanted to do. I was totally broke and I just couldn't present my material in the way that I wanted.'

(Thanks To Brian In Belfast)

Vote For Ireland's Greatest Living Musician

Ireland's Greatest Living Musician

As part of this year's People of the Year Awards, music buffs the length and breadth of Ireland are being asked to cast their votes for a special award in recognition of Ireland's Greatest Living Musician.

Could it be Van Morrison or Paul Brady? Bono or Enya? What about Phil Coulter, Ronan Keating or Christy Moore? Or could it be someone else entirely? Ireland's music industry has been graced with so much talent and we're asking you, the public, to choose who you think is the greatest!

Cast your vote using the online nomination form below, or text REHAB followed by your nominee's name to 53503 (texts cost 30 cent inc. VAT. Mobile operator charges apply)

A top class adjudication panel will select the winner from the 15 most popular nominees, as voted for by the public, so get voting now.

The awards ceremony and gala dinner will take place in the City West Hotel, Saggart on Saturday, 8th September 2007 and will be televised live by RTE.

Go here to vote. Voting Closes July 20th.

12-July-07 Liverpool

Setlist:
Enlightenment
Real Real Gone > You Send Me
Days Like This
Baby Please Don’t Go
Cleaning Windows > Boppin’ The Blues >
Be Bop A Lula
Playhouse
There Stands The Glass
Big Blue Diamonds
Bright Side Of The Road
Wild Night
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Stop Drinking
Into The Mystic
Precious Time
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Moondance
Jackie Wilson Said
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

George Melly: 1926-2007

"George was a dear friend, a uniquely gifted character and a true original. He'll be sadly missed."
-Van Morrison









Melly On Van's Contribution To The Ultimate Melly:

It’s 11am and George Melly, clad in kaftan and eye patch, is eating breakfast — a banana, a chocolate digestive and a nip of Famous Grouse. His charming but heavily moulting cat Ollie purrs on his lap. I’m at his West London home to discuss the veteran singer’s new album — The Ultimate Melly — a surprisingly joyous affair achieved despite the onset of deafness, vertigo, bad knees, impotence and numerous other maladies described in detail in last year’s bout of autobiography, Slowing Down.

He gestures me to a chair shaped like a hand and offers the bottle. But, alas, we’re off to a bad start. I compliment him on the rollicking duet with Van Morrison that opens the album, Midnight Cannonball, and the reclusive Irishman’s contribution to Backwater Blues, a 1927 anthem to a New Orleans flood disaster once sung by Melly’s great hero Bessie Smith.

The singer looks slightly pained. “Yes, but Van Morrison’s secretary or minder or whoever rang up to say that he would like it to be known that he is not to be used as a selling point, and that if we do, he will withdraw his consent and create chaos.”

But isn’t the album out already? Melly chews his banana thoughtfully. “Yes, but he could put an injunction on it. Stop more copies.” So, note to Mr Morrison’s lawyers: I had to drag it out of him.

It turns out that Morrison and Melly met at the Brecon Jazz Festival some years ago. “I was in the audience and he asked me up on stage. Diana [George’s wife of 44 years] is a rabid fan and she nearly ended up under the seat with embarrassment. But she gradually came out because it went well and the audience liked it.”

Melly then steers the conversation on to his other guest artists — Jacqui Dankworth, the Swingle Singers — on what is, he assures me, his best album yet. Truth is that any album from Melly, now 79, might be counted a minor miracle. His body has taken a pounding during a life that has veered, sometimes chaotically, between jazz singing, boozing, writing, Surrealist art appreciation and liberal dollops of sex. Oh, and he used to smoke 70 a day.

Also, by the laws of fashion, the ancient brand of jazz that he purveys — discovered while he was at Stowe public school — should have been killed off by the rock’n’roll boom of the late Fifties. “The band knew something was up when we did a concert with Tommy Steele,” Melly recalls. “We did our set and the audience was quieter than usual. Then Tommy Steele came on and these small girls exploded into shrieks. Our trombonist, Frank Parr — famously depressive — said we would all be on the breadline.”

But Melly, of course, had a good Sixties after turning to writing — both books and journalism. “I did so well because they were amazed that a jazz musician could put a sentence together.”

He got to know the new pop stars — The Who, Mick Jagger — and rather liked them. Perhaps it’s not surprising since he pioneered the rock lifestyle before rock was invented. “A few rock’n’rollers read my book about the old jazz scene, Owning Up, and tell me (affects Mockney accent), ‘It ain’t changed, ’as it?’”

Melly’s marriage to Diana did not preclude a string of affairs by both parties — George started his sexual life gay but had moved to heterosexuality by middle age. Diana wrote of the vicissitudes of an “open” marriage that worked rather better for husband than wife in her own fine memoir last year, Take a Girl Like Me.

She detailed other difficulties of living with Melly. To counteract his growing deafness, she once gave him a mobile phone that vibrated. When he complained that it did not work, she discovered that he had been carrying round an electric razor. But, as Melly puts it, a marriage that “began with passion is ending with compassion”.

So does Melly have any regrets? About the fags, about the mistresses, about the Magrittes he had to sell to pay his tax bills? He takes a nip of Scotch and declares with a flourish: “I think of myself as a plump, masculine Edith Piaf. Je ne regrette . . . rien.”

George Melly, 80, Jazz Singer With Flair for Extravagance, Is Dead

George Melly, an eccentric known as a jazz and blues singer, an expert on Surrealism, an author, a raconteur and a cultural critic — as well as a clotheshorse for loud zoot suits, jaunty fedoras and glow-in-the-dark ties — died yesterday at his London home. He was 80.

He died after suffering from emphysema and dementia, his wife, Diana Melly, told The Associated Press.

Mr. Melly’s largest fame came for helping revive and define old-time jazz in the Britain of the 1950s and ’60s. A mix of Dixieland, old-time British music hall styles and authentic blues, this brand of jazz came to be called “trad jazz” — “trad” meaning traditional.

Though jazz reviewers often despised the banjos and bowlers of trad music, it drew an enthusiastic following that has not completely disappeared even as other jazz genres have mostly superseded it. Mr. Melly, whose specialty was imitating the blues legend Bessie Smith, performed his last concert a week ago, wearing African robes and sitting in a wheelchair. He finished his final album the day before he died.

His showmanship knew few bounds as he generously nourished his image as “the dean of decadence” and “good-time George” with three tell-all autobiographies, onstage dirty jokes and outrageous tidbits for newspaper reporters. In 2001 he told a reporter for the newspaper Scotland on Sunday that becoming impotent was like being “unchained from a lunatic.”

