13-September-2012
Mitsubishi Electric Halle Dusseldorf, Germany

Petra sent in this review
Van’s first Germany concert in 4 years, since Berlin in May 2008 …

At that time his setlists were dominated by the – then – new album ‘Keep It Simple’... Later that year and throughout 2009, we Europeans witnessed his triumph on the ‘Astral Weeks’ tour in the USA and Canada, but from a distance only and with some sadness and jealousy, for not being there ... During the first half of 2011 we were worried about the total lack of gigs before Van finally showed up at the London Feis in June. In 2012 we are relieved to see Van back to the stage for good, although by far most of the many gigs take place in the UK and Ireland. By now, the Vanatics in America and continental Europe are shuffling their feet with impatience, eager to see him back in their countries. But tonight Van The Man is finally back to Germany – the only gig in our country – what a great day !

Before and after the show we are meeting up with a bunch of German and Dutch “Vanatics” in a pub near the venue. It’s good to see some old friends again after years and to make new ones – to name only a few: Günter, Joost, Brenda, Bert, Rainer, Harm, Ben … And we are missing Nosey who had to cancel his little continental tour.

The Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf with some 5000 seats is not a new venue – people used to know it as Philipshalle before it was renamed. And long-standing Van fans may be aware that Van performed here many times over the years.

Anticipation is in the air tonight. Most of the shows Van did lately sparkled with rare and early self-penned songs seldom heard live - surprises are the rule these days. And we know we will hear some songs of the new album Van is going to release in a couple of weeks. So what will be the mix this evening ? And what will be Shana Morrison’s role on stage ? Can we hope for some duets with her dad ?

First, lovely Shana is on stage as a support act, together with Van’s band. And nobody will deny she is a visual asset to Van’s gentlemen club, beautiful dress and all ... And she’s got a voice to sing … She does 5 solo songs, sometimes with the drummer acting as a background singer – and she will stay on stage for the rest of the evening, doing background singing for Van.

At 8:20 Van is on stage – in pinstripe suit and matching dark shirt. He starts with his all-time crowd pleaser ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ - together with the Big Joe Williams hit ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ and ‘Here Comes The Night’ by Bert Berns this is Van’s tribute to his early career with the band ‘Them’ – to much acclaim by the audience.

‘Early In The Morning’ is surprisingly followed by the BB King standard ‘Rock Me Baby’ – not sure if I ever heard this one from Van.

Then we get one song from the new album: ‘Open The Door To Your Heart’, with Van playing keyboards.

‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ is sung and played with much feeling – maybe a bit too much of that - it inspires Van to the muttered comment “Sounds like Bert Kaempfert maybe” – funny self-criticism …

‘Close Enough For Jazz’ is an instrumental which some of you may know from the 1993 album ‘Too Long In Exile’ – only that Van has added lyrics for the new album following a brilliant jazzy sax intro.

And then ‘Born To Sing’ – another one of the new album. This song has a driving rhythm and rich sound, lots of horn play including a clarinet part and Van on sax – might become one of my favorite tunes of the new CD if it sounds like this as a studio version.

‘All In The Game’ is merging again into ‘You Know What They Are Writing About’, ‘Make It Real One More Time’, ‘No Plan B’ and finally ‘Burning Ground’. Van lingering on the ‘Burning Ground’ part is a stunner – again and again he repeats the words ‘…I make you watch me pick up the sack’. A tour de force for Van, band and listeners.

Time to relax – what would be suited better than the meditative ‘In The Garden’. It wouldn’t be Van if there was no change in the lyrics again. This time it is the words “I treasured and I dug you”. He repeats it several times, and sings then “… and we prayed in the midnight hour to the holy guardian angel”.

‘Old Black Magic’ is a new song which Van does in duet with Shana – interesting rhythm – almost with an old fashioned Bossa Nova feeling …

A bit too predictive for my taste is the end of the show – once again the Sonny Boy Williamson hit ‘Help Me’ with Van leaving the stage blowing his harp, only to return with ‘Gloria’ one last time – everybody knows this is the end of the concert …
To be honest – I hate this part of the evening – so much feverish anticipation, preparation and emotion come to a sudden end – 90 minutes bliss we were given are gone in a moment … How I wish for encores - which never come. Or for surprising songs to end the show, for anything which might delay the inevitable end of the evening with Van. But this is unavoidable after exactly 90 minutes – merciless and always too early, leaving me wanting for more …

At least, his ‘Gloria’ tonight is pepped with some bars of Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love’. But he quits the stage still during ‘Gloria’ - leaving us alone with his band moving into a heavy-metal like cacophony in sound and volume. Then it’s all over …

All in all it was a good and solid concert, the band and Shana were great, Van in fine voice. Maybe it was only me – but I was missing one of those very special magic moments we long to experience and share with Van ... Maybe my expectations were a bit too high …
-Petra S.

Setlist (Thanks To Ben)
Brown Eyed Girl
Only a Dream
Baby Please Don't Go
Here Comes The Night
Early In The Morning/Rock Me Baby
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
I Can't Stop Loving You
Close Enough For Jazz
Born To Sing
Enlightenment
All In The Game/Burning Ground
In The Garden
Ballerina
Old Black Magic
Help me
Gloria/Who Do You Love

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Jeff Lardner (Drums)
Rod Quinn (Percussion)
Special Guest - Shana Morrison (Backing Vocals)

08-September-2012
Aircraft Park
East Belfast Arts Festival
Belfast, Northern Ireland

BBC: Radio Ulster
When I was a little boy, the air over Belfast Lough was busy with Short Skyvans, Blackburn Buccaneers and the Avro Vulcans with their bold, delta wings. They were being tested, fixed and finessed. My dad worked at Sydenham Air Yard and I felt that he was personally responsible for their worthiness in those skies.

