The Playlist
The evening kicked off with a jazz (bordering on calypso) version of Brown Eyed Girl. This oldie from his earliest days set the tone for the evening, with fresh renditions, and at times studio perfect performances of songs from across his 40 years plus performing history. The audience were treated to such varied tracks as The Way Young Lovers Do, In the Garden, Moondance, Real Real Gone and covers of some blues standards such as Sonny Boy Williamson's 'Help Me'. There was little or no new material on offer and the concert was all the better for it. (For a full setlist please see here).
The Performance
I used to go to every Van Morrison concert that was put on in Northern Ireland. I saw him play Killyleagh Castle, and enjoyed him in Botanic Gardens headlining with Bob Dylan. In the last couple of shows at the Grand Opera House, however, the singer and his songs seemed tired, the presence of Georgie Fame and Brian Kennedy overwhelmed any potential immediacy or intimacy that the audience may have enjoyed, and Morrison seemed to treat some of his own material with disdain.
None of this was evident tonight. Morrison was warm with the audience (well as warm as he is going to get!) and consummate in his arrangement and performance of every track. Vocally, his range was astonishing, managing to give an authentic growling bluesman sound to his covers, but reaching the high and sweeter notes of Astral Weeks and early career tracks. He was engaged with the material, and meticulously attentive to the dynamic of his band. Those on stage with him didn't disappoint, either. A small jazz feel to the group in no way inhibited the range of material that could be covered, and at times the synergy of backing group and singer lent the performance something very special indeed. To convey intimacy in an arena is quite a feat.
The Venue
For me this was the only let down of the evening. I simply don't like the Odyssey Arena, or perhaps I should be clearer - I don't like the audience dynamic of the Odyssey Arena. It was announced tonight that the bar would close at 8:30pm, on the request of Van Morrison himself. This, presumably, was to obviate excessive to-ing and fro-ing of audience members during the performance. We were seated in the lower tier, and in a two hour performance there was not a clear 5 minutes in which people were not milling in and out. Several people two rows in front of us visited the toilet (or at least left their seats) over half-a-dozen times and on returning had a general chat with their half-dozen friends before giving some cursory attention to what was happening on stage.
This mystifies me. People have paid good money to hear an artist, and their main preoccupation throughout the concert appears to be walking in and out at will. One feels that a group of schoolchildren would have longer attention spans and better bladder control.
Perhaps I'm just getting old, or grumpy, or both.
Overall Impressions
Van Morrison, at 66 years old, appears to be at the top of his game vocally, in terms of musicianship (guitar, sax and harmonica) and in terms of engagement with his material. He treated his audience this evening to two hours of wonderful entertainment whose momentum didn't dip, and whose capacity to surprise and delight appeared limitless.
24 comments:
Andrew, Thanks for the review. Heading to see the Man himself in the O2 tonight. It's been a long wait.
thanks for the comprehensive review and setlist andrew. you might like to check out local Van tribute band Celtic Soul.
they play a huge range of hits and album tracks. and you wont have to endure the odyssey.
theyre on facebook, twitter and their website is www.celtic-soul.com
Excellent review Andrew.Thank you.
Although don't like to see a tribute band (Celtic Soul above in comments) trying to milk the cash cow on a review page .8(
Sounds like it was a good night at the Odyssey.Looking forward to tonight.
Andrew, an excellent review of an excellent show, more or less my feelings entirely. It was great to see him in such good form (as you said, as good it's likely to get) and perform a career spanning set with as good a band as I've seen him with. I totally agree about the to-ing and fro-ing.Why do people spend up to £100 per ticket to spend the evening chatting to friends and leaving their seats? This doesn't happen during theatre performances but seems to be derigeur for "rock" shows. Maybe I'm just getting old too, the big 5-0 beckons!!
Totally agree with everything Andrew said - Van and the band were brilliant but some members of the audience seemed unaware of appropriate concert-going behaviour. The guy in front of us texted or tweeted throughout and when his mobile went on it lit up and distracted those around. The way the star left the stage on the last number, handed the microphone to a stage hand and left the band to bring a fantastic rendition of 'Gloria' to a triumphant finish was masterful. Van was probably at the Tillysburn roundabout before the audience reached the car park!