“As a surrealist, I quite enjoy having dementia,” he said in an interview with Time Out London last month.

His achievements belied his perhaps affected silliness. He wrote well-reviewed books on Surrealist, Pop and naïve art, including “Revolt into Style” (1970); was a critic of pop music television and film for The Observer, the London newspaper; and wrote bitingly pithy words for a popular cartoon strip.

Alan George Heywood Melly was born in Liverpool on Aug. 17, 1926, the son of a wool broker and an actress who may have intentionally raised him to be unconventional. In “Scouse Mouse, or I Never Got Over It: An Autobiography” (1984) (scouse refers to a Liverpool native and his dialect), Mr. Melly recounted that his mother wanted him and his siblings to see their parents naked, usually in the bathroom, as a matter of routine. Mr. Melly was 16 when he first heard Smith sing “Gimme a Pig Foot” and fell in love with her and her music. In an interview with The Herald, a Scottish newspaper, in 2005, he said he found jazz “a marvelous antithesis to suburban Liverpool life, and we went wildly at it.”

At Stowe, an English boarding and day school, he loved to listen to crackly 78s by Smith, Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton. He joined the Royal Navy at the end of World War II because he thought the uniforms were nicer than those of other services. Then he was given desk duty and was not allowed to wear the bell-bottoms he had admired. He never saw combat and was almost court-martialed for distributing anarchist literature.

After the war he found work in a Surrealist art gallery in London and drifted into jazz music. He sang with Mick Mulligan’s Magnolia Jazz Band during the trad boom. He made successful records but gave up music in 1962 to concentrate on writing.

In 1974 he returned to jazz with John Chilton’s Feetwarmers. They toured theaters, colleges and pubs all over Britain, and their Christmas performances at Ronnie Scott’s, a popular jazz club in London, became a tradition. For his personal Act II, Mr. Melly chose first to affect the look of an American gangster with black suit, black shirt, white tie and hat, then switched to eclectically garish outfits when, as he put it, “the moths got to the crotch” of his gangster get-ups.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Melly is survived by his son, Tom; his daughter, Pandora; his stepdaughter, Candy; and his four grandchildren, according to The Associated Press.

In the 2001 interview with Scotland on Sunday, Mr. Melly discussed getting older.

“Billie Holiday sang what I feel in one verse,” he said: “I ain’t got no future, but Lord, Lord, what a past.”

05-July-07 Toronto Concert Review

Toronto Sun:
Music legend delivers powerful performance for his legions of fans at the Hummingbird Centre

While he's been known to be erratic at times, the near-capacity crowd at the Hummingbird Centre last night saw the best of Van Morrison.

The singer, who will turn 62 next month, delivered a strong 19-song, 100-minute set that melded country, blues, jazz and a whole lot of soul emanating from his powerful, booming pipes.

Backed by a 10-piece band, who started the show with Train Kept A Rollin', Van Morrison sauntered onstage playing harmonica to Talk Is Cheap. The creepy, Delta blues-inspired tune got things off on the right foot as the crowd immediately got into the tune.

From there, Van Morrison donned a saxophone for the swinging, jazzy All Work And No Play. The musician also showed some of his conducting skills by gently giving cues and directions to his guitarists, drummer and piano player.

"Thank you!" he said prior to the slow, country-oriented Magic Time that came complete with pedal steel accentuating the tune. But while the singer doled out some brief sax solos, it was his timeless voice which all paid a rather handsome price to hear.

With a catalogue that is as rich and varied as his, and given the fact that a Van Morrison set isn't exactly a greatest hits-by-numbers affair, there were certain standouts absent on this night, including Domino, Brown Eyed Girl and Moondance. Yet he was more than able to carry the show on the backs of songs like the warm, island flavored Raincheck and Cleaning Windows, the latter featuring a snippet of Gene Vincent's Be Bop A Lula.

Perhaps one of the odder moments of the evening was a reworked version of Have I Told You Lately that seemed to lean more towards a lounge version than the Celtic-tinged ballad it was originally known for.


Van Morrison made up for this slight shortcoming though with powerful, hair-raising Georgia On My Mind which earned a standing ovation.

Another highlight was Bright Side Of The Road which featured some banjo and fiddle. It was also a good example of how Van Morrison is rather generous with his band. While not going with a setlist and basically calling out songs the way a football quarterback would call out plays, he definitely gives his musicians solos to show their wares.

Known to say very little throughout a show, Van Morrison announced that Blue And Green was from his new compilation The Best Of Van Morrison Volume 3. The tune had him scatting, taking the song down before building it back up and ending on a sax solo which tested his wind. "I didn't know I'd have to do 30 years of pilates for that," he quipped afterwards.

The homestretch featured more material that wouldn't be recognized by casual fans but definitely delivered the goods, including the New Orleans dirge-ish Saint James Infirmary that featured Van Morrison playing sax while one of his band played trumpet.

Other jewels nearing the end of the night included Playhouse, Precious Time and the rowdy Gloria. To a standing ovation, Van Morrison left the same way he came in with harmonica in hand to cap off a great night.

Sun Rating: 4 out of 5
-JASON MACNEIL

Setlist:

Train Kept a Rollin' (Ned)
Talk Is Cheap
All Work and No Play
Magic Time
Enlightenment
Cleaning Windows
Raincheck>River of Time
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately
Georgia
Bright Side of the Road
Blue and Green
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby
St James Infirmary
Playhouse
Precious Time
Help Me
And The Healing Has Begun
Gloria

04-July-07 Ottawa Concert Review

The Ottawa Citizen:
Blues legend lets music do the talking

Van Morrison showed little of his curmudgeonly streak as he breezed through a crowd-pleasing set on opening night of the Ottawa Bluesfest. It was a glorious christening for the spacious new site on the grounds of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats.

The audience spanned acres, from the hordes of lawnchairs packed tightly together in front of the sound board, all the way back to open grassy patches where hippie moms danced with their children.

Though he said few words to the audience and kept his eyes closed through most of his performance, which are often two signs of a shy performer, Morrison expressed himself through his music, the song selection letting us know he was pleased to be back in the nation's capital after something like 40 years.

His last concert here was a coffeehouse gig at Le Hibou in the 1960s.