Many of the adults I knew were working on planes, hired by the shipyard or in one of the engineering works nearby. A lucky few were in the drawing offices or some other tidy location but mostly it was about the dirt and the din and the dynamic of the east. I still remember my grandfather's shins, mottled with bruises, and the metal shreds in my dad's hands.

The noise and the scale of that era has largely gone. But on this September occasion, you trust that Van Morrison has not forgotten. It's imprinted in his music. You hear it in the lyric of 'Into The Mystic' when he sings about the foghorn wailing him home as the saxophone starts to swell. And therefore we've all come to Aircraft Park, part of the inaugural East Belfast Arts Festival, blessed by sunshine and hoping that Van Morrison might also feel a sense of occasion and place.

We'll not assume too much from Van, but indeed, the artist seems to be sharing some of that sentiment with us this evening. He opens with 'Brown Eyed Girl' and soon there's the autumnal vista of 'Orangefield'. The band is throbbing skillfully, the singer's daughter Shana is steering the harmonies and there's a very delighted audience beneath the canvas. We hear the shimmering invitation of 'Moondance' and a version of 'Jackie Wilson Said' that officially perks the night.

He sings the old blues stomper 'Help Me' with apparent delight and during 'Star Of The County Down', his arms are pointing out the map references like a giddy traffic cop. All of this is pure value but the transcendence happens during 'On Hyndford Street', a homage to the backstreets off the Beersbridge Road. On the recorded version it's all about the reverie and the powerful Sunday silence. But tonight he's riffing and reminiscing like Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg. Those beat guys were writing poetry with a jazz attitude, loving the sax of Charlie Parker as much as they admired a word-slinger like Walt Whitman. And so Van channels his memory out of those same viaducts, taking us way, way back and simultaneously so high. Moment of the year, I'd say.

'Gloria' is lashed out with such authority and emphasis that you know an encore won't be optional. A major musical figure, back in his own parish, singing it home and exciting your soul. That's where it comes from, man.
-Stuart Bailie

Photo via Christine

Van added four new songs from his forthcoming album Born To Sing: No Plan B to the setlist.

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
That's Entrainment
Orangefield
Days Like This
Baby Please Don't Go
Here Comes the Night
How Can APoor Boy
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Open the Door (To Your Heart)
Mystic of the East
Enlightenment
Close Enough For Jazz
Born to Sing
Whenever God Shines His Light
Old Black Magic (w/Shana Morrison)
Sometimes We Cry (w/Shana Morrison)
Jackie Wilson Said
Moondance/My Funny Valentine
Star of the County Down
Help Me
Hyndford Street
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Jeff Lardner (Drums)
Rod Quinn (Percussion)
Special Guest - Shana Morrison (Backing Vocals)

A rare opportunity to see the legend, Van Morrison, in this very intimate black tie dinner performance on Sunday 14th and Monday 15th October 2012. For more information and tickets please visit: www.sacramentoevents.co.uk or call: 01371 876509 or email: contact@sacramentoevents.co.uk

25-August-2012
Marlay Park, Dublin, Ireland

Here's our man in Dublin, Ciarán, with his review
Tom Jones has just finished a stormer of a set and the stage is being set for The Belfast Cowboy and his band. As the sun is setting Van and the band hit the stage, launching into a trio of Brown Eyed Girl/Baby Please Don't Go/Here Comes The Night which sets the pace for tonights show. Lots of fast upbeat numbers. Precious Time, Wavelength, Fever and Jackie Wilson Said had everyone dancing in the mud. And there was a lot of mud, ankle deep in most places. But back to the show. Van played many of the songs at the piano, which was a bit different from when I had seen him before. Moondance was the extended version, the large moon was hidden behind the clouds above. Have I Told You Lately at the piano was pure magic. In the Garden was another highlight, started on the piano and was a slighty shortened version than what has been played recently. Amazing none the less. Ballerina has again a slightly different outro than I have heard recently, this is jazzy and a bit longer. Van is great at changing songs around. The final two belters of Help Me and Gloria close the show, and as always, Van is half way to his hotel before the band finish playing. One thing I noticed was the crowd, very talkative through out the evening where I was, I don't know if that was everywhere or if I was just unlucky with my spot. Overall a great evening of live music from Gemma Hayes, Don Baker, Sinéad O'Connor, Tom Jones and Van The Man.

-Ciarán Kilbride

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
Baby, Please Don't Go
Here Comes the Night
How Can a Poor Boy?
Talk Is Cheap
Precious Time
Days Like This
Fever
Moondance
Have I Told You Lately
Jackie Wilson Said
Enlightenment
Haunts of Ancient Peace
In the Garden
Ballerina
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)

18-August-2012 Glanus Park, Wrexham, Wales

via Flick (Steven Shingler)

Virtual Festivals (source)

There's festival moments and then there's Van Morrison at Green Man 2012. Never one for procrastination, this was the time Van kicked off a rousing 75-minute-set with 'Brown Eyed Girl', gave us rapturous performances of 'Baby Please Don't Go' and 'Jackie Wilson Said' and is in a helicopter before his band has even finished a stupendous 'Gloria'.

