Van Morrison

Not even a moondance? It's a marvelous night for one.

Wouldn't get that sort of disrespect at a Sidney Divine concert.
You can keep yer Dan the Man, give me Sid the Did any day of the week.

seen van about 5 or 6 times, just gets on with it. lets his music do the talking.

I think he did 4 excellent songs.
But nothing else. My impression is that he sees himself as a poet mainly, but from some average poetry came same great songs.

I've never heard any of his stuff outside of:
Have I told you lately, Moondance, Brown eyed girl, bright side of the road.
That I've liked.
Although tbf, I haven't heard it all.

Used to be you could keep up with music - those days are long gone. Now you have to rely on others to find the gold. VM surely exhausted his best stuff decades ago?  Steely Dan now touring with half ripped out?  Aaaiiieeee...

Problem is that it's just further back in time than we realise, bodil.
all this stuff is 40-50 years old.
When we heard it the 1st time round, we were actually closer in time to Al Jolson and Vera Lynn than we are to Van Morrison and Steely Dan now!

There we are unhappily reelin' in the years.

No, I know exactly how far back in time I am - I just have no idea how I got here.

I was posting April Stevens and Nino Tempo recently. I'm certain I recall a better version of Deep Purple back then. Damned if I can find it.

I used to say I went to bed one day and woke up finding I'd mislaid a decade, now it's two bloody decades.

Saw him at the Manchester Arena some time ago, short set, cr@p sound, unintelligible lyrics and a distinct impression he would've rather been somewhere else.

saw him about 10 yrs ago,the grumpy old bastard was on stage for about 50mins and as you say chatting to us plebs,made some half desent toons but as a human hes poo, infact downright rude

* not chatting to us low life

Perhaps the greatest musician the UK has produced

Hey, where did we go ?
Days when the rains came.

Saw Nick Cave a couple of nights ago. He is 11 years younger than Van.

He did the full crowd interaction, constantly covering all the stage from left to right.
Made his way through the crowd a couple of times and finished with 'Stagger Lee' with 100 adoring fans dancing on the stage.

Top stuff.

2 1/2 hours also and he spent 80-90% of that on the move.

Yes, it's the other extreme to Van Morrison, but it's not hard to make an effort

I don't know , sometimes when it's all about the show you get the feeling that something's missing .
in the end it's all about the music.

true ifc that's not in question,just pointing the great man lacks in class,is crass and I will never get back that £65 I wasted on him lol

Yes terry there's no doubt he can be that way , but the music is all there ,
It's there on record so to speak , that's what matters.

I remember when I was about 12 or 13 listening to Astral Weeks for the first time and thinking what's this ?
Couldn't hear it , and then came back and listened again a few times and suddenly it hit me .
First time I realised that a persons brain can change .

well yes that's true,but people pay good money to be entertained  not insulted, as I say it was at least 10yrs ago and id rather stick pins in my eyes(almost) than go see the old git again.
a friend of mine who like van lives in hove told me he was walking on the seafront and Morrison was walking towards me,my pal said "good morning" and van replied "f uck off", why would you do that?

yep he is what he is , a miserable old sod : )

I think his hard core fans now sort of want him to live up to his surly
reputation,last night I noticed him gesturing to the drummer to tone it down
and pointing  to his xylophone player to move to the bongos, that woman
was playing xylophone 2 sets of bongos a range of minor acoustics not to mention
backing vocals and also keyboards when required, she sure earned her money.

Sounds like a carbon copy of the gig he did in the Edinburgh Playhouse about 12 months ago
No chat, slick band. Van does 83mins and the rest do 90.
Worth every penny

still churning out great material, his most recent studio album of originals ' keep me singing ' is a classic.
the man is an institution.

review for anyone interested.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/music/music-review-van-morrison-glasgow-royal-concert-hall-1-4608322

I am a huge fan of his, but gave up seeing him live a while ago, for reasons variously stated.

Mind you it is still possible to strike lucky - See this review...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/van-morrisson-sang-like-champion-tinynells-jazz-blues-club/

Also - someone on here said.... "the greatest musician the UK has ever produced".  Musician is a hard word to define precisely, and instrumentalist is too narrow. A list of Singer/Songwriter/Instrumentalists would seem to suit best but even then, leaving out one of the three criterion, wouldnt have him in the top ten would it.   

Yes alright, Singer/Songwriter.  8th

Big fan of Van Morrison, but wish I'd seen him when he was really at his peak over 25 years ago. Seen him twice in last 8 years and disappointed both times, I wouldn't pay money to see him again now. No interaction, very mechanical, almost a complete disregard for his early hits, just sings a few of 'em, but people come to see him and want to hear the favourites. His whole attitude seems to be, just get the job done, and really seems like he couldn't give a f--k !

Two of my favourites ...
Baby please don't go & Here comes the night

Astral Weeks my favourite.
People are different, thankfully.

it's a masterpiece.

Yes it is. Van is a genius. A songwriter and musician. Saw him live around 15 years ago. He never moved from his spot on the stage. But then you don't expect a ' dancer' His lyrics and voice is all. Leonard Cohen was similar.

can also recommend reissue( 4 cds, 1 dvd ) of his live album ' too late to stop now' marvellous.

I don't think that the "negative" posts on here cast any doubt on the man's genius, the issue is that many live performances in recent years have resulted in criticism of his interaction with his audience. Anyone whose seen him more than once in the last 10/15 years will probably share that view.

Facts compares him with Leonard Cohen and I'd agree with the similarity in that "lyrics and voice is all", but there the resemblance ends. Cohen on stage was quiet but courtesy AND audience communication personified.

Excellent musician/writer/arranger but a miserable get.

Had a huge property in Bath just along from my old flat a few years ago.

Very crabby with anyone who had the temerity to say "hello", etc.

Still, never mind, eh?

in concert tonight on bbc4 for those interested.

Was just logging on to say that, concert on midnight.

Yes, his musicians have to be pretty thick skinned when working with him. Very difficult man to work with.