But evidently he wasn't thrilled enough to play an encore. The concert ended, like clockwork, at 9 p.m., exactly 90 minutes after it started. There was a brief lull before the hypnotic strains of Morrison's final song, Gloria, were blasted out of our brains by the screaming guitar of Elmer Ferrer's opener, a full-throttle cover of Immigrant Song.

On the Rogers stage across the plaza, the Cuban guitarslinger was set up and ready to go moments after Morrison departed.

The Belfast Cowboy attracted a record crowd, estimated at 35,000, to the festival. On stage with him was a top-notch showband that included a full contingent of backing vocalists, as well as musicians on trumpet, organ, violin, banjo and pedal steel, along with the usual bass, drums and guitar.

While their individual contributions bolstered the songs, their strength as a band contributed a large part to the quality of the concert.

Morrison might have seemed a little one-dimensional if not for the talent and diversity of his band members' playing.

There was a sense of relief to realize that Morrison was aiming to please, musically.

His song selection offered plenty of familiar material to groove along to, and one of his most popular songs, Moondance, made a great icebreaker early in the set.

Not all of it was his, as Morrison also likes to tackle classic material, injecting plenty of blues into Baby Please Don't Go. A vintage vibe permeated last night's performance, which started with a loose, unhurried meander through Talk Is Cheap.


In a grey suit that lent an air of dignity to his pudgy frame, his face was all but hidden under oversize glasses and the brim of a straw fedora.

The soulful brass and earthy organ brightened up All Work No Play, while a summery banjo added colour to Bright Side of the Road.

Morrison also included the lightly funky Cleaning Windows, the heavenly Into The Mystic, and big bold Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile), and his tongue-in-cheek anti-drinking chant, Stop Drinking (it is worth noting Morrison was sipping water on stage).

At one point, as Morrison settled into a shimmering Days Like This, the tightly packed crowd immediately behind the sound tent became restless. It was still early in the concert, and they could hear everything, but couldn't see a thing and couldn't get any closer. To their delight, someone convinced the powers that be to tear down the tent's removeable walls.

Had Morrison happened to glance that far out in the crowd, he would have seen a few hundred more faces beaming at the view that was suddenly revealed to them.
-Lynn Saxberg

Canoe:
Bluesfest kicked off the 14th annual festival of outdoor musical mayhem with Irish soulman Van Morrison last night, and 35,000 fans packed the new LeBreton Flats venue to hear the legend at work.

The last time the Belfast Cowboy was in Ottawa was 1969, when he played Le Hibou in the Market.

Nearly four decades later, little has changed about Morrison. Both he and his amazing repertoire of blue-eyed soul have grown.

Accompanied by a 10-piece band and wearing his elegantly funky straw fedora, the 61-year-old opened his date with destiny with the wry Talk Is Cheap, with Morrison himself blowing harmonica off bouncy Hammond organ.

Not surprisingly, the notoriously private star didn't say a word for the first hour, but kept the show rolling one song after another with All Work, No Play and a Tower of Power version of Moondance with brass horns giving it even more of a Motown feel.

Morrison methodically built a seductive setlist, with a superb flow of songs that had an almost narcotic effect on the fans who were crowded like sardines in front of the huge MBNA stage.

With one of the most incomprehensibly delicious voices in all music -- one that was once described as a tenor saxophone jammed down Morrison's throat -- the seemingly ageless crooner showed why he's been wowing crowds across Canada on his current tour.

At times, you could hear his singing penetrate inside the Canadian War Museum. His voice is an instrument that seems only to have improved and mellowed with 40 years of use.

Happily, he stayed in a funkadelic soulful groove with an irresistibly bouncy boogie-woogie playing of Cleaning Windows Bopping before Days Like This, with the legend himself on sax and backup singers reminding him there would be days like this, a snappy version of Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, Brown Eyed Girl and an inspired and raunchy version of Gloria.

If crowds this large keep filing in, this year's edition of Bluesfest could be on track to annihilate past attendance records.

Which will be wonderful on paper, but not so wonderful if you're one of hundreds of fans stuck in a sea of thousands.
-DENIS ARMSTRONG


I thought it was awful:

Nothing in my little realm has led to so many heated disagreements this week as that blasted Van Morrison concert at Bluesfest on Wednesday.

I thought it was awful. Several others I spoke to, including a couple with solid musical grounding, thought it was wonderful.

It seems so often true of a musical performance that one person hears black, another white. How can this be?

It may actually be true that no two people attend exactly the same concert, just as no two people are identically affected by the same book.

We were given a pair of free tickets (face value $100) at the last minute and, after some frenzied packing and a little furious pedalling, arrived at
the rear gate at the stroke of 7:30 p.m.

We were sitting in the last quarter of the crowd, estimated at 35,000. The sound was muddy, to the point that it sounded like Morrison was talking the
lyrics, not singing them. A view of the large screens was blocked by those who chose to stand. When I caught the odd glimpse, the sound wasn't in sync with the picture.

The atmosphere in our petit coin was that of a family picnic. There was a young couple ahead of us with an infant. They were comfortably seated on
folding chairs. On occasion, she breastfed the little human.

There was this constant criss-crossing of human traffic. Everybody seemed to be going somewhere. There was much yakking, nothing approaching dancing.

When rock beauties like Domino and Brown-Eyed Girl are met with folded arms, something is out of whack. The real Van Morrison, meanwhile, was
somewhere way, way over there. Guy in the hat, they tell me.

It had rained that day, so the crowd was fully MEC-ed out. A family ahead of us had a large, roll-up camping mattress, upon which a couple of
kids lolled about. There was a lady in a wheelchair behind us. Many people had rain gear at the ready.

And grandma and grandpa were there. No, not mine. Everybody else's. My God, it's the same, timeless music. How did all you people get so old?

The location for Bluesfest is actually terrific, but not without shortcomings. For one thing, the site is too flat. A natural bowl shape would be a great improvement. However, access by transit, on foot, or on a bike path is ideal.

I had wanted a glass of amber refreshment, but took one look at the lineups and gave up. Me and the young lad settled on ice tea, raspberry-flavoured.
Maybe that was the problem. Perhaps a 61-year-old rocker, a testy one at that, is best digested in a state other than stone-cold sobriety.

What is it about Ottawa and the provision of food and drink to large crowds? We need help.

How, after months and months of preparation, do they run out of food at Lansdowne Park during a double-header soccer game, a marathon stretch
during which 25,000 fans were not granted in-out privileges?

It put me in mind of the time, at Lynx Stadium, that they ran out of hotdogs. It was the second inning.