It's a set that follows the classic Morrison tradition. No set list, songs decided on the go, but with all the urgency, passion and utter professionalism that is as much a standard for the Irish legend as the blues, R&B and soul that no doubt flows through his cranky veins.

Ah yes, the grumpiness. The myth is of an artist that dials in gigs, with little passion or care, who Rolling Stone called "an enigma shrouded in a Celtic Garb". But this set shows him full of head-down, no-messing determination. Standard black suit, trilby and shades. Standard crowd full of love, raising their hats and dancing to a riotous 'Baby, Please Don't Go', a sublime 'Haunts of Ancient Peace' and a blistering 'Jackie Wilson Said'.

'Gloria' is a genius set closer. The b-side (b-side!) to Them's 1964 cover of Big Joe William's Baby, Please Don't Go, Van's seven piece band make the garage classic sound as immediate as the day it was released, Morrison leading the crowd through that driving chorus, right up to the amazing giddy shout of "G-L-O-R-I-A!"

"I watch her come up to my house/She knocks upon my door/And then she comes up to my room/I want to say she makes me feel all right/G-L-O-R-I-A!"

And then he's off - into a car that delivers him into an adjacent field and a chopper that is in the skies before his band is even reaching the final notes of a wondrous Green Man experience.

-Kai Jones

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
Only A Dream
Young Lovers Do
Days Like This
Baby Please Don’t Go
Here Comes The Night
How Can a Poor Boy
The Mystery
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Jackie Wilson Said
All in the Game/No Plan B/Time is Running Out
Precious Time
Higher Than The World
Whenever God Shines his Light
Ballerina
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)

Van Morrison's New Album
 Available For Pre-Order

Born To Sing: No Plan B

Release Date: October 2, 2012

Sneak preview of Van Morrison's forthcoming new album for Blue Note, Born To Sing: No Plan B, out in October, suggests it's his best in ages.
-Jazzwise (@Jazzwise) August 3, 2012

Pre-Order From amazon.com

07-July-2012
Montreux Jazz Festival
Stravinski Hall
Montreux, Switzerland

Setlist (Thanks to Ben)
Brown Eyed Girl
Only A Dream
Days Like This
Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie
Precious Time
Bye Bye Blackbird
It's All In The Game/Burning Ground
Enlightenment
Haunts Of Ancient Peace
I'm Not Feeling It Anymore
Unchained Melody
Wavelength
St. James Infimary
Moondance
Star Of The County Down
Help Me
Ballerina

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)

06-July-2012
North Sea Jazz Festival
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Two years ago I swore I'd never go and see Van Morrison in a festival setting again, after having witnessed the by now infamous Peer concert. But there I was again, two years later, in the Nile hall of the Ahoy building in Rotterdam for Van's performance at the Northsea Jazz Festival the first Morrison concert in Holland in ages. I'm glad I went. It wasn't the best show I've seen, but it was a memorable one, musically speaking, nevertheless. It was the first time I saw Van striking a chord with a 5000+ audience, with the audience reacting, and Van reaching deeper and deeper inside as a consequence for about four minutes. This happened during the extended coda of Unchained Meldody the most outstanding track on yesterday's setlist, which included a relatively large number of jazz standards and few ballads.

The show started rather funny, when an announcement was made (in Dutch) that Van would come on five minutes late with the band launching straight into Brown-Eyed Girl and Van hitting the stage right thereafter.

If I'd have to give the show a title, I would suggest Van Morrison sings songs of love and regret. Something was on Van's mind yesterday, and it seemed to involve a woman, an argument of some kind. Although at first appearing distracted, Van became very talkative as the concert progressed (particularly after Paul Moran had played a beautiful line in Haunts Of Ancient Peace, to which Van responded with 'yeah, that's it!'), and I haven't seen him go through such a wide range of emotions in over 100 minutes (which would have been more if the Northsea crew hadn't asked him to stop during Ballerina, to which Van reacted by putting five fingers in the air). In my view, these emotions included distraction, anger, grief, regret, love, aggression, fun, power, cheerfulness and surrender. I've never heard Van sing so aggressively as he did in the second part of yesterday's concert (for instance, Ballerina sounded like a whole band storming into a ballroom to tell a ballerina they loved her). Among others, he mentioned 'being the only one who could be trusted' in a relationship, whispered 'don't let me break down in Rotterdam baby, you know you can stop this!', really exclaimed some of the lyrics of I'm Not Feeling It Anymore and rather casually sang that he didn't want to be bothered anymore by 'something about fingertips' in It's All In The Game. Juxtaposted to this, he did an impersonation and asked the audience who he was portraying, told the audience that he would now 'like to do some theatre', because that was what people often wanted, and remarked (after a lengthy power cut that marred Enlightenment) that he felt like 'being at a rugby match', given the crowd's cheery reaction when the power was restored.

