27-Oct-07 Madrid Concert Review

Mike S. reports on the Madrid show:
Reporting from a great show in Madrid with Van and the current band line up with Paul Moran on keyboards and all else the same.

Good set with County Down added though Van had to request the band sing the correct words and then said he would sing alone...and a few other light moments and overall large receptive crowd including some lovely ladies from Florida celebrating a birthday weekend with Van in Spain and a barful a warm Spanish fans who embraced their new Detroit amigos.

News of the new release (Still On Top) going Gold likely had Van in good spirits.

ADN.es Review:
(Translated via Google)

Van Morrison has offered a concert last night at the Palais des Sports de la Comunidad de Madrid in which sailed between the waters of jazz and country and presented a repertoire in which escasearon their greatest hits.

Morrison, 62 years old, cited his audience at eight in the evening hours unusual for a concert, and its timeliness surprised much of the spectators, still looking for their seats when he appeared on stage, dressed in a a black suit and hat, and a saxophone in their hands.

Accompanied by a band of ten musicians, including the vocalists Katie Kisson and Karen Hamill, the Lion of Belfast began with jazz themes cutting the second of his two concerts in Spain.

The vienres had acted in Murcia with similar effect: surprise to the public for the rigorous punctuality at the beginning and a good performance, however, was far from achieving the outstanding success.

The Palacio de los Deportes had reduced its capacity to some fabrics to improve the acoustics and get an atmosphere of intimacy, with all spectators sat in their seats and some lights dark.

Morrison, who alternated the microphone with the saxophone and harmonica, was then going on to the country sounds of his last studio album, Pay the devil, that mixes original compositions and versions of the genre.

The Irish musician has just published a new collection summarizing its forty-year solo career, Still on top, but it was not until midway through the concert to hear one of his greatest successes.

It was Bright side of the road, running in a distant country version of the original and the author interpreted in a low tone.

From the back of the room a few whistles were heard during the performance, especially when the stark lighting of the stage was expanded with a focus that was directly in the public eye.

It also heard a voice that demanded greater volume, and that is the sound that would have been ideal for a jazz club, it was at times somewhat low for a larger venue as the sports.

The concert, which ran a medium gas escalated when Morrison made another of his rare forays into its most famous items, Moondance, which played jazz rhythm and pulled out shone with the help of Hammond organ Paul Moran.

During this issue addressed, at last, to the public. He was to present his vocalists-half of the subject, but there is virtually finished its communication with the audience.

True to his reputation for huraño even introduced to the rest of the band. He had to be his guitarist, Ned-John Ewards who do so later, while Morrison was lost in the background of the stage.

The concert was settled in an hour and a half. It ended with Van Morrison Brown eyed girl, her first solo success, content Blowin 'your mind, 1967, but did not excite left by nostalgia. After the public were dismissed with a terse "thank you".

There was more. The spectators, after devoting some polite applause, left their seats without asking for a bis, when all the lights are lit to indicate that the show was over.

Van Morrison left pitando road to the airport. There he hoped his plane for conducirle to his home in Belfast, where he will sleep tonight.


ELPAIS:
(Translated via Google)

An old Irish with pint of trotamundo discussed in a bar that whenever Van Morrison sings, it rains in Belfast. The waiter puts in doubt and grotesque character pulls mobile, dial a number, and without welcome question: "Its rainning?" . Look at the bartender and says firmly. "Whenever it rains."

Perhaps rain in New York during the 48 hours it took for the Lion record Astral Weeks in 1967. He was 22 years old and it was his first solo record. The same age as Dylan was when he recorded The Freewhelin, or that it had met Neruda man's attempt to write infinity.

Yesterday not raining. Nor did it is his first visit to the capital, San Isidro 1988, which included shocked the musician to the second song. He again. That cost 500 pesetas of the time. Yesterday the most expensive approach the 80 €.

Morrison presented his third Greatest Hits, Still on Top with the same hat, with the same glasses, with the same attitude. A blonde girl dressed in black dancing nonstop between an audience mostly seated and quiet, a young man fleeing security to reach the runway. People seem happy. Some little less, there were problems to remove the entries and many entered the concert started.

The band looks beautiful, drums, violins, coristas, rope, winds. Van Morrison reserves an organ, a saxophone and harmonica. And is reviewing forty years of career. Time to Sidewalks, Magic Time and There Stands the Glass (Pay the Devil), their latest creations.

His attitude, looks the same as ever. Distant, proper, professional. To paraphrase Tony Soprano: "This is not a popularity contest." What people pay and enduring, it does so by art, as bulls, as El Prado. Morrison is not looking for friends, just salutes and does not lose time between song and song in a show of ninety minutes without discount.

What makes him good, very good. It shows the power of an age that does not have, but is presented with a dignity almost commensurate to the price of the stalls.

No other

Of the many not known. The necessary. Brown Eyed Girl, Bright Side Of the Road, Moondance. Classic popular outside the passage of time. Jewels of an era music and distant. The others, who beat precious surprises with the taste of the first time.

Arriving at the end gets angry with a corista and repeats some verses marcándola the correct pace. It's so alien to the public like this to the reasons that led him to act accordingly. After some time whistle and get started soon after the first standing ovation, lifting the public from their armchairs.

Fire in the Belly (The Healing Game), shows the virtues of this strange character who has long argued that just liked to compose. "He would sing songs to the other." It does so because there is no other. He knows.

The end of the show, without triple on horn, without farewell. Until another. Low scene without removing the hat, drinking water in the dressing room and mounted on a car that takes you to Barajas. Flight private. Takeoff, landing headbanding and in the cold of Belfast airport. Just stop rain.

Setlist:
This love of mine
It once was my life
Magic Time
Don't Worry 'bout A Thing
In the Midnight
Fire in The Belly
Bright side Of Th Road
Moondance
When the leaves come Falling Down
Cleaning windows
Vanlose
Playhouse
There stands the glass
Precious Time
St James Infirmary
Star Of The County down
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl

Big hand for the band!
Paul Moran
Crawford Bell
Katie Kissoon
Karen Hamill
Ned Edwards
Tony Fitzgibbon
Sarah Jory
Paul Moore
Neal Wilkinson

26-Oct-07 Murcia Concert Review

El Farode Murcia:

The Irish singer starred last Friday in the Plaza de Toros de Murcia the first of his two concerts in Spain, which desgranó a good level some of their greatest hits.
MURCIA. With absolute punctuality, the question "Are you ready for the Man?" Warns the start of the first of two concerts by Van Morrison in our country. Indifferent that impuntuales still were entering, searching parking or even gaining entry at the last minute.

It is true that lately to Van Morrison act on our lands likes not so much for the British Isles, though, who would say if you enjoy? The 2007 it began with a collection of his songs included in several films; After edited the third volume 'The best of ...' and now, with Christmas just around the corner, gives us another great success (and going 3) , in which the most interesting is his record of oddities.
This is the way business holding its 40 years in solitary. But the most human of the case, if that adjective can be attributed to the character in question is not removed from the scenes until the body he resists.