So, the next night, for Bob Dylan, imagine how much wiser I am.

Cycled over again, but this time just stood on the south-side sidewalk with a clean view of a large screen. There were hundreds of people out there,
enjoying the show for nothing.

People were walking dogs, or strolling, or Rollerblading. The urban parade came and went.

The quality of the sound, if anything, was better than the night before. As for a little taste of something, well, forgive me Father, let's just say
I carried provisions on my person.

Met up with a couple of my regular rounders after the concert. The one lad, a keyboard player of minor reputation, absolutely gushed about the Van
Morrison performance. Band was wonderful, Van was in fine voice, a momentous musical occasion, yada nauseam.

It may simply be a matter that musical intimacy, with a crowd of 35,000 in the open air, is nigh impossible.

More likely, it is two other factors: location and expectation. If you love the Van already, arrived ripe with anticipation, found a good spot near the
front and had all the drink you desired, then it was probably a magical 90 minutes.

If you arrived late with but a moment's buildup, and were stuck at the back then you experienced a different concert altogether -- first you barely
heard the blues, then you sang them all the way home.
-Kelly Egan

Setlist:
Talk is Cheap
All Work and no Play
Moondance
Enlightenment
Cleaning Windows
Days Like This
Stop Drinking
Bright Side of the Road
Playhouse
Into the Mystic
Domino
Here Comes the Night
Jackie Wilson Said
Baby, Please Don’t Go
Real Real Gone
Wonderful Remark
Wild Night
Precious Time
Don’t Start Crying Now
Have I Told You Lately
Brown-Eyed Girl
Gloria

03-July-07 Montreal Concert Review

The Gazette (Montreal): Van Morrison improves with age

Sam Cooke and Ray Charles covers among best received

During a dreamy version of Stranded during Van Morrison's sold-out show at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts last night, steel guitar player Sarah Jory playfully quoted the 1959 hit Sleepwalk by Santo and Johnny.

It was a perfect moment of musical irony, because the mercurial Morrison refuses to sleepwalk his way through a safe set of hits, as so many of his contemporaries do.

When he last played here in 1986, some screamed betrayal when they got only Moondance from the Van 101 catalogue.

Last night, he exhumed Moondance again, but garage-band masterwork Gloria was the only other number in the 18-song set that would be known to the fairweather follower - unless you count what fans jokingly refer to as the Vegas version of Have I Told You Lately.

This time, however, it was delight - not disappointment - from a crowd that seemed completely on board with a set that was heavy on recent material and classic blues covers. In fact, Precious Time, a bouncy Sam Cooke-influenced song from the 1999 album Back On Top, was among the best received - as were superb covers of Georgia On My Mind and I Can't Stop Loving You.

If you're going to take on Ray Charles, you'd better know what you're doing - and Morrison, a truly great singer who seems to improve with age, clearly does. The man thought to be a curmudgeon even seemed to be having fun with his 10-member band, directing the soloists with a pointed finger, a meaningful glance or a fist on the downswing.

When the Belfast Cowboy began to wind things down with the Celtic-flavoured beauty, And the Healing Has Begun, he could have been referring to the audience love he missed out on last time: when the clock stopped ticking, it seems we got 15 minutes more than the 90 he's reportedly been sticking to in other cities.
-BERNARD PERUSSE

National Post:
At the midpoint of the festival, jazz fatigue can start to set in. Mindful of this, organizers legislated a day of relative rest on Tuesday, and the rest of the fest is lighter on heavy-hitting jazz cats but heavier on what should be impressive outdoor shows featuring acts from around the world.

Before venturing into the fresh air, there’s time for one hotly-tipped indoor event: a concert at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier by Van Morrison.

It’s been 21 years since the Belfast Cowboy’s last appearance at the festival, where he was apparently subject to audience hostility for playing an obscurity-laden set. This time out, he and his 10-piece band offer up some old chestnuts, although a number of them aren’t his. “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Georgia on My Mind” and Sam Cooke’s “Precious Time” are wheeled out in agreeable but drowsy versions; by the time he sings his own oft-covered “Have I Told You Lately,” Morrison might as well be a karaoke version of himself, playing someone’s wedding for an astronomical fee.

Thankfully, he is in great voice, singing with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of soul, treating us to some scat singing which makes liberal use of the syllable “blub,” and inexplicably — but amusingly — ‘baaaa’-ing like a sheep. Morrison occasionally draws out some ballsier songs, although these also tend to be covers (the blues standard “St. James Infirmary,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me”).

We do get an encore rendition of the famous rocker “Gloria,” but delivered at a measured pace. Onstage, the man with a reputation for being a cantankerous curmudgeon seems content, even consenting to thank the crowd after many numbers, and — gasp! — playing past the 90 minutes he regularly stipulates in his contracts. It’s a shame, then, that he doesn’t delve farther into his extensive back catalogue, and that the most recent of his own songs that he pulls out, “Playhouse,” is a bog-standard countrified blues number. At 61, Morrison isn’t yet ready for his senior citizens’ card, but artistically, it sounds as though he’s put himself out to the pasture he used to evoke on ambitious albums such as Astral Weeks and Veedon Fleece. Still, the vast majority of the crowd is smiling, and if they feel they’ve spent their $150 wisely, why complain?

Just outside the theatre, a free concert is about to begin, and Seun Kuti, leading his late father Fela’s afrobeat band Egypt 80, is determined to keep all 100,000 people who’ve gathered on the Rue St. Catherine grooving. It may not be a wonderful night for a moondance, but the rain is holding off. All the better because the festival, known for its outdoor “Grand Spectacles,” has outdone itself here: Kuti’s large and unstoppably funky band is accompanied by dancers on side stages, huge projections of animated images on buildings, and fireworks at the finale which surround the by now heaving throng.

Very few artists have managed to marry political consciousness and celebration like the Kuti clan, and with Egypt 80, the interlocking grooves and the wildly energetic dancing aren’t so much a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down as they are an inseparable part of the message. So just as Kuti sings his and his father’s songs about poverty and corruption, he’s not hectoring us or pleading, but positing a better, more communal approach to life that is echoed by the response of the huge crowd of varying ages, races, and — presumably — economic backgrounds outside.

Kuti isn’t just offering us a vision of a better life; he’s giving us one, if only for a couple of hours.