I really enjoyed the show, and feel that Van has assembled a great, versatile band that is getting better and better (although I do miss Jay Berliner's contributions but I have to admit that the band is tighter than ever before). Even if he decides to throw in an extra verse, switches choruses and verses, or asks for a song the band hasn't played before, they can follow him on the spot. I wonder how big the book is they can currently choose from! OK, it was a festival setlist yesterday and it didn?t beat last year's Cardiff show, or what I've heard about the Brighton/Bournemouth sequence earlier this year, but what I saw was really good. I hope the Montreux show today will be at least as interesting!
-Ivo

Setlist (Thanks to Ivo)
Brown Eyed Girl
Only A Dream
Days Like This
Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie
How Can A Poor Boy?
Fever
Real Real Gone/You Send Me 
Haunts Of Ancient Peace
Bye Bye Blackbird
Foggy Day In Old London Town
Unchained Melody/The Waiting Game/Too Late To Stop Now
Moondance
Enlightenment
I'm Not Feeling It Anymore
It's All In The Game/You Know What They're Writing About
Ballerina
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)

30-June-2012 Jersey Folklore Festival, People's Park
 Jersey, England

Back On The Rock (source)
I was necking a beer in the hospitality tent when the opening bars of Brown Eyed Girl struck up, sending us all scurrying for the main tent. The Man Himself was in town. And he didn’t disappoint. Complete with cravat, dark glasses and trilby the legend that is Van Morrison was playing the People’s Park, a bit surreal in itself. Backed by half an orchestra, heavy on the brass, Morrison gave a great show. No chatting, no banter with the audience, just 90 minutes of his back catalogue which, of course, we were there to hear.

Going way back to his Taste days many of his classics were there; Bright Side Of The Road, Days Like This, Moondance, In The Midnight Hour, Whenever God Shines His Light, my favourite Have I Told You Lately and many more.

Morrison’s voice is as good and strong as ever. He has no chat but he gives his performance all he’s got and the excellent band play no small part in the deliverance. And, having opened with BEG there was never a doubt what was going to close the show. As The Man disappeared offstage, never to reappear, a stunning, loud Gloria outro by the band will have kept the neighbours awake a while longer.

29-June-2012 Hammersmith Apollo, London, England

via: zimbio

The Importance of Being Musical (source)

Van, you're the man
The tickets were really expensive - the £30 ones went real quick; so I was left with the next "cheap" option of £45-60 (I definitely wouldn't consider paying £100 plus). And all that, for a blues selection that possibly wouldn't move me.

I would've much preferred a focus on the dreamlike Astral Weeks, or Moondance. No matter my love for these albums, the videos I had seen of him "playing the blues", well past his prime, hadn't convinced me to spend that kind of money.

But... it's still Van. I had to see him live at least once in my life.
Luckily, the £30 ticket (for a £45 seat) that eventually someone sold me at the door was more than worth it.

It's not the setlist that counts; it's not even the fact that, in good luck once more, that night I caught him on great form. You see, he's famously grumpy, if you didn't already know; and he admitted as much on stage ("With these men around me - nodding at his band - who wouldn't be grumpy?").

But even on a grumpy night, I can't imagine that voice not moving mountains. It breathes with depth and truth and quality, and the rest, doesn't really matter.

He opened with the classic Baby, Please Don't Go and, via Route 66, he moved on to a couple of my beloved Astral Weeks extracts (like Ballerina). But even though I didn't have the pleasure of listening to my favourite title track, or Moondance for that matter, there wasn't a moment I didn't feel blessed by his presence.

Over an hour later he wrapped things up with a marathon version of Gloria that set our seats on fire and got the people dancing. But, as it turned out, I could've easily gotten by without an all-time hit. Van's voice is the essence, and the weight of his talent and presence sweeps all resistance away. To hell with the old man grumpiness. Here lies true treasure!
Review by Danai Molocha.

Setlist
Baby Please Don't Go
Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie
Keep Mediocrity At Bay
Talk Is Cheap
All In The Game/Burning Ground
I'm Not Feeling It Anymore
That's Life
Route 66
Philosopher's Stone
Real Real Gone
St James Infirmary
Little Village
These Dreams Of You
How Can A Poor Boy
Ballerina
In The Garden
Help Me
Gloria

New Dates Added To Van's Concert Schedule

08-Sep-12 Belfast, N. Ireland
East Belfast Arts Festival

13-Sep-12 Dusseldorf, Germany
Mitsubishi Electric Halle

14-Sep-12 Paris, France
L'Olympia

21-Sep-12 Glasgow, Scotland
Glasgow Concert Hall

23-Oct-12 Canterbury, England
Marlowe Theatre

24-Oct-12 Canterbury, England
Marlowe Theatre

27-Nov-12 Liverpool, England
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

28-Nov-12 Manchester, England
Manchester Bridgewater Hall

18-Jan-13 Belfast, N. Ireland
Culloden Estate & Spa

19-Jan-13 Belfast, N. Ireland
Culloden Estate & Spa

20-Jan-13 Belfast, N. Ireland
Culloden Estate & Spa

Van Morrison Announces New Album

Born to Sing: No Plan B 

October 2, 2012

Paste Magazine: Popular music icon and six-time Grammy-winner Van Morrison recently announced that he will be releasing a new full-length album, Born to Sing: No Plan B on Oct. 2 via Blue Note Records. The album will be Morrison’s first Blue Note release since 2003’s Grammy Award-winning What’s Wrong with This Picture?.

“With most record companies being so corporate I am happy to be working with Don Was and the team at Blue Note,” Morrison said. “To have such a creative music person as the head of my recording label assures me that all the effort taken to write and record this new album will be rewarded with a music-based focus and marketing approach. I look forward to many recording projects with Don and Blue Note.”