There in the distance, incómodamente seated in the last barrage of wood not numbered, with the cold in the kidneys and cursing having forgotten the binoculars, since the production did not appear to contemplate the scale of the Plaza de Toros- I could see, but not see, the service band Van 'man', from the outset, following orders without baton but with gestures, the great composer and singer imposed as a matter of powerful stone.

It started with 'Wonderful remark', a volume set, but with the unusual quality of the first items; The notes of 'pedal steel' attest. Reconstruyó the beautiful ballad 'Have i told you lately' dramatically, and rounded off with the appropriate 'Moondance', a little more film if possible.

The alternative version of 'The healing game' with a susurrante end deep impressed. He made a few more items to clear substance blusero, and completed a brief site with 'Bright side of the road', plus choirs and the country that gives the delicious violin. With 'Precious Time "was Mr.. Van Morrison! Without despeinarse or sweat towel. An hour and a half accurate, very high level. But, how many songs remain subject to the lectern to be interpreted ...?
With the audience who enjoyed privileged some distance, standing and ovacionando, had no choice but to do, even if only another: 'Brown eye girl' is the one that inspired him now, slightly raising the prominence to sound Hammond .

The level of concerts artists of the stature of Irish arrogant part of remarkable. Circumstances like compound suitable or otherwise, the public is more or less started and the minimum change in the mood of genius, can be achieved puntuarles outstanding. In Murcia was not the case.
-Miguel Tébar Almansa

La Verdad:
(Translated via Google)
Van Morrison, one of the living legends of British music, one of the musicians with diploma teacher and vitola of untouchable, went through Murcia and less evil that the criticisms are written from one day to another, because if I had to wait around I doubt that week remembered more than the cold. That what was your concert, one of those destined to die fast in the recycle bin emotional. Not a single detail to save.

Of course, the Van Morrison will not enter into the Top 25 best concerts Murcian year. Not that it was a disaster, far from it, but something as irrelevant as taking a drink of the best mineral water. Without gas. Van Morrison came out promptly to the scene, the switch clicked the autopilot and 90 minutes later he left. Luckily he had not done the detail of half a song, which saw Apparently, I had not missed. Even the most unconditional fans with whom I crossed me at the exit acertaban just say what 'has not been bad. " But if we stick to what we should require an artist of his stature -- price - and, yes it was.

However, the concert was for the better. The stamp during the first half hour was this: in the foreground the hubbub of people chatting, far from a group of quality amenizando. A group abusing the times means of ballads and a tedious querencia towards abulia country - the successes of yesterday are saltearon with themes of his last studio album, pesadísimo Pay the devil-. Then the sound increased in volume, the quality to always present, and there is no doubt that listening to live titles like Moondance, In the afternoon, back on top or Have i told you lately in the (great) voice of the author it is something that is worthwhile.

Neither was the site - that in the Victor Villegas had rated triple, it was like seeing Apocalypse now in a cinema summer, or had some miserable screens for almost half the public not divisaba the scene completely, or the attitude of astro added a great value. It was a concert adult. In country, R & B, folk, soul-brizna soulless soul is not tal- and some blues dragged which was the best of the evening. Without news of the rock. Neither of their ways much less its essence. A concert adult to adult people. Technically impressive and much closer to Kiss FM Radio 3, to understand each other.


The country version of Bright side of the road went straight to visit a toilet. And when, after 10 seconds of completion Brown eyed girl, the lights are lit and began sounding music environment - but stopped doing so at some point? - The feeling was not really as I remember, I think there was no sense whatsoever. A yawn, stretch and do you make a drink? Okay, but almost better coffee. Van Morrison went through Murcia. Nobody discusses his career, but within a month or I will remember the concert.

Setlist:
Wonderful Remark
Big Blue Diamonds
Stop Drinking
Magic Time
It Once Was My Life
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately
Moondance
Choppin' Wood
In The Afternoon
Playhouse
I Can't Stop Loving You
Enlightenment
Early In The Morning
I Like It Like That
Bright Side Of The Road
One Irish Rover
Back On Top
Precious Time
Brown Eyed Girl

Big hand for the band!
Paul Moran
Crawford Bell
Katie Kissoon
Karen Hamill
Ned Edwards
Tony Fitzgibbon
Sarah Jory
Paul Moore
Neal Wilkinson

Van Nearly On Top Of The Charts

Billboard: Van Morrison's new album "Still On Top" is on target for a No. 2 bow when the British chart is published on Sunday, according to his record label Polydor.

As things stand in the mid-week sales chart, the hits set would better his previous chart best "Magic Time," which peaked at No. 3 in 2005.

Despite selling an estimated 40 million albums worldwide across a 40-year recording career, Morrison has never achieved a No. 1 single or album in the United Kingdom.


Morrison's first hits came more than 40 years ago when his band Them scored two U.K. top-10 singles on UMG's Decca in 1965, "Baby Please Don't Go" (backed with the classic anthem "Gloria") and "Here Comes the Night." He first entered onto the U.K. singles chart as a solo artist in 1979 with "Bright Side of the Road," which reached No. 63 on Universal Music Group's Mercury label.

"Still On Top" is released through a new deal struck with UMG's Polydor Records.

A new studio album is due in early 2008 on Morrison's label Exile Music, which has a licensing arrangement with UMG.
-Lars Brandle

Candy Dulfer Interviews Van On Dutch TV

Musician Candy Dulfer will interview Van on her TV show, Candy Meets, on Dutch TV October 28th.

Candy Dulfer (37) is playing for years with the greatest on earth. For de series Candy Meets she visited six topmusicians with one main question: Where does your passion for music comes from?

"You've created this program together with your good friend Nada van Nie?"
That's right. Nada initially wanted a documentary on me, but that didn't work out. We thought of what else we could do. For a longer time I wanted to make a program, with all those dressing room stories that I hear. Nowadays on TV there's so less space for real conversations. Most of the times it's only soundbites.

"Why did you visit artists at home?"
That is more relaxt and intimate than a standard hotel room. Those are not plain interviews, we're going to do things, or visit special places. Dave Stewart busy with his daughter, Maceo power walking in the park. In this way you got an impression how one lives.

"What is it like to interview your own dad?"
At first it was rather strange. My dad is very macho, so normally I won't ask him what it was like in the old days. But this was a nice excuse and I could ask along. I heard about things I didn't know about the impact World War II had on my dad. That was pretty tough.

"We sort of miss Prince in this list..."
I think Prince really dislikes interviews. If I ever ask him, I would show him those other interviews first. In my opinion the artist should be cooperative. If Prince'd say: "I've watched it and I want, too!" that's completely different.