-Mike Doherty


La page à Maple Pat:
(Translated via Le Google)

It is done. I can say that I saw Van Morrison in spectacle at least once in my life and what a time! My ticket was expensive to me, but I do not regret it. In spite of about sixty, Van Morrison always sings with his trippes. Some say it cold with the public, but Van forever carried to open with the public, to fill it of merit etc, but I call not that of the coldness. If it were cold, it would not be delivered with as much energy in its songs, because it does not only make be satisfied to sing. It emanates from this man one will have quasi mystical. Van the man is like a demigod. Stubborn person, it always was it. Also reserved, but speak me about a singer as Van who does not balance us bullshit like: “You' Re the greatest crowd in the world” (say in front of all public world by certain singers). No escapades of Diva in lack of attention which requires full Perrier water the cabin or a toilet out of gold. Van delivers the goods with quasi a perfection, known as: Thank you Montreal” and then from goes away. Thank you very much good evening. No the tears as Marie-Chantal Toupin who Braille with each time it sings with the regattas of Valleyfield (but it is a woman and the women are more sensitive hahaha). At once left scene, it turns over to its life intimates and will pass in the newspapers of the following day for the quality of its service and not for stories of excess and abuse all kinds. Van Morrison is a singer who does not have anything any more to prove. It is liked or it is not liked. This type always knew well to be surrounded musicians of quality. A good chemistry, an always perfect play. In more the sound was very good. Small Difficulty: On the majority of the songs sung by Van, I knew only 7 of them… Before qualifying me false fan, let explain you to me. Van Morrison endisqué about thirty discs and writes at least a hundred songs. That does not make a long time that I discovered this singer and I was only interested that in his touts beginnings. That however did not prevent me from discovering beautiful songs. Therefore, I had a superb evening and when I listen to Van Morrison on my radio, I can finally say that I saw this man for truth!

And here's Rory's Review:

The Montreal audience was very appreciative and showed Van the love throughout the show and I think Van was feeling it. Several times in the show he was laughing and playing with the songs a bit. Bouncing on his toes during All Work And No Play, really pounding out the "no peace" during Georgia, spraying out saliva during St. James Infirmary (sounds gross, but he was into the moment.) He still has conflicts with the rhythm section and he is giving them constant feedback - they simply don't do a good job reading him.

John Allair earned his "Showboat" moniker tonight. He had the greatest number of solos and took full advantage of it giving us several one handed, up off the seat demonstrations, even giving us the Rock-n-Roll Finger during Talk Is Cheap. Sarah Jory was a treat. John Platania got plenty of play, but I think he needs to spend more time with the band in order to make a significant contribution. Tony Fitzbiggons picked at his violin for a solo during Help Me - entertaining for sure.

For performances, the highlights for me were Georgia ("No PEACE!!"), Blue & Green (was this the first time played live?), and And The Healing Has Begun (lots of backstreet jelly rolls). We got a full 102 minutes from Van tonight, even getting a second encore with Gloria. The entire crowd on its feet, singing right along with Van.

Overall rating - 7. A good, satisfied 7. Worth the trip for sure.

I shot two video clips - Blue And Green as well as And The Healing Has Begun. I'll try to get them up shortly, of course with the usual disclaimers on quality. :-)

The pre-show meetup was top notch and I finally met the Bells of Tennessee, Mary and Don (or is that Don and Mary?). Mike and his wife Judy from Maryland, Phil from Virginia, Tony from Ottawa, Bill from New Jersey, Bob's friend Ray, Bob's son Benjamin (and Benjamin's friend - sorry that is one name that escapes me at the moment), Dan, Shannon, and our host Bob.
Sorry if I forgot anyone or got a name incorrect. I need to take notes like I do at the show itself!

Best,
Rory

Le Setlist:
Train Kept A Rollin' [Ned Edwards]
All Saints Day
All Work And No Play
Magic Time
Raincheck
Back On Top
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately
Talk Is Cheap
Georgia
Playhouse
I Can't Stop Loving You
Moondance
Blue And Green
St. James Infirmary
Precious Time
And The Healing Has Begun
Help Me
Gloria

29-June-07 Crathes Concert

Setlist:
Wonderful Remark
Enlightenment
Stranded
Cleaning Windows
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Playhouse
Bright Side Of The Road
The Beauty Of The Days Gone By
Real Real Gone >You Send Me
Moondance
Talk Is Cheap
All Work And No Play
Days Like This
Help Me
Did Ye Get Healed?
Precious Time
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Montreal Gets Ready For Van

The Gazette: Van is not always a slave to fan faves, as his last PdA show proved:

Van Morrison last played the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 5, 1986 - 13 years after his previous appearance at Plateau Hall in Lafontaine Park.

For some, the show at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts did not go down well. After an opening set by Mose Allison, Morrison virtually
ignored his hits from the '60s and '70s, preferring to stick to the kind of leisurely, pastoral meditations that dominated his just-released No
Guru, No Method, No Teacher. The audience disappointment was palpable and Morrison reacted in kind.

John Griffin reviewed the show for the Gazette. Acknowledging Morrison's artistic need to get past the early hits, he described some of the tension in the room. "(Morrison) played only Moondance from his early days, and that early on in the show, prompting one in the crowd to shout later, 'How
dare you keep us in suspense?' " Griffin wrote. "That fan had missed the point, but Morrison's meandering set and overt hostility - his first
encore was a caustic reading of Sondheim's Send in the Clowns - did nothing to sooth crushed expectations."

Jazz festival artistic director Andre Menard, who was also at the show, said he remembered no sense of disappointment. "It was fantastic. Some people felt let down by the fact that he did not do many hits, but great artists like him could always play new stuff and I really don't mind," Menard said.

"I think these questions have been resolved by Bob Dylan over the years," he said. "Artists of their stature don't have to play their hits in identical versions as if they were a jukebox."

Menard said the jazz festival organizers tried to bring the mercurial Morrison back year after year. "We talked to his agent in November (last year) and put in an offer," Menard said. "They said, 'No. It won't be happening.' They called back in March and said, 'He might do it. Can you make the money a bit better?' We offered the money quoted and then they
said, 'No. It's not happening.' " The deal came out of left field after the indoor concerts were announced and the pamphlet printed up. "They said
'It's OK, the offer that you made. Van played New Orleans and he feels like he has to play jazz festivals. He wants to play Montreal,' " Menard said.

Luckily, July 3 was one of the three free Big Event nights, featuring Seun Kuti, which left most indoor venues unused. Morrison was booked, once again, into Salle Wilfrid Pelletier. "It was a bit laborious, but I don't mind. He's here," Menard said.