Born to Sing: No Plan B was produced by Morrison and recorded in his hometown of Belfast, North Ireland. Check out the album’s tracklisting below:

Born to Sing: No Plan B Tracklist:
1. Open The Door (To Your Heart)
2. Going Down To Monte Carlo
3. Born To Sing
4. End Of The Rainbow
5. Close Enough For Jazz
6. Mystic Of The East
7. Retreat And View
8. If In Money We Trust
9. Pagan Heart
10. Educating Archie

Last.FM (From Blue Note Records Bio)
The subtitle of Van Morrison’s new album, Born to Sing: No Plan B, indicates the power that music still holds for this living legend. “No Plan B means this is not a rehearsal,” says Morrison. “That’s the main thing—it’s not a hobby, it’s real, happening now, in real time.”

This sense of absolute conviction, which has defined Morrison’s revolutionary work for almost fifty years, runs throughout the new record, his thirty-fifth studio album as a solo artist. Morrison’s career—which has seen him honored with a Brit Award, an OBE, an Ivor Novello, six Grammys, honorary doctorates from Belfast Queens and Ulster, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the French Ordres Des Artes Et Des Lettres—has done nothing less than redefine the possibilities of pop music. The ten original songs on Born to Sing, his first new album in four years (the longest he has ever gone between recordings), reveal an artist continuing to test his creative parameters.

“They’re not all one thing,” he says. “Some are about the world crisis, others are more mystical. Whatever ideas come in, there’s no set ABC of it. Really, it wouldn’t be interesting if everything was set—there would be no surprises.”

As Morrison notes, perhaps the most striking thing on the new album is hearing him weigh in on the global financial and economic meltdown on several songs. His sense of outrage at the materialism and greed that have poisoned society first appears in the opening track, the breezy soul strut “Open the Door (To Your Heart),” when he sings “Money doesn’t make you fulfilled/Money’s just to pay the bills.”

The theme recurs throughout Born to Sing, climaxing in the closer, “Educating Archie.” The title refers to both a ventriloquist’s dummy on a popular BBC radio show of Morrison’s youth and television’s working-class anti-hero Archie Bunker, both representing the kind of average guy whom the singer warns, “You’re a slave to the capitalist system/Which is ruled by the global elite.”

Morrison, never known as a protest singer, insists he’s not taking a political stand. “I’m not protesting, I’m just observing what’s happening—like Lenny Bruce said, ‘Observation, baby!,’” he says. “Starting about two years ago, everybody was talking about money, money, money, and that’s the way songs come about. Whatever people are talking about, the ideas around you, that’s what you pick up.”

Most fascinating might be “If In Money We Trust,” a song-length meditation on the ways in which cash has replaced God at the center of the modern belief system. “That came from looking at a dollar bill and turning the concept on its head,” he says. “I thought, ‘What is this stuff on here, what does it mean?’ Some people’s god is money, we’ve discovered that about a lot of people recently, so then what happens after that—what happens if you don’t have it, or if you don’t have enough?”

The song also serves as a link to the kind of spirituality and mysticism that has been central to Morrison’s work from such early masterpieces as Astral Weeks and St. Dominic’s Preview through to more recent triumphs like The Healing Game and The Philosopher’s Stone. After lamenting “Where’s God?” as a refrain on “If In Money We Trust,” he immediately follows with the swirling blues of “Pagan Heart,” which finds him searching and casting spells “Down by the crossroads/Down by the Arcadian groves.” Other songs, like “Retreat and View” and “Mystic of the East,” illustrate Morrison’s ongoing exploration of divine mystery.

“These are all just ideas,” he says of the multiple perspectives offered throughout Born to Sing. “They’re not my beliefs, I’m not proselytizing, it’s not some kind of manifesto. Songs are just ideas, concepts, and you just put the mic there and go. There are no rules that say you can’t have different ideas—in fact, why not? Why not have different ideas?”

From his earliest days, Van Morrison has channeled the influences of such giants as Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, and Leadbelly. His music has defied boundaries, offering everything from the swinging soul-jazz of Moondance to the traditional Celtic styles of Irish Heartbeat. In the last few decades, he has collaborated with a range of artists including John Lee Hooker, Mose Allison, and Tom Jones, and dedicated projects to celebrating and re-exploring his blues, jazz, skiffle, and country roots.

Born to Sing, recorded live in the studio with a core six-piece band (plus Morrison on piano, guitar, and alto saxophone), extends these musical roots into a signature blend that’s impossible to imitate or to categorize. One song, the light-hearted “Close Enough for Jazz,” started life as an instrumental, before Morrison later decided to add lyrics. “I don’t think in terms of labels,” he says. “It’s a mix of all of it, a smorgasbord of all music and all my influences, and you hope that it comes out as something new. Ray Charles has always been my role model—he did everything, including reinventing country music.”

The album also marks Morrison’s return to the storied Blue Note label, home to many of his jazz idols, for which he last recorded 2003’s What’s Wrong With This Picture? The singer says that the affiliation is significant to him. “My father had quite a few of the old Blue Note records,” he says, “and one of first records I had was Sidney Bechet’s ‘Summertime,’ which was on Blue Note, too.”

Despite the album’s title, Morrison says that he didn’t immediately know that he was Born to Sing. “I didn’t know it was going to be a job until I was maybe fifteen or sixteen and started working in bands,” he says. “I was just a kid trying to make my way in life. There was no revelation—it doesn’t work that way.”

Ever since then, though, Van Morrison has offered non-stop revelation to fans around the world. With Born to Sing, he responds to a time of crisis with solace and insight, vision and wonder, and incomparable soul that shows what happens when you really do create from the heart, with no Plan B.