"Ain't that what Van Morrison did?"
I first didn't dare to ask Van, he also hates interviews. But he knew I was working on this program and he kept asking what it exactly was about. Then I said: "Van, if you will, I will". "Then I will," he said, ha ha. And this way it should go with Prince as well. I don't want them all doing it for me.

"Do you think this will continue?"
Program making is fun, but I don't necessarily need to have my face on the TV. I had a good time developping on a piece of paper and producing with enthusiastic people. I really got a kick out of that, that I would do again.

"What makes you happy?"
A lot of things. I like to have balance in my live. On the one hand I like to make music, on the other hand I like to have my house in order.

14-Oct-07 New York City Concert Review

We got a third fine show, here in NYC, last night. Van gave us some special moments. The band were on top of their game and sounded superb.

Again, here's Dan's take:

The Sunday night finale of Van's NYC run was not about generating
excitement, or clamor, or audience reaction, it was about the pursuit of
beauty and how the arc of a voice can come close to conveying emotional
perfection.

As viscerally exciting as Saturday's show was, Sunday's was about creating
a work of art in some of the most beautiful singing and phrasing I have
ever heard from Van. It was an expression of heart and soul.
It's really as simple as that.


Video Clip of In The Midnight. Thanks George


Vanlose Stairway!!


Stranded

Setlist:
Did Ye Get Healed
Magic Time
It Once Was My Life
In the Midnight
Choppin Wood
Vanlose Stairway
Moondance
Stranded
Have I Told You Lately
In the Afternoon/Let It Roll/Ancient Highway/Raincheck/Burning Ground.
Precious Time
I Can't Stop Loving You
One Irish Rover
Bright Side
Help Me
And the Healing Has Begun/Backstreets

Big hand for the band!
John Allair
Crawford Bell
Katie Kissoon
Karen Hamill
Ned Edwards
Tony Fitzgibbon
Sarah Jory
Paul Moore
John Platania
Bobby Ruggiero
Neal Wilkinson

Thanks again to Art for photo.

13-Oct-07 New York City Concert Review

Once again, Dan shares his thoughts on the 2nd NYC gig:

"Welcome to the breakfast show."

Van already had the crowd's full attention when he offered that welcome
last night right before he launched into In the Midnight, the third song
of his scintillating 19 song set.

He then mumbled something that I believe involved lack of sleep before
getting on with the show, which provided further proof that his
improvisatory genius continues to burst out of him like a geyser.
Morrison subbed out 8 songs from the Friday set, if you count the full-
blown "throw the motherfucker down" version of Burning Ground that flowed
from In The Afternoon, seamlessly merging two intensely emotional
declarations of love, at one point repeating the phrase "diamonds in the
night" with a trancelike beauty.

The entire concert was like a musical tasting course at a 4-star
restaurant, each song surprising the listener in delightful ways.
In the midst of Stranded, Van and the band were floating dreamily like
clouds above that "tiny, tiny" desert island when Morrison shouted "Wake
Up!" and the song and the band exploded into life again.
There Stands The Glass featured 5, count 'em, 5, rimshots tonight.
When Morrison re-entered I Can't Stop Loving You after the chorus sang its
verse, it almost elevated people out of their chairs.
One Irish Rover was balladry at its best.

Help Me blew the roof off the joint.
Moans, screams, wails. The old man ain't tired anymore, he just wants to
lie down.

This was a show to gorge on.
Last of the NYC trilogy tonight.
Maybe Van will even pick up the guitar.

Setlist:
Did Ye Get Healed/Yeh Yeh (CB on trumpet)
Magic Time
I Don't Worry About A Thing (CB on trumpet)
In The Midnight
Chopping Wood
Have I Told You Lately
There Stands The Glass
Playhouse
Stranded (CB on trumpet)
Moondance (CB on trumpet)
I Can't Stop Loving You
It Once Was My Life
In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Raincheck/Burning Ground
Precious Time
One Irish Rover (great violin solo)
St. James Infirmary (CB on trumpet)
Bright Side of the Road (SJ on banjo, CB on acoustic guitar)
Help Me
Gloria/Who Do You Love

Great job by Van's band!:
John Allair
Crawford Bell
Katie Kissoon
Karen Hamill
Ned Edwards
Tony Fitzgibbon
Sarah Jory
Paul Moore
John Platania
Bobby Ruggiero
Neal Wilkinson

Thanks to Art for the great photo!

12-Oct-07 New York City Concert Review

Dan was at las night's Van show in NYC, first of three, and here's his review:

As is apparent from the setlist, the highlights inevitably were the
resurrected "Vanlose Stairway," with Morrison enunciating in that glorious
way of his about expanding the gita, and sending a picture, through
Krishna, and the epic unfolding beauty of "In the Afternoon" rolling into
a sublime extended "Raincheck," with all kinds of improvisation in
between, including several "No prima donnas" flowing over and around the
mouthpiece of the sax Van still had clenched between his teeth, to the
passionate praise of the "Golden Autumn Day" that illuminated New York
City this afternoon after the rain clouds whirled off to the northeast.
The rest of the gig was of a piece with Van's recent set lists.

But as always, many of the songs took on different hues and vocal
ornamentation, such as Van clucking his tongue against the roof of his
mouth during Early in the Morning, or leaving the stage at the end of Help
Me softly blowing on the harp until he disappeared into the wings.
Morrison was rearing back and often working very hard tonight.
It was a good gig that had some sublime moments and also its fair share of
businesslike ones, "Moondance," for example. The set list would benefit
from a serious shakeup.

The band provided solid musical support, with John Platania hopefully
getting a little more work Saturday and Sunday.
The 77-year-old Bobby Blue Bland was up against a 7 o'clock start on a
Friday night in upper Manhattan, so few were in their seats when he slowly
took the stage supported by an associate. Most people were still traipsing
into the theater and talking during his short set.

Not a lot of respect apparent there, but the rudeness did not appear to be
deliberate. There is still a delicious sweet soul core at the heart of
Bland's voice, although that snorting, snoggling vocal effect can be
somewhat baffling.


Setlist:
Boogie Woogie Country Girl (Ned and the band)
Did Ye Get Healed/Yeh Yeh
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately
In the Midnight
Talk Is Cheap
Early In the Morning
Moondance
I Can't Stop Loving You
Playhouse
Vanlose Stairway
Precious Time
In the Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Joe Turner Sings/Raincheck
Stop Drinking
Stranded
Help Me
Gloria
Brown Eyed Girl

Big hand for the band!
John Allair
Crawford Bell
Katie Kissoon
Karen Hamill
Ned Edwards
Tony Fitzgibbon
Sarah Jory
Paul Moore
John Platania
Bobby Ruggiero
Neal Wilkinson

Van Inks New Record Deal. New Album in 2008

40 Years After Releasing His First Solo Album Van Morrison Signs New Record Deal

Van Morrison has renewed his relationship with Polydor Records in one of the music industry's most important deals of the year.