But even if Morrison hadn't been available that night, Menard said he would have found a way to fit him in somewhere. "I would have booked him on
Monday morning if I had to," he said, laughing. "We really wanted him."

Menard offered no speculation on what kind of show Morrison would do this time around. "Coming to the jazz festival, he might feel like he has to do the jazzier stuff," he said. "We really don't know what he's going to do. I would not predict anything on Van Morrison's choices."

Those who don't mind taking the risk of spoiling their surprise & would like to see a few recent set lists can go to http://vanmorrisonnews.blogspot.com
-BERNARD PERUSSE

The Best Of Van Morrison Vol. 3

Includes The New Van Morrison/Tom Jones Duet, Cry For Home:

Listen Here
(This version of a song first heard on 1983’s ‘Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart’, was cut in 1997 but has remained unheard until now.)

The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 is a comprehensive collection of Van’s later material (1993 - 2005) and includes two previously unreleased tracks and duets with Tom Jones, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Ray Charles among others. It is a must for fans old and new.


You can hear some of the tracks on Van's MySpace page.

EMI Catalogue Marketing are honoured to release The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 on 11th June 2007, preceded by a new single on 4th June.

A 2 CD collection featuring 31 tracks, The Best of Van Morrison is a comprehensive collection of Van’s later material and includes two previously unreleased tracks and duets with Tom Jones, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Ray Charles among others. It is a must for fans old and new.

CD1
1. Cry For Home with Tom Jones (previously unreleased)
2. Too Long In Exile
3. Gloria with John Lee Hooker
4. Help Me with Junior Wells (live)
5. Lonely Avenue / 4 O’ Clock In The Morning with Jimmy Witherspoon (live)
6. Days Like This
7. Ancient Highway
8. Raincheck
9. Moondance
10. Centerpiece with Georgie Fame & Annie Ross
11. That's Life (live)
12. Benediction (re-mix) with Georgie Fame & Ben Sidran
13. The Healing Game (re-mix)
14. I Don't Want To Go On Without You with Jim Hunter


CD2
1. Shenandoah with The Chieftains
2. Precious Time
3. Back On Top (re-mix)
4. When The Leaves Come Falling Down
5. Lost John with Lonnie Donegan (live)
6. Tupelo Honey with Bobby Bland (previously unreleased)
7. Meet Me In The Indian Summer (Orchestral version) (re-mix)
8. Georgia On My Mind
9. Hey Mr. DJ
10. Steal My Heart Away
11. Crazy Love with Ray Charles
12. Once In A Blue Moon
13. Little Village
14. Blue And Green
15. Sitting On Top Of The World with Carl Perkins
16. Early In The Morning with B.B. King
17. Stranded

Van Morrison has never been a man to rest on his considerable laurels, Live shows have always incorporated healthy amounts of new music, and the public has responded by buying tickets and albums in ever-increasing numbers. So this third volume of highlights from his four-decade-plus career, expansive though it may be, is already a piece of history. But the rich cast of supporting characters it features, including many of Van’s earliest influences, will give fans who came to his work more recently (and helped the first ‘Best Of ‘ make the UK Top 5) a rare insight into Morrison’s richly complex musical make-up.


What constitutes The Best Of Van Morrison will always be a subjective choice: the man himself ran through several listings and running orders before pronouncing himself satisfied. The sources of the key tracks from the last 15 years range from 1993’s Number 4 album ‘Too Long In Exile’ to 2005’s ‘Magic Time’, while a selection of choice cuts from hard-to-find releases will delight aficionados. It’s impossible to define Morrison with reference to any one recording, but the sheer diversity of the material here, encompassing live tracks, studio takes and remixes, sets a standard others will be hard-pressed to equal.



Over three decades ago, Van Morrison was quoted as saying: ‘The only thing that matters is whether you’ve got it or not. The only thing that counts is if you’re still around. And I’m still around.’ That still holds true today – listen and learn.

Reviews:

Popmatters.com:
As the story goes, Van Morrison wanted nothing to do with his first greatest hits collection, The Best of Van Morrison, Vol. 1. He probably warmed up
to the idea, though, after the sales figures started pouring in—year after year after year. He personally selected the songs that went into the second volume, and does so again on his newest collection, Volume 3.

In Morrison’s typically iconoclastic fashion, though, Volume 3 is a curious collection. Spanning his 1993-2005 output, it covers a stretch of Morrison’s career marked by more than a few so-so albums. To his credit, he recognizes the best
tracks—songs like “Too Long in Exile”, “Days Like This”, “Ancient Highway”, and “Precious Time”—from those years. He also delves deep into his history of collaborations and live performances. So the listener is presented with the opportunity to evaluate Morrison as a total performer.

It’s a canny move—perhaps one necessitated by the overall quality of his recent studio output, but probably not. No one forced Van Morrison to make Volume 3 a two-disc, 31-song affair, so he obviously takes this new retrospective as an opportunity to frame the last decade-and-a half on his terms.

The live tracks remind us of what we’ve always known about Morrison—that he’s got soul and charisma to spare. The tracks here don’t find him coasting, and as usual, he’s backed by crack musicians. An uptempo version of “Help Me”, featuring Junior Wells, simmers with a warm “Green Onions” vibe. Morrison’s leisurely medley of
“Lonely Avenue” and “4 O’Clock in the Morning” features a weary, groanin’ late-night vocal courtesy of blues great Jimmy Witherspoon.

Collaborations and duets like that may be Volume 3‘s biggest revelation; pictures of Morrison with his partners even dominate the album cover. Morrison possesses an exhaustive knowledge of vintage R&B and jazz, and seems to jump at the chance to record with the greats. John Lee Hooker sits in for a run-through of “Gloria”, while
Georgie Fame joins in on “Moondance”, “Centerpiece”, and “Benediction”. Lonnie Donegan (a skiffle-flavored “Lost John"), the Chieftains, Ray Charles (a gently swaying “Crazy Love") , Carl Perkins (a rockabilly-driven “Sitting on Top of the
World"), Bobby Bland, BB King, and others also make appearances. Almost without fail, these meetings are high-quality stuff.