Van To Appear At Ireland's Folk, Root & Indie Festival

Knocknarena, Sligo, Ireland

Sunday October 28, 2012

LYRICS AND POETRY: EMPHASIS ON WORDS

VAN MORRISON will premiere new show at SLIGO LIVE

Legendary Irish artist VAN MORRISON will premiere an exciting new show when SLIGO LIVE, Ireland ’s folk, roots and indie music festival returns for its eighth year this October. In what promises to be a really special evening, Van will present a show entitled “LYRICS AND POETRY: EMPHASIS ON WORDS”.

This intimate and unique performance on Sunday 28th October at IT Sligo's Knocknarea Arena will see Van Morrison accompanied by his rhythm section performing songs with a strong emphasis on words, together with readings from his poetry. Audiences will also be treated to previously unseen work by the creative genius. Songs from his albums, “Astral Weeks”, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher” and “Hymns to the Silence” will feature in this very special show. Tickets go on sale on Friday June 29th.

At their best Van Morrison’s live performances are regarded as transcendental and inspired and over the years many of his recordings have been widely viewed among the greatest ever made, with several included in ‘best album lists’. Since his international breakthrough with Them in 1964, Van the Man has been carving out a career as one of the most respected and influential artists in popular music. Van Morrison has been awarded many prestigious accolades over the years which include Grammys and Brit Awards; being inducted into the Hall of Fame; An OBE; French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres - the list is endless. Perhaps the ultimate achievement for a Northern Irish East Belfast boy, was the selection of his song ‘Days Like This’ as the anthem of the Northern Irish Peace Process.

Having been greatly influenced by his father’s eclectic record collection which incorporated blues, folk, country, soul jazz and R’n B Van Morrison fused them into his own unique style –as he was always noted for his tremendous musicality within his work. His compositions also have strong lyrical component with many songs showing the influence of the visionary poets, W.B.Yeats and William Blake.
The choice of Sligo , the spiritual home of Yeats, to launch this new show placing the emphasis on poetry and lyrics is no coincidence. Morrison shares many of Yeats’ touches including the references to their iconic youthful haunts, Morrison’s use of Cyprus Avenue and Orangefield in his Belfast homeland for Yeats’ and Sligo place names Hazelwood or Knocknarea.

Van Morrison is playing a very special intimate show and Sligo Live is a unique opportunity for music lovers to enjoy a magical musical experience with a genuine legend. Tickets to this one off concert go on sale from this website on Friday June 29th at 9pm (€47.50 plus €1 Service charge). Numbers are strictly limited so don’t wait around. Limit of 8 tickets per order.

A limited number of weekend tickets at €112 will enable music lovers to enjoy all of Sligo Live including Van Morrison and Joan Armatrading.

A Look Back At Glastonbury 1982

It was 30 years ago today that Van played at the Glastonbury Festival in England. Long time Van fan looks back on the festival and Van's gig that day.

Van Morrison at Glastonbury June 19, 1982

From Pat's long running blog, Visions Of Pat

In the year of 82 there was a pestilence on the land,it began at Thatcher and spread outwards. I was living in a little village called Hilperton with my mate Fred and another bloke called Wally in a house called 'The Nook'.Next door lived this old man who we called 'the old grey fella'.He was always banging on the wall because of the noise.I was one of Thatchers victims,on the dole but i used to do a bit of gardening around the village to get some beer money. I did the gardening at the local pub The Lion And Fiddle and the pub owner used to give me some money and then I'd sit in his bar and give him the money back over the course of the evening.Thatcher was starting her Falklands adventure,it was the worst of times and the even worser of times but there was something to cheer up about,a new Van album 'Beautiful Vision'

I like the cover design,i don't know what it all means though.It reminded me of a line in a David Bowie song 'Crack in the sky and a hand reaching down to me'. I liked the cover so much i had it framed and stuck it on my wall.As i have said i think where Van lives is reflected in his music and for a short time in the early 80's Van lived with his northern muse Ulla Munch in the Vanlose district of Copenhagen and this inspired a number of tracks on Beautiful Vision such as Vanlose Stairway, Scandinavia,She Gives Me Religion and the title track.'Celtic Ray'the opening track though is very Irish,with Van yearning for home.Van says in the song that he has been away too long.Lots of Irish people move away to places not greener but meaner but they never move away mentally,they always think about returning.This theme is continued on 'Northern Muse,Solid Ground'.The muse in question would be Vans musical muse and how he had to leave in order to fulfill his creative spirit.

The line 'If you see her say hello' is the title of a Dylan song off Blood On The Tracks.I wonder if Van pinched it off Bob? (Paragraph missing here,will deal with later) Whats my line?' sings Van in the next song. Whats My Line was a popular panal show on the telly when i was a kid.It was hosted by Eamon Andrews and the panalists had to guess what the contestants did for a living.Van tells us his line was 'Cleaning Windows'. This is a great song unlike anything else on the album and i think Mark Knopfler plays on it.In the song Van talks about buying 5 Woodbines and i did actually find a packet of 5 woodbines at work under some floorboards.Van the name dropper is in evidence here with Jimmy Rodgers, Jack Kerouac and Christmas Humphreys getting a mention amongst others.Van likes to get his listeners into things he is into.'Baby don't let it slide' sings Van at the end.I think he was a bit worried about climbing up the ladder!


'Vanlose Stairway' is another great song.The apartment where they lived in Copenhagen is quite an ordinary looking building but Van can make anything sound romantic,this stairway reaches right up to the moon!.Georgie Fame also does a great version of this on his own on the Van Morrison Songbook album that Simon Gee compiled. 'Aryan Mist' is another song inspired by Alice Bailey and her Tibetan friend.Apparently the railway carraige charm is a reference to amphetamines.