The deal grants Polydor the rights in Van's catalogue of recordings - one of the most seminal in the music business - a move which has allowed the release later this month of a Greatest Hits album which spans all five decades of his career for the first time. The album, "Still On Top", will be one of Polydor's biggest releases for Christmas, and will pave the way for Van's eagerly-anticipated next studio album - due early 2008 on Exile Productions/Polydor Records.

Despite being in the music business since the Sixties (when on occasions he played seven gigs a day) Van still averages 100 gigs a year. He has sold an estimated 40m records worldwide, and his catalogue consistently sells in excess of half a million records a year across the globe.

Universal Music Operations president David Joseph says: "Van Morrison is one of the greatest artists of all time. We look forward to working with his past, present and most importantly his future hits."


Promo Ad For Van's Forthcoming Greatest Hits Compilation

Some facts about Polydor...

Polydor is the UK's leading record company, and home to some of the most successful new talent to emerge from this country in the past five years.

The label's UK roster includes the multi platinum-selling artists Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Take That, James Morrison and Girls Aloud as well as this year's successful breakthroughs Klaxons and Kate Nash. They share a roster with successful acts from across the musical spectrum, from Ian Brown to Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In 2006, the label's Snow Patrol, Take That and Scissor Sisters emerged as the three biggest-selling albums of the year - giving Polydor Records an unprecedented 1-2-3 of the chart of the year.

Formed in 1946, Polydor is a label with a rich heritage. Its catalogue includes the work of such musical greats as The Who, Cream, The Jam and Abba.

Polydor is run by joint presidents David Joseph and Colin Barlow. It is owned by Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company with wholly-owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries around the world.

Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Polydor

More On Van's re-releases of 34 album back catalogue

2008 will also witness a brand new album release and the beginning of Van’s re-released 34 album back catalogue in batches of 6 with expanded audio content over the coming years. Van Morrison’s catalogue put into perspective has been one of our most consistent performers in recent years before his departure and is comparable in its consistent performance of 500,000 annual sales to the likes of our Rolling Stones catalogue over the same period.

Going To Vanstock In New York City?

Join fellow Van Fans at Coogans for pre & post show gatherings on Friday, Saturday & Sunday (October 12-14th) as we try to guess the night's setlist, share other Van concert experiences and enjoy the craic!

Where:
COOGANS
4015 Broadway
Washington Heights
(Corner of 169th)
NY 10032

Gatherings start at around 400p

Stylus: On Second Thought - Veedon Fleece

On Second Thought - Veedon Fleece:

For better or worse, we here at Stylus, in all of our autocratic consumer-crit greed, are slaves to timeliness. A record over six months old is often discarded, deemed too old for publication, a relic in the internet age. That's why each week at Stylus, one writer takes a look at an album with the benefit of time. Whether it has been unjustly ignored, unfairly lauded, or misunderstood in some fundamental way, we aim with On Second Thought to provide a fresh look at albums that need it.

Though Veedon Fleece has become a critical success over the years, somehow the album still gets overlooked by most fans, or rarely mentioned as one of his best. Never, for example, have I discussed Van Morrison with friends or Stylus compatriots, always coming back to that barfront question (top-three, now gimme), and been told Veedon Fleece made the count. I think much of this is the almost monolithic presence of its closest cousin in Van’s catalogue, the masterpiece of smoky Celtic folk, brickwall jazz, and R&B, Astral Weeks. If you’re looking for that aural cushioning, and you have to choose one come fireside, it’s likely it’ll be Astral Weeks. Which is too bad. In many ways, in both sound and temperament, Veedon Fleece is not only every bit the record of its slightly daunting elder, but a companion piece that bookended his classic 1968-1974 period.

Coming on the heels of a long tour with his Caledonia Soul Orchestra, a live set from which made up his 1974 release It’s Too Late to Stop Now, and a divorce from his wife, Janet Planet, Morrison returned to Belfast and began working on what would become Veedon Fleece. Veedon was an anachronism of sorts for Van at the time, at least viewed in light of the rumbling, bottom-fed R&B for which he’d become known on his albums from the early ‘70s like Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, and Tupelo Honey. The first signs of a reversion to the rustic spirituality of his earliest solo material could be heard on 1972’s Saint Dominic’s Preview, with its loose, extended song structures, contemplative lyricism (“Listen to the Lion,” “Redwood Tree,” “Almost Independence Day”), and almost complete lack of radio-friendly material (barring perhaps “Jackie Wilson Said [I’m In Heaven When You Smile]”). But it was with Veedon Fleece, and perhaps with his move from California back to Ireland, that Van finally nailed again the hypnotic, meditative quality of Astral Weeks.

Opening with the dim piano-led “Fair Play,” Veedon Fleece makes its claims on you early, while also announcing a return to Van’s Celtic past. Van’s back to fireside mode, a still hand and calm voice as he reclines against the song’s out-of-the-weather feel, spouting strange about taking in architecture with his mind, Oscar Wilde, and Thoreau. Where Astral Weeks made heathen’s psalms out of Van’s back-bed poesie and gorgeous, almost smotheringly atmospheric productions, Veedon Fleece is a bit more restrained. Its instrumental weight is never as engulfing, nor are its moods as suffocating as Astral’s can sometimes be. It lets you keep your head, but makes you accountable for that allowance, and often it’s that much more striking to hear Van up close, clear and pained, against a similar backdrop of velvety R&B, blues, and Irish lullabies.

Both “Linden Arden Stole the Highlights” and “Streets of Arklow” revel in a sense of sustaining yourself through something cold and ruinous via a warmth barely sufficient to keep your hands white, where it’s really only the whiskey burn keeping things limber. Structurally, they’re built on daybreak piano parts held up straight only by stand-up bass, acoustic guitar, and Jim Rothermel’s prominent flute and recorder parts, which provide their lone stretches of color. Van’s making dense, jazzy pushes out of a breakup, seemingly solace bound through Irish outlaw tales and shards of his own past, repeated motifs both lyrical and atmospheric. It’s as though he’d spread the regret, nostalgia, and soft pull from without from “T.B. Sheets” into every cut here, and taken away the blues by taking away the blues. Likewise, one of the album’s must-hears, “Cul de Sac,” wants its end of the roads and its everlastings in the same breath, building a high-blues piano roll, prominent bass saunter, and lead guitar part into an ode to the still snapshot moment that comes before a change of course.