If you’re skeptical of Van Morrison’s recent output, Volume 3 wins you over. The studio tracks exhibit the smoothness that Morrison’s always possessed, while the live tracks show his talent for going with a song’s flow. On the duets, Morrison’s clearly comfortable with artists who are either his heroes or his equals. True, it hides the fact that the last decade or so hasn’t been Morrison’s best—or maybe it forces you to reevaluate that notion. Maybe his original material wasn’t the right place to look, as he sounds like he’s having a blast on the live cuts on the duets. Morrison’s career still cries out for a comprehensive, career-spanning treatment, but
Volume 3 succeeds in its goal of shining a new light on his recent work.
-Andrew Gilstrap

Monstersandcritics.com:
Navigating Van Morrison's extensive catalog since 1993 is a formidable task even diehard fans might not want to attempt. The Irish icon has flirted with blues, jazz, country, pop, Celtic, and his own style of indescribable into-the-mystic spiritually-oriented poetic folk on his numerous releases, making for quite a thorny culling assignment. So the EMI brass were probably ecstatic when the singer took the job himself. He weeds through a dozen or so albums released since Volume 2's mile-marker, and adds a clutch of previously unavailable mixes, rarities, and live tracks. The result: a nearly two-and-a-half-hour, 31-track double-disc set as sprawling, eclectic, and tenacious as Morrison's vision and discography. From occasionally rambling but spirited duets with veterans Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Wells, Georgie Fame, Lonnie Donegan, B.B. King, the Chieftains, Ray Charles, and even Tom Jones to concert versions of hits such as "Moondance" and an impressive take on Sinatra’s classic "That's Life," along with hidden gems like "Steal My Heart Away," this is a beautifully assembled and sequenced collection. It presents most of this multitalented auteur's facets and softens his often crusty exterior by showing his appreciation for the journeymen that helped develop the trail that Morrison then blazed in his own distinctive style.
-Hal Horowitz

15-June-07 Hampton Court Concert Review

Setlist:
Wonderful Remark
Enlightenment
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Real Real Gone >You Send Me
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Moondance
Saint James Infirmary
Bright Side Of The Road [Satchmo ending]
Playhouse
Cleaning Windows >Boppin’ The Blues >Be Bop A Lula
One Irish Rover
I’m Not Feeling It Anymore
Georgia On My Mind
Jackie Wilson Said
The Beauty Of The Days Gone By
Help Me >Shake Your Money Maker [*, Singers only]
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

14-June-07 Hampton Court

I thought Thursday's Hampton Court concert was a wonderful. Van was in great voice - much more range and clarity than in some recent concerts. As usual there was no chat, or humour, and it was over far too soon, but a masterful delivery by the Master! 'That's Life' was a real treat

-Hilary








Setlist:
Wonderful Remark
Enlightenment
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
There Stands The Glass
Back On Top
Playhouse
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Moondance
Saint James Infirmary
That’s Life
Stop Drinking
Bright Side Of The Road
Cleaning Windows >Boppin’ The Blues >Be Bop A Lula
The Beauty Of The Days Gone By
Precious Time [scat ending]
Goin’ Down Geneva >Brand New Cadillac
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

09-June-07 Thetford Forest Concert Review

A lovely sunny day at Thetford Forest...no rain here!

A really good concert, plenty of different songs, Van did This Love Of Mine and a good version of Domino..first time I have heard this at a concert, That's Life a powerful version...no Custard Pie tonight, but we were giving
Magic Time and Real Real Gone.

Van did not speak to the audience...not one word..not even thank-you, instead he just went into one song after another, working the band really hard....plenty of hand signals flying around.


Van played great sax tonight a nice mellow and gorgeous intro of Help Me, I now prefer this to the Harmonica intro.

Before long I was hearing the words "Big hand for the band" and the concert was all but over, Van came back on stage and did Brown Eyed Girl, how many times can you sing this! Wonder if Van gets fed-up with it.

Van was in fine voice as always, a good performance from the band.

Regards Dail




EDP24 Review:
You always know what you are going to get with a Van Morrison concert - not much chat but back-to-back songs from the performer's colossal repertoire.

And thus it was at Thetford Forest on Saturday evening, an evening where the audience was able to enjoy the show in fine, clear weather as the sun went down, as opposed to concert-goers on previous nights who had endured damp, miserable showers.

Appearing on stage in a white panama hat, Van Morrison said hello to the audience and little else for the evening in a show which opened with A Wonderful Remark.


With Van featuring on saxophone for several pieces, there was a particularly laid-back jazzy feel to the songs in this set, with several presented in differing styles to the album tracks the audience had come to love. Have I Told You Lately, for example, was an up-tempo, upbeat version which didn't really work that well and the same for Bright Side of the Road.

It was a night for listening to music in a relaxed setting, and there were some sumptuous picnics around as songs such as Domino, Moondance, When I'm Cleaning Windows and Days Like This followed on.

Also included were Jackie Wilson Said and Brown-Eyed Girl in a set that lasted about 90 minutes.

Yes, the performance was good, not great, but perhaps I am getting a little weary of the stage-style of Van Morrison and it's time for something more in a live show from the maestro.
-MARK NICHOLLS


Setlist:
Wonderful Remark
Playhouse
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Days Like This
Jackie Wilson Said
Magic Time
Stop Drinking
Bright Side Of The Road
This Love Of Mine
Domino
Moondance
Who Can I Turn To?
Real Real Gone
That’s Life
Cleaning Windows >Boppin’ The Blues >Be Bop A Lula
Only A Dream
Precious Time
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl

08-June-07 Nijmegen Concert Review

Van and the whole band was completely soaking wet. The steel guitar was filled with water and further playing was simply impossible and dangerous as well.
Ned was wet up up till his bones and thunderstorm during the whole show. The complete audience were hiding for shelter.

A very very weird show it was.
-Bert

Setlist:
Baby Please Don't Go
All Work And No Play
Foggy Mountain Top
Playhouse (Stopped)

and .... that's it!

Shana Morrison Interview

Salem News

Shana Morrison, rock daughter, plays Salem tomorrow night.

SALEM - Shana Morrison knows who she is; she declares it on her latest album, "That's Who I Am," a selection of original folk and rock tunes with an R&B touch.

She also knows that she is rock royalty. Her father is Van Morrision, and growing up around him and his fellow musicians is what got her behind a microphone. She's now an established artist herself and promoting "That's Who I Am," her and her band Caledonia's third CD.

This weekend, the singer/songwriter is coming to the North Shore for her first performance in the area. Before her show, she called in from the West Coast to chat about her sound, her first time performing, and who inspires her musically (it's not just her father).

Where do you live?

San Francisco.

Did you grow up there?