'Across The Bridge Where Angels Dwell' is a very contemplative evocative song which leads us in to the instrumental 'Scandinavia' which features Van on piano which is most unusual.I remember him doing this one at my second ever Van concert in 1982. This technique of the quiet song leading into the instumental is also used on a couple of other Van albums in the early 80's.The idea is that the music induces beautiful visions and mystical raptures in the listener and it works because this album is brilliant!


I went in my local pub in Trowbridge one day in April 1982 and a new poster had appeared on the wall.


"Hey,Van the man is on at Glastonbury," I told my friends in Scum Corner. "We know",they replied,"and you havent heard the best bit, Pee Wee is doing the backstage barThis is Pee Wee the pub landlord, not to be confused with Pee Wee Ellis the saxophone player. This was a chance too good to miss so I pestered Pee Wee until he finally agreed to give me a job.This was my third visit to Glastonbury.The year before i had got in a right mess doing things i shouldn't but this year i was going to behave and be sensible.On Wednesday June 16th 1982 a gang of of jolly boys and girls piled onto Pee Wee's bus and we set off down the ancient highway to Glastonbury.


All went well for the first couple of days, i made myself useful, fetching and carrying and proudly wearing my backstage pass.On Friday morning it began to rain heavily and the site was turned into a sea of mud.It was the wettest day in Somerset for 45 years but i didn't care, i was nice and dry backstage.The first act on was Manchester poet John Cooper Clarke who was really funny.As he walked off stage i shook hands with him and told him how great he was.Then a huge truck of the Edwin Shirley Trucking Company pulled up and who should jump down but Mick Townley who i knew from Bradford On Avon.He was a roadie for Black Uhuru and had just hauled their gear from Paris.I latched onto him and we watched Sly and Robbie do their stuff from the side of the stage.By now i had totally forgotten about my duties.I was having a good time!There was an American bloke hanging out backstage and chatting to everyone,he seemed familiar but i couldn't think who he was.I needed a drink and at the bar i got talking to another American, a little fella with a thick mop of curly dark hair.


"Whats your name mate?"I asked him.


"Randy"

"Well Randy,i'm going to buy you a brandy!" What an idiot!My friends were still reminding me about this 10 years later.This bloke was none other than the world famous guitarist Randy California,formally of the group Spirit.We got on fine though and the rest of the day descended into an alcoholic haze.That night when i crawled into my rancid sleeping bag i was really happy, tomorrow was the big day!It had been 3 long years since i had last seen Van and you never know i might even get to meet him! When i awoke the next morning it had stopped raining but the sky was grey and overcast and i had a terrible hangover.Not to worry,i thought to myself,a couple of drinks will get me straight.As i made my way to the back of the Pyramid stage i met the Backstage manager who was looking at me like a rat on a fork.

"I want your stage pass and i want you out of here now!"

"You cant do that, I work here"


"No you don't, I watched you all day yesterday and you didn't do anything except get drunk and annoy people, gimme that pass now."

After a bit more argument I handed over my pass and trudged through the gate and into the mud. The disappointment was almost unbearable. Van had missed his chance to meet me! I had to put it behind me and enjoy the rest of the day. I bought myself a gallon container of cider from the cider wagon. It stank but it was cheap and the effect was dynamite. I found a dry patch of ground and sat down to watch Roy Harper who i have always liked. During Roys set a breeze began to blow and eventually the sun came out. The Tor emerged from the mist and the scene was set. There are power cables that run right across Worthy farm held up by a line of pylons stretching away into the distance towards the Tor.I rememberered Vans words which now seemed really prophetic,'Meet me down by the pylons's everything seemed to be making sense, the cider was kicking in! The crowd in front of the stage got bigger and bigger as the afternoon wore on. As it approached 4 o'clock rivers of people could be seen walking down towards the stage through the tents.Eventually there must have been 30,000 people in front of the stage and i elbowed my way right to the front. The excitment was electric!Then Van shuffled on stage and picked up a guitar.A huge cheer greeted him but he didn't seem aware that there was an audience there at all.He was totally focused on the music. He mainly did material from Beautiful Vision but the highlight was Summertime In England. He seemed to be singing about the very ground we were standing on. It was a truly mystical experience to be there. After 80 minutes he was gone after a rousing version of Gloria.

The next day I realised who the American was who I had spotted backstage. It was Jackson Browne. He had stayed for the entire 3 days to enjoy the festival, not just turn up, trouser the money and bugger off like a lot of people. Anyway, I have seen Van many times since but no concert has quite equalled for sheer excitment and anticipation that muddy day in the Vale of Avalon all those years ago.
-Pat Corely

17-June-2012 Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, England

The Telegraph Source
Van Morrison, Hampton Court, review
Van Morrison played with both sensitivity and commitment at his gig at Hampton Court Palace, writes Andrew Perry.

“Welcome to the grumpiest gig in town,” quipped Van Morrison amid the Tudor splendour of Hampton Court Palace’s Base Court. The Belfast-born singer, of course, is not noted as one of rock’s jesters. Such is his repute for ill temper, one feared he might storm in like Henry VIII in the mood for spousal decapitation, hurling abuse at his audience, and thundering off again after a cursory few numbers.

Morrison, like his peer Bob Dylan, has always strenuously resisted simply rolling out the hits in performance. Unlike Dylan, he often chooses not to play them at all, rather than merely to savage them. By consequence perhaps, he has been under-appreciated recently. Gone are the days of his jazzy 1968 masterpiece, Astral Weeks, being often voted as the greatest album of all time.