Fortunately, on occasion Van shakes that sifting, wet-sand feel slightly, if never reaching the tumbling basslines and spring songs he’d mastered on previous albums. With the black gallop of “You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push the River,” he maintains the album’s doleful sensibility without sacrificing its need to eventually move around a little bit. He’s getting all retrofitted with his New Ageism on us again, William Blake and the Eternals looking for the Veedon Fleeces, sure thing Van, but then, there are some cool flute showdowns and great heavings and clearings of Nathan Rubin’s strings. He’s setting a mood down like a meal, remembering that small palate cleanser, and this is the first. Of course, the best, and the most immediately memorable song on Veedon, is “Bulbs.” Coming about as close to laying down a groove as he does on the album, the song quickly makes dust of its acoustic start, leaping headstrong into a Waylon Jennings-style bass-roll, rump-heavy and plush, pianos shimmering and fingerdense. Van’s singing again of weekends instead of cul-de-sacs and walks remembered after the close, and, thankfully, he’s back to his “la-la-la-la-la-la”s for a moment.


But Morrison had just been through a divorce, and Veedon Fleece is a break-up album of sorts. Just like every drunken broken-with starts the night out flirting and ends up whining about his ex, every such album ends where it began: wistful and melancholic. Van’s so close to the mic on “Come Here My Love” he could pluck the strings with his chest hairs, tin-masking his pain behind mystification, Belfast space-talk, and an acoustic. As “Country Fair”’s hushed recorder and guitar arrangement finishes the album like an early frost, snake-patterned ambient noises just audible beneath, you can hear Van retreat into the song’s extended outro, humming and moaning to himself, but mainly listening to the sound of this new hush he’s created. And that new hush would draw itself out. Veedon Fleece was the last record Morrison recorded for three years, saying in interviews he needed to get away from music completely for a while. While, as I said, it’s never gained Astral’s reputation as a record-collection cornerstone, Veedon is the kind of album, so frothy and thick, that requires silence when it’s over. You have to turn the stereo off for a while. To me, that’s the better explanation for Morrison’s three-year absence. He’d just finished Veedon Fleece.
-Derek Miller

Van Should Be Taught In Our Schools (2005)

Irish Independent
Originally published in September 2005.

"The end of art is peace and the following of art is little different from the following of religion in the intense preoccupation it demands."
-WB Yeats, 1905

ANOTHER Irish poet, Paul Durcan, once wrote about his experience of hearing Morrison perform a rendition of Patrick Kavanagh's Raglan Road. It was the finale of an open concert outside the Bank of Ireland in Dublin, in 1988.

The choice of song was fitting, Durcan wrote, because it brought together "the two finest poets in Ireland in my lifetime. No other Irish poets - writing either in verse or in music - have come within a Honda's roar of Kavanagh and Morrison."

Durcan, clearly transfixed, continued thus in Magill magazine 17 years ago: "Both northerners - solid ground boys. Both primarily jazzmen, bluesmen, sean-nos. Both concerned with the mystic - how to live with it, by it, in it; how to transform it; how to reveal it. Both troubadours. Both very ordinary blokes.

"Both drumlin men - rolling hills men. Both loners. Both comedians. Both love poets. Both Kerouac freaks. Both storytellers. Both obsessed with the hegira - from Monaghan to the Grand Canal, from east Belfast to Caledonia. Both originals, not imitators. Both first-time cats, not copycats. Both crazy.

"Both sane as sane can be. Both fascinated by at once their own Englishness and their own Irishness. Both obsessed with the audience and with the primacy of audience in any act or occasion of song or art.

"Both fascinated by the USA. Both Zen Buddhists. Both in love with names - place names as well as personal names: Cypress Avenue, Inniskeen Road; San Anselmo, Islington; Boffyflow and Spike, Shancoduff; The Eternal Kansas City, The Rowley Mile; Madame George, Kitty Stobling; Jackie Wilson, Father Mat; O Sole Mio by McGimpsey, John Betjeman on Drumcondra Road."

Before noting that EEC Commissioner Peter Sutherland in a courtroom in 1982 once remarked, "Van Morrison, are they a group?", Durcan wondered whether they might put Van Morrison on the Leaving Certificate poetry curriculum.

"Myself, if I was Minister for Education," Durcan declared, "I'd bring in a new curriculum in the morning and top of my list would be Kavanagh and Morrison."

So would I. Even allowing for exaggeration, the landscape of music would be a lot flatter were it not for east Belfast boy Van Morrison. He chases the same Holy Grail that Yeats and Blake sought.

One night in the Berkeley Court after a concert in 1995, I listened in bona fide awe as Van spoke forth on Blake and Yeats. His love of Blake is undimmed throughout the years. You'd want to be deaf to miss the connection.

Van is directly inspired by the visionary poet on You Don't Pull No Punches But You Don't Push The River (on the Veedon Fleece album), Summertime In England (Common One), Ancient of Days (A Sense of Wonder), Let the Slave (A Sense of Wonder), When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God? (Avalon Sunset) and Golden Autumn Day (Back on Top).

Yeats is another poetic champion to whom Van returns time and time again for inspiration. Listen to Here Comes the Knight (No Guru, No Method, No Teacher), Before the World Was Made (Too Long in Exile) and Rave on, John Donne (on Inarticulate Speech of the Heart).

Say what you like about Van - curmudgeon, grump, whatever - but he has remained true to his muse while those around him in the music sold their souls to Mammon. Van is the music industry's true anti-star - "a maverick not by choice but by conviction", as he once said.

If Van Morrison didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The grumpy godhead of Irish soul turned 60 last Wednesday; but he guards his personal life with a missionary zeal, so don't expect to see him and girlfriend Michelle Rocca mugging it up at his birthday bash in the next issue of VIP magazine.

He has other things on his mind. And apparently always has had . . .

"One time Van said to me that he didn't want to talk," his mother, Violet, once said, "but music was running through his head all the time. He said he didn't know whether he'd been blessed or cursed because the words and music wouldn't leave him."

"Everything is a curse and a blessing," Van told Uncut magazine in a rare interview in June. "There's two sides to everything in life. Don't think I haven't tried to walk away from it all. I've made a few concerted efforts at walking away. But it's pointless. You have to understand that I don't choose the music. It chooses me. My love for the music is the core of it for me.

"Maybe there's people who do music for different reasons. Financial reasons or ego reasons. Maybe they can walk away from it. But I can't. Because my connection to the music can't be broken. This is a need. Let's be clear about this: there is no f***ing choice."

Lets be clear about this. Van Morrison - the lyrical, elegiac bard from east Belfast - is a f***ing genius. Read aloud the following lines from Sweet Thing (1968) and tell me otherwise: "And I shall drive my chariot/ Down your street and cry/ 'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite/ And I don't know why."

Van's It's Too Late to Stop Now, from 1974, is the greatest live album ever recorded. No contest. Astral Weeks, the masterpiece Van wrote when he was a mere 22 yeas of age, is forever up there with Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde and Revolver as The Best Album Of All Time.

And who could not be mesmerised by TB Sheets, about a woman dying of tuberculosis? "Open up the window and let me breathe," he cries at the deathbed.