I've lived here most my life, but I was born in upstate New York.

How long have you been performing professionally?

Since 1994. I started my own band (Shana Morrison and Caledonia) in '96,
but before that, I played with other bands.

What kind of music do you perform?

I sing a lot of different styles. In my live performances, I can range from
folk and country to rock and blues to R & B.

Were you always musical?

I've always been in choirs and choruses and musicals. I was always into singing.

How did you get into singing?

When I graduated from college, my dad was touring and it was a three-hour show and there were a bunch of guest artists. (Irish singer) Brian Kennedy was there and he asked me to sing a couple songs with him. I got the performance bug from that. It kind of got me really excited about it. That was my first year out of college. I've always been writing (music), and I started singing with different bands in the San Francisco area. I sang as much as I could to get a lot of practice and then put together a band of my own.

How do you chose the music for your albums?

I always perform songs before I record them. We'll play a lot of songs and let the audience decide which ones they like and those are the ones we end up recording.

Are you touring right now?

It's not a real tour. Last summer, we did some big tours. This summer I'm taking it easy, just doing a couple weeks here and there.

Do you still perform with your dad?

Yeah, whenever our paths cross, if I'm in England or Ireland (Van Morrison lives in Belfast), I get to sit in and sing duets with him. I actually just sang with him last month in Boston at The Opera House.


What artists do you listen to?
I like the Decemberists right now. They've got that Irish-y folk-y sound. I listen to a lot of female Irish music. That style is one that I love. I (also) love Solomon Burke. I like Erykah Badu. Shelby Lynne, Joss Stone.

What do you want people to know before you come to Salem?

I'm just supporting the new CD. I'll be playing new and old music. I've never played in Salem, so everything will be new.

-Rebecca Schoonmaker

If you go:

* What: Shana Morrison and Caledonia in concert
* When: Tomorrow at 9:45 p.m.
* Where: Bay Bridge Restaurant and Night Club, 29 Bridge St., Salem
* How: Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Call 978-745-8881.

06-June-07 Werchter Concert Review

DE MORGEN: "MUMBLING ON ROUTINE"

Werchter : precisly 24 years after Van Morrison was the headliner,
the living legend was back on the Werchter grounds. This time he had
to warm up 30,000 people for the Rolling Stones.

It's no secret : Van Morrison (61) is one of the most grumpy people
in pop music, if he's not having his day - and that happens more
often than one would think- he doesn't mind shouting at the band
members "en plein public". Also all the most recent albums of the
Irish soul man have become very changeable; while during a concert
the clock on the side of stage tells him how much longer he has to
perform to fulfill his contract. All this didn't happen in Werchter,
but nonetheless Van the Man made a uninterested impression.
Even although he played the hits - Real real gone, Moondance, wild
night, Brown Eyed Girl and even Bright side of the road - the songs
were more mumbled than sung and you would need a translator to
understand the words. . Van Morrison as usual in suit, and to please
to photographers, face hidden behind glasses and shades , bungled
through the set and was seldom or never the performer he is at his
best. The group he had with him, played blues skiffle and jazz but
never came into fine form. Only the violin player tried with a few
interventions to blow new life in songs like Days Like This and Back
On Top, but the set itself lapped on flatly towards the end. VM
himself blew every now and than on his harp or sax, looked through
his papers (setlists), but made no effort at all to communicate with
the audience. That audience therefore clapped politely and counted
down the minutes till theStones would come on.
-Bart Steenhout


Setlist:
Talk is cheap
Stop drinkin'
Days Like This
Back On Top
Real Real Gone/you send me
I can't stop loving you
Don't start crying now/Custard Pie
Moondance
wild night
Bright side of the Road
Precious Time
Playhouse
Help me
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

02-June-07 Oslo Concert Review

Dagsavisen: Van–Music Man

Here is the English translation.

Oslo Konserthus

Dette skal ifølge rockens vitenskapsmenn ha vært hans 33. konsert her i landet, men det er slutt på de gode tidene da Van Morrison var en fast gjest på de lokale rockeklubbene. Etter å ha fartet rundt på Konserthuset, Rockefeller, Spektrum og John Dee (!) som en nesten hverdagslig gjest er det nå sju år siden forrige besøk, på Norwegian Wood-festivalen i 2000, og en opptreden med Linda Gail Lewis like etterpå. Ikke alt er som før, men det gjorde godt å se ham igjen.

Vi venter oss ikke lenger de store sensasjonene fra Van Morrison. Han har funnet seg behagelig til rette i sin lovprisning av amerikansk musikk, blues, soul, country og rock 'n' roll. Han begynner med «Let The Whining Boy Moan», som til tross for den klagende tonen setter standarden for en kveld som først og fremst preges av sofistikert, selvtilfreds underholdningsmusikk. Selv en versjon av «St. James Infirmary Blues» blir mer pen enn lidende.

20 sanger får han plass til på en kveld som denne. Svært få av dem hører til blant dem som er alminnelig kjent som hans største hits, og det er vel heller ikke noe stort poeng for et publikum som må oppfordres til å bli med på notene på «Brown Eyed Girl» mot slutten av konserten. «Moondance» blir rotet bort til å presentere hans ni personer store orkester. Høydepunktet blir i stedet «Magic Time», et av kveldens eneste besøk i den gamle irske mystikken, der Van Morrison kan synge «andtheroadtheroadtheroadtheroad that never ends» på sin karakteristiske måte, og få tiden til å stå helt stille – igjen.

Humøret er upåklagelig til Van The Man å være, han sier ikke stort, men prøver heller ikke å late som han mistrives, slik vi av og til har fått mistanke om før. Bandet spiller lavt og forsiktig. De store utblåsningene glimrer med sitt fravær, han gjør ingen forsøk på å gjøre dette til en vill natt med gjengen.

Van Morrison er kort og godt ikke The Rolling Stones, som han merkelig nok skal være oppvarmingsartist for senere i sommer. Da kan det vel være nødvendig å skru opp både lyd og tempo et par hakk. Van Morrison er uansett best i sin helt egne verden.

Setlist:
Whinin' Boy Moan
Stranded
Big Blue Diamonds
Foggy Mountain Top
Magic Time
Moondance
Who Can I Turn To?
Bright Side Of The Road
There Stands The Glass
Back On Top
Saint James Infirmary
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
I Can't Stop Loving You
Playhouse
Stop Drinking
One Irish Rover
Precious Time
Brown Eyed Girl
Help Me>Shake Your Money Maker