Many latter-day Van records have been genre exercises, in skiffle, old-time country, and blues. As a mafioso-clad Morrison sauntered into view here, with a three-piece brass section in tow, and with an alto saxophone strapped to his chest, it was clear that tonight’s business was jazz.


Following a finger-snapping overture, “Brown-Eyed Girl” was rendered with West Coast cool, Morrison himself alternating between skiddly-bop scat and tender blasts on his sax. Two tracks later, “Fair Play” found him rattling up and down scales with both his voice and his reed, as if these were two interchangeable instruments.

The important thing was, he played both with sensitivity and commitment. Though he would air nothing from it here, “Astral Weeks” was all about applying jazzy formal freedom to rock songcraft. Jazz is home turf for him, and so Van, usually an insatiable sourpuss, seemed to be in the best of humours. “Paul McCartney said, money can’t buy you love,” he extemporized on one familiar line from “I’m Not Feeling It Anymore”, adding, “and he should know!”


To the joy of all present, Morrison really was feeling it, stretching out this and other tunes into exquisitely extended speculations. “Moondance”, as the evening light started to fade, was so jazzy, it actually morphed into Miles Davis’s “So What”.

Typically, there were digressions into country (Morrison duetting with his daughter, Shana), blues, and Vegas swing. Throughout, though, this was music as salubrious and classy as the setting, characterized by the band’s deft, delicate playing and their leader’s rare generosity of spirit.

With the rain holding off, and a raucous send-off of “Gloria”, it was a marvellous night, indeed – truly fit for a king.
-Andrew Perry

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
Higher Than The World
Fair Play
I’m Not Feeling It Anymore
All In The Game
Sometimes We Cry w/Shana Morrison
I Can't Stop Loving You w/Shana Morrison
Enlightenment
Crazy Love
Moondance
In the Garden
Old Black Magic w/Shana Morrison
Help Me
Ballerina
Gloria

03-June-2012 
Slieve Donard Resort
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Thanks to Dail for photo

Here is Pablo's review
“The road to Coney Island” review

Even thinking that I don’t have enough English to describe the beauty of this gig/gif, I’ll try. Leaving a side the great memories with all the friends around the world that I met this weekend, the quiet drinks, etc…This show, for me have been the second best this year (I’ll be murderer for this but still prefer the second night at the Culloden in April). The set list is nearly perfect as you can see. Van was in a great mood and the band come together already in the second song…

Yo-I like this song for start. They use it to warm up and its working.

BEG-sounds a lot better than in other shows with Van giving everything from the start. It’s a pleasure see him in so good form.

Higher than the world; flying into the music with a very good winds. Very comfortable on the sax.

Fair play-to him; I wont tell how he finish but I saw more than one in the room finishing the song with him. Class!!!

Not feeling it anymore. We do! We feel it! we enjoy it! and he did it again. Magic in that song, improving show after show…
“Welcome to the grumpiest show in town”, Van said…

It's all in the game.
This is it, No plan B! no safety net! He doesn’t need it. What a performance…”Daddy, PLEASE!!!!! I wanna go with you…To the Burning Ground!!!! You (My Van’s fan friends) know what I’m talking about!!!!!

Enlightenment, don’t know what it is….. But we can imagine, Van. Listen to you, singing like that, we have an idea. Vocal exhibition to explain us what it is…

In the garden-What else do you want!!!??? I’ll tell you. In this particular song I didn’t see Van with the same intensity than in Culloden. This one it’s the reason because I think this gig it’s a bit less amazing or awesome than the Culloden. But to tell the truth still I don’t know…Van sat on the piano and I grabbed my camera…
“We love you Van!!!!!!!”-“But you don’t even know me!”(Laughing)…”We love your music Van”-“That’s Better!!”

Haunt of ancient peace. You can see the video, I wont comment nothing here…Behind the song, Down by Avalon…

Ballerina. You can see how Van is enjoying playing Ballerina this year. From the ground to Heaven. From the whisper to the roar!!! I’m only missing the guitar at that stage…
Oh! Here it comes,

Tupelo Honey. You don’t need me to explain that to you…do you???
Why Must I Always Explain?? Only Van plays the guitar like that and we love it!!!
What happens with the time??? The show it’s nearly over already??? Can’t be!!!
We want more!!!! Please, somebody Help Me!!
We have that feeling that we have seen something especial. Big Clap for the Band!-Gloria! We have to take pictures and dance!!! Great Duel between Alistair and Chris to finish the song. Alistair won.

Time for a Quiet Drink!

PD: sorry for the mistakes! English its not my mother language…I´ll try but I know that I´m not very good. My very good friends will complete the reviews with the comments…
Pablo

Nosey's notes
Van was in a GREAT mood, speaking occasionally to the audience "Welcome to the grumpiest show in town, -- Any town"

Someone who shall remain nameless shouted to Van, while he was on keyboards "We Love You Van", he actually stopped, turned to her and said "What ?", she repeated herselfand he replied (the usual) "You don't know me", fortunately, she recovered and responded "We love Your Music", to which he said "Thats alright then" and smiles all around..

Setlist
Yo
Brown Eyed Girl
Higher Than the World
Fair Play
Not Feeling it Anymore
It's all in the Game
Enlightenment
In the Garden
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Ballerina
Tupelo Honey
Help Me
Gloria

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