The esoteric mysticism of 1972's Listen to the Lion has to be heard to be believed, as Van sings: "We sailed and we sailed and we sailed/ Away from Denmark/ Way up to Caledonia. . . All around the world . . . Looking for a brand new start."

In the end, Van realises the lion he seeks is inside him.

His music, he says, is "aimed at establishing a meditative state within the listener of transcendent moments". He talks about just "picking up what was in the air".

You get the impression that Van's spiritual antennae arenever switched off. He once told me that he felt "compelled" to write. He won't thank me for revealing any of this, or the compliments or the high-blown analysis of his genius. "Words on a page," he once sang, "please don't call me a sage."

George Ivan Morrison, born August 31, 1945, an only child to Protestant parents, grew up in thrall to Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson and his "guru", Leadbelly. He talks about hearing Leadbelly for the first time as a four-year-old and how "that opened up the door for me".

Indeed when Van opened the door to me last year the look on his face was priceless. The door was to a spiritual healer's house and I had arrived for an appointment and a man in a cap came out and said a brusque hello before beating a hasty retreat to his car. I recognised the accent and the face 'neath the cap.

On another occasion, in Galway, I sat transfixed as he and Georgie Fame sat up through the night, drinking and talking about old jazz greats, the gods, Arthur Rimbaud and existence in general.


And on another unforgettable night Van intervened to physically pull an off-duty guard off me at a dinner party some years ago. But that story will have to wait for the time being. I'm off to persuade the Education Minister to put a certain wide-eyed east Belfast existentialist on the Leaving Cert poetry curriculum.

It will be a belated present for Van the Birthday Man.
- Barry Egan

New Compilation: Still On Top-The Greatest Hits

RELEASED ON OCTOBER 22ND

Van's back catalogue has been unavailable for some time now and has now been completely remastered for a series of reissues beginning with this superb compilation that covers the complete span of his career from the days of Them, through the classic period on Reprise and up to date with the Universal albums.

The standard release is a 2 disc set but a limited number of this 3 disc set will also be available - don't know how long for though.

Disc 1:
1. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) 2007 Re-mastered
2. Dweller On The Threshold, 2007 Re-mastered
3. Whenever God Shines His Light, 2007 Re-mastered
4. Moondance
5. Bright Side Of The Road, 2007 Re-mastered
6. Brown Eyed Girl
7. Wavelength, 2007 Re-mastered
8. Crazy Love
9. Someone Like You, 2007 Re-mastered
10. When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God, 2007 Re-mastered
11. Tore Down A La Rimbaud, 2007 Re-mastered
12. Wild Night, 2007 Re-mastered
13. Gloria, Stereo Version
14. Real Real Gone, 2007 Re-mastered
15. Into The Mystic
16. In The Garden, 2007 Re-mastered
17. Saint Dominic's Preview, 2007 Re-mastered
18. Stranded, Album Version

Disc 2:
1. Precious Time, 2007 Re-mastered
2. Domino
3. Here Comes The Night
4. Little Village, 2007 Re-mastered
5. And It Stoned Me
6. Days Like This, 2007 Re-mastered
7. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, 2007 Re-mastered
8. Cleaning Windows, 2007 Re-mastered
9. Baby Please Don't Go
0. Back On Top
11. Vanlose Stairway, 2007 Re-mastered
12. Celtic New Year, Album Version
13. Irish Heartbeat, 2007 Re-mastered
14. The Healing Game, Alternative Version
15. Full Force Gale, 2007 Re-mastered
16. Warm Love, 2007 Re-mastered
17. Did Ye Get Healed, 2007 Re-mastered
18. Tupelo Honey, 2007 Re-mastered
19. Wonderful Remark, 2007 Re-mastered

Disc 3:

1. Hey Mr. DJ, 2007 Re-mastered
2. In The Forest, 2007 Re-mastered
3. Queen Of The Slipstream, 2007 Re-mastered
4. Rave On John Donne, 2007 Re-mastered
5. Hymns To The Silence, 2007 Re-mastered
6. Crazy Jane On God, 2007 Re-mastered
7. Rough God Goes Riding, 2007 Re-mastered
8. Steal My Heart Away, 2007 Re-mastered
9. One Irish Rover, 2007 Re-mastered
10. Listen To The Lion, 2007 Re-mastered
11. Streets Of Arklow, 2007 Re-mastered
12. The Beauty Of The Days Gone By, 2007 Re-mastered
13. Take It Where You Find It, 2007 Re-mastered
14. Coney Island, 2007 Re-mastered

Watch Van Perform 'Little Village' Live

Watch Van perform Little Village live at the Montreux Jazz Festival 2007. Exclusive video available to watch in the vanmorrison.com Members Area now!

You must be registered member in order to watch.

14-Sep-07 London Concert Review

Dail was at last night's Royal Albert Hall show:

The Albert Hall concert was a good night, its certainly got better towards the end.
The highlights for me were a brilliant St. James...great sax playing from Van, "Early in Morning "was another great song...Tupelo Honey another fine performance by Van, but again I wish it hadn't been a duet with Chris F..... "Help Me" - I love this track, nice bit of slow sax as the intro.
Baby Blue....started well when Van was singing, but another duet!!! and to me it lost its appeal, I don't think their voices blend too well.
Love this new Guy on piano and organ, (don't know his name.)..Chris Barber a wonderful input on St James and Early in Morning and totally enjoying himself.



Good concert......good atmosphere....but lacked the polished performance considering the Venue, Van could have taking it to a higher level...instead we stayed in the stalls.
-Regards Dail














Chaz wrote this review:

Friday 14th September I attended the Royal Albert Hall (for the first time ever) to see Mr Van Morrison in concert.
The venue is superb and I would love to go again sometime.
Support act Chris Farlow took to the stage at 8pm entertaining the audience with a mix of blues and rock n roll songs,saving his biggest hit until the end when he was, literally, "Out Of Time".
It was fantastic to see and hear an old rocker belt out some classic numbers.

He had a great voice and he really warmed to the crowd from the start with some good humoured banter; his backing band were spot on as well, really tight musically with additional vocals... superb.

Then came Van the Man!!!

A great backing band provided the perfect musical accompaniment for Van The Man to go through his repertoire of hits, from Moon Dance to Brown Eyed Girl, nothing of any great note was missing and the crowd loved it.
He was very professional, yes, good voice, great music of course but there was no audience interaction, no breaks between the songs, just straight from one to the other and it left me feeling that he wasn’t really singing to the crowd there, just going through the motions.

Even the guy behind me who insisted on shouting "Woah!" after every song(wonder if he ever got that horse to stop?) couldn't get me feeling as though the man of much talent would or could inter-act with his adoring fans.

The audience loved it but even at the end he didn't even do an encore finishing the the crowd seemingly wanting more ....with the fantastic GLORIA finishing off the evening.

I enjoyed the concert overall even inspired enough to purchase a Chris Farlow cd today on the net..that man has a voice!!!!
The crowd appeared to respond to him more and vice versa;
Van The Man, been there, done it, do the minimum and get out of there!!!
That’s very much a personal view, the audience loved it, despite the fact he didn’t do an encore they all left the Albert Hall happy with what they had.

Setlist:

Did Ye Get Healed? > Yeh Yeh [instr.]
Magic Time
Goin’ Home
Bright Side Of The Road [Satchmo ending]
Sometimes We Cry [CF]
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home [CF]
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Moondance
Stranded [CF]
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Playhouse
Saint James Infirmary
Wonderful Remark
Foggy Mountain Top
Help Me
Precious Time [scat ending]
Tupelo Honey [CF]
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue [CF]
Cry For Home [CF]
Early In The Morning (‘Bout The Break Of Day)
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria > Who Do You Love [CF]

[CF = w/Chris Farlowe]

08-Sep-07 Calne Concert Review

Once again Pat shares his thoughts on last night's Bowood House show in England:

It was just over a year ago at Vans Torquay show that we were stunned with
the news of baby Aibhe,and now the news that Van had a new baby son.Van has
always had a prolific output but this is getting silly.Would this affect the performance of the proud father i wondered.Bowood is only down the road
apiece from us and we are quite blessed that Van plays in the West of
England so often.

It was a beautiful sunny September evening as we set off for the The Bowood estate which is quite amazing, it was built by the first Earl Of Shelbourne who was British Prime Minister when the Americans beat us 1-0 in the war of independance.The grounds were landscaped by Capability Browne.It is a beautiful backdrop for a Van concert. Bowood House looked really nice all lit up in various colours.it was only a taxi ride from our house to the Landsdowne Arms. where we met up with the usual suspects.

There was a support act on but i didn't listen to him because i was busy getting some food and drink together. I bought a bottle of champagne £35 ! Anything to keep her ladyship happy and some nice West Indian chicken curry which she didn't like.I thought it was delicious.Then it was time for Van the Man...

Except it wasn't, flaming Chris Farlowe came on and i can't abide him, i find him grotesque,he is like the hunch front of Notre Dame.In my notes i wrote Chris Farlowe, Love My Baby, Yes I Do, and The Thrill Has Gone.Thank god Van came on next
and sang ENLIGHTENMENT which was really good followed by MAGIC TIME.I left
herself at this point and wandered up to the front where Van introduced
veteran jazzer Chris Barber who Played excellent trombone on GOING
HOME.This was followed by the HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY,I won't repeat previous opinions here.Next up was PLAYHOUSE which lets face it isn't one of Vans better compositions but it does allow the band to show what they can do. SOMETIMES WE CRY was next and this is one of my all time favourite Van songs but not when sung with Chris 'bleeding' Farlowe.BABY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO? followed and this is ok , Van sang this at Glasto which made me wonder if it is a precursor to a bluesy type album next but i am reliably told this is not the case.A real country style BRIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD was next and this was quite pleasant and got the crowd dancing about a bit.DON'T START CRYING NOW was next and was ok but a bit boring.DON'T YOU MAKE ME HIGH followed which is disappointing for me because there is much better songs off Pay The Devil such as Till I Gain Control Again.Anyway never mind.REAL REAL GONE was next and that was great.I must mention Katie Kissoon was there but she wasn't really given a chance to shine.

MOONDANCE was next which was its usual crowd pleasing but for the die hards boring self.STRANDED followed which was nice apart from Farlowe walking all over it.The next song saved the whole night and certainly lifted my Mood TUPELO HONEY !,It was great.HEY MR DJ followed and it was ok but why bother?Its hardly one of Vans greater songs is it? The next few songs were quite predicable , PRECIOUS TIME, JACKIE WILSON, BROWN EYED GIRL and GLORIA.I am fed up with them but the crowd was lapping it up and
enjoying it so who are we to critisise?

Anyway, it was great to see fellow Posh fan Dail and all the others at Vans last outdoor gig of the Indian summer and with the grim Phil Spector of unemployment hanging over me it might be my last Van gig for a while so i am glad i went.
-Pat .(Tired)

And here's Dail's take on the show:

Nice review Pat, Indeed Bowood House was a perfect setting for a wonderful concert.
I had a great time, the music was a good mixture of songs, Blues and a bit of country.....Don't you get me High was brilliant, first time for me to hear this at a concert. Tupelo Honey was pleasant surprise, I wished Van had not done a duet with Chris on this, no Blue and Green I was hoping, but maybe at Royal Albert.
I fear that Van has the beginning of a cold, he had a scarf around his neck all night, the voice did not seem as strong.
The audience were really into the concert, and Van was giving fantastic response.


The atmosphere was the best I have seen at a concert, with the crowd singing along to the golden oldies, even I was singing to Brown Eyed Girl...I Don't like the song! but it just goes to show if the
Ambience is right on the night...!Van was in good spirits and the band
played well, Sara is very talented but I just don't like the sound of the pedal steel, Chris Barber was a guest of Van's and Katie Kissoon, nice opportunity to have done Cazy Love, which I heard her sing a verse at a concert, she sounds great.
Still hoping for the return of the horn section.....fingers crossed!
Here's praying for a good concert at the Royal Albert Hall....fantastic
venue.
-Dail

Thanks to Dail for the great photos.

Gazette & Herald Review:

Legendary Irish rocker Van Morrison amazed crowds with a perfect set at Bowood on Saturday.

More than 3,000 people turned up to hear the star play hits such as Gloria and Brown Eyed Girl.

Kevin Borley, of Derry Hill, said: "Van is an absolute star. He played perfectly tonight and has lived up to all my expectations.

"He is as good now as he has ever been. The atmosphere was amazing with a great ambience. It was so great to see him."

Fans of the singer flocked from all over the country to see him perform. Rosario Caverdale, of Essex, said: "I have been a fan for 30 years and this was everything I had hoped for."

Bowood House was lit up as the band geared up to play. Fans spread blankets, drank wine and chilled out as Van the Man played the piano, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone.

Carol Mclean, of Malmesbury, said: "I have been a fan since the 70s and this concert brought back so many memories for me.

"I have grown up with Van and to see him play now was amazing."


As the concert came to an end many fans stood up and started dancing as the band played Van the Man out.

Old school fans waved the irish rocker off stage with cigerette lighters and shouts of "Van Van you're our man, if you can't do it no one can!"

Fans stayed late into the night drinking and celebrating Van's music.
-Lucy Buckland

Setlist:
I Love My Baby [*, CF]
The Thrill Is Gone [*, CF]
Enlightenment
Magic Time
Goin’ Home
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Playhouse
Sometimes We Cry [CF]
Baby What You Want Me To Do [CF]
Bright Side Of The Road [Satchmo ending]
Don’t Start Crying Now > Custard Pie
Don’t You Make Me High
Real Real Gone > You Send Me
Moondance
Stranded [CF]
Tupelo Honey [CF]
Hey Mr. DJ [CF]
Precious Time [scat ending]
Jackie Wilson Said
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria [CF]

01-Sep-07 Edinburgh Concert Review

The Scotsman: Van speeds through set without stopping for a chat

A DAY after his 62nd birthday, and on his third visit to Edinburgh in as many years, Van Morrison delighted a sell-out crowd at The Playhouse on Saturday night.

One of Ireland's true songwriting geniuses, and for many one of the greatest blues singers of all time, 'Van the Man' as he's known, wasted little time in getting through as many songs as possible, strutting through a back catalogue of hit tunes during his 90 minutes on stage.

Latecomers, who were still pouring into the hall half an hour into the set, missed out on hearing slick versions of Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? and Bright Side Of The Road. Not that Morrison cared. Dapper in his dark green suit, trademark hat and sunglasses, the Belfast Cowboy might as well have been playing to an empty hall, such is his scarce want to acknowledge his fans. Interaction between artist and audience just doesn't happen at a Van Morrison gig.


Backed by a nine-piece band that included backing singers, a fiddle player and a female lap-steel player (or "electric coffee table" as Billy Connolly would call it), the band are so tight they sounded as if they were controlled by one big volume control, the controller being Morrison himself: orchestrating the band with an array of hand signals, stares and occasional grunts.

Whether it was country, folk, rock or pop, rhythm and blues or Celtic soul, the crowd swayed along, though they never got up to dance like they had done at recent Morrison concerts in the capital.

There was also a clampdown on mobile phone photography, too, which, thankfully, allowed people to enjoy the gig with no distraction.

Morrison, though, can sing just about any song, even redneck hillbilly.

During Webb Pierce's country classic There Stands The Glass, you could almost sense the audience crying into imaginary pints of beer, as Morrison, almost literally, poured over the lyrics: "There stands the glass/ That will ease all my pain/ Make me forget your name/ It's my first one today."

Yet while there was no doubting the warmth fans have for Morrison's voice, it's the hits they all wanted to hear.

The scourge of covers bands and Morrison alike, he quickly dispensed with Brown Eyed Girl in the same way someone would hurl water from a sinking boat.

A few people stood up to dance along, the ushers keeping a watchful eye over anyone threatening to jig their way down the aisles.

But that was before Morrison took fans right back to the start of his career with a fantastic version of Gloria - a song Morrison wrote during his days with Them.

Finally a bit of fire started to erupt from his belly. The volume had increased - at last - and for once here was a song the audience could really get their teeth into. Unfortunately, that was about as chipper as things got.

Make no mistake, Morrison has a voice gifted by the Gods, he's enriched peoples' lives for over 40 years and given us some great songs.

But surely a bit more 'oomph' and a bit more interaction is the least he can give his paying public. Leaving the stage as nonchalantly as he'd arrived on it, there was no good-byes or any waves to the crowd. Van Morrison's work here was done.

Setlist:
Enlightenment
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Choppin’ Wood
Stranded
Bright Side Of The Road [Satchmo ending]
In The Midnight
Playhouse
Early In The Morning (‘Bout The Break Of Day)
There Stands The Glass
Stop Drinking
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Wonderful Remark
Precious Time [scat ending]
Celtic New Year >I’ll Go Crazy
It’s All In The Game >You Know What They’re Writing About >Make It Real
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Help Me

24-Aug-07 Poole Concert Review

Bill's review of the Poole show:

We're in Dorset, on the edge of one of the largest natural harbours in the world, but tonight no foghorn whistles blow. Forget the cry of gulls and the deep-sea swell, as it's a fine summer evening in olde Poole town.

At seven o'clock sharp a singer arrives backstage, clutching a worn old
leather briefcase, muttering something serious, then smiling, he leaves a
silver Mercedes and driver, free to move on, and disappears into the club.

It's been a while; several years have passed, since the man's previous
visit with a certain Linda Gail Lewis. Wasn't that when it all went wrong?
Well tonight expectations are high as a new Van is back with a fresh
combo, and who know where he's heading now.

A surprisingly refreshing Guinness (extra cold) in a quiet Lighthouse bar
begins to work its magic in the waiting game. Eight o'clock sharp take
your seats, old folks, for the show is about to begin. And yes, thank
Christ, drinks are allowed in the full, comfortable, seated theatre.
Musicians wander on stage, back up singers, violin, banjo, a drummer
needing no raised platform, a close, tight group, confined by the
equipment.

Maybe we should have guessed, here he comes now, Chris Farlowe, with a
warm up of sorts, but he is quickly joined by the man himself, who treats
us to some very fine saxophone, and later detailed acoustic guitar.

Despite George Ivan still wearing a tight-buttoned suit, hiding behind
shades and a pork pie hat, a comical figure, he appears relaxed, smiling,
comfortable, and having a pretty good time. The voice, the voice, weighty
bass barreltone healing season'd and glorious.

Between swift exits to the bar for Guinness replenishment, dodging ribald
security festering reliant yellow monkey men who vex the harmless aged
multitude, we are treated to a varied robust tight set that includes the
disappointing Vegas style Have I Told You Lately, a novel bluegrass Bright
Side Of The Road, a mellow Magic Time, Farlowe sounding strangled on
Stranded, a throw away Precious Time, I'm Not Feeling It Anymore, sung
with great feeling, and a predictable goodnight folks Brown Eyed Girl
after the quickest ninety minutes ever.

Bonuses include a surprised Tom Jones (OK, Chris again) duetting on Cry
For Home, a reprise of their big hit. Two great tributes - a Ray Charles
number to die for - in all its majesty - beautifully arranged, pure love,
and a comical Dylan ditty with Chris again helping out to great effect,
for It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.

Other highlights include a Tupelo Honey that was worth the price of
admission on its own, sung with a passion and depth you don't see every
day. Well preserved, and skilfully converted.

Hitching a ride into the night we made haste to The Bricklayers to mull
over the nights events, over frothy pints, buttered scones and crumpets,
footfalls echo in the memory.
An old white horse galloped away in the meadow.

Wonder if anyone taped it. Some of these bootleggers, they make pretty
good stuff.
-Bill N.

Setlist:
I Love My Baby [*, CF]
This Love Of Mine
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Early In The Morning (‘Bout The Break Of Day)
Bright Side Of The Road [Satchmo ending]
Cry For Home [CF]
Hey Mr. DJ [CF]
Little Village
I’m Not Feeling It Anymore
Sometimes We Cry [CF]
Stranded [CF]
Playhouse
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Don’t Start Crying Now >Custard Pie
Precious Time [scat ending]
Tupelo Honey [CF]
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue [CF]
Brown Eyed Girl
Stand By Me [CF]