Excellent review and many thanks for including the set-list. Van was up for it and the band was masterful. The audience behavior mystifies (and frustrates) me to no end, however, and unfortunately it's not restricted to the Odyssey. If folks want to have a raucous chat for two hours wouldn't it be far cheaper and more considerate to their fellow man to do it at a Clement's or one of Belfast's many fine pubs? Many highlights to the show, however, and it will be long remembered. No Plan B, No safety net!
sounds like a great gig. hope to see the great man tonite myself, no ticket as of yet though. yeah shame about the crowd. common enough though for a weekend gig, that combined with the magnitude of the artist himself. lots of
"ah its just nice to get out of the house on a friday night"
- sort of people. those who put the greatest hits album on in the car on the way to the gig. alas, old habbits die hard. i think we're all getting old...
thanks for the setlist and review.can anyone tell me exactly what time van came on stage at?
Andrew thanks alot for the review. We were lucky enough to be in the front row and have te following comments.
Van was in great form and he conducted the band superbly. The set list was fantastic and had something for everyone. I have seen him on numerous occasions and in numerous places but this was one of the best. HOWEVER the audience and venue didn't help things. Even beside us there were people arriving in 25mins into the gig. There is also a little clique who all hang around the front who (a) resent the fact that you have got seats in their little area (b) eye up seats that are empty to move to if no one turns up...this caused hassles behind us when the people did turn up albeit late (c) insist on giving a running commentary of the band, their background, the album the soing is from etc and the last time he played it live . We were lucky to have tickets as we are family friends BUT i would also have had reservations about paying that money to have someone singing the songs all night in my ear...very annoying. I have to confess I was one of those who had to leave to go to the loo and the contrast in sound quality from the front to the back was startling. Sound at front was top class, the back was as has already been said baked bean can standard! Lots of
Love Madame George
I totally agree with this review altho' feel that the duet he sang with his daughter was worth a mention - I wasn't overly impressed with her warm-up set but thought the 2 complemented each other very well on that one number. I think Van came on stage about 5 to 9. It was the best show I've ever seen him give and the musicianship of the band was outstanding. I hope there's a live album out of it; they certainly had the technology there.
A good review of a great night - glad you enjoyed it too. Interesting that the songs you remembered are different to the songs I remembered when I wrote about it!
Always loved Vans music but can't understand why EVERY song had an instrumental. Think he showed a lack of enthusiasm. We walked out half way through along with a lot of others!! Think I'll stick to listening to his CDs
i have to agree with everything you have said about last nights gig,i enjoyed it so much and yes you are right it was unbelievable the way the crowd walked about all through the show , very distracting they were like ant's milling about a couple in front of me sat talking all night should have gone to the flick's they would have enjoyed that better, great concert though
Great gig. Only point of disagreement is the dragging out of 'no plan b. no safety net' I thought this repetitive mantra went on far too long. Van hit the stage at 8.40 and left at approx 10.25. Memorable moment was when he and the band went all quiet and he spoke of a hand on his shoulder. Can't remember what song this was though.
Dublin GIG review
Saturday evening in post celtic tiger Dublin, and there’s an electricity in the air. It’s been over a decade since the great man’s last performance here, and his first in what is now called the O2 arena. Van arrived on stage at about 8.30pm, and kicked off with a jazzy rendition of Brown Eyed Girl, before treating us to some of the less mainstream material. By the time Van and his ensemble had delivered a breathtaking rendition of “in the Garden”, the Dublin crowd knew they were in for a very special evening. For an artist with as extensive a back catalogue as he does, it would always be a challenge to keep everyone happy. At such events, the great man has a tough balancing act on his hands - between keeping the masses happy with old favourites such as ‘Brown eyed girl’, ‘moondance’, ‘have I told you lately’ - yet at the same time, pleasing the more astute Jazz musicians in the house. A few numbers in, and the band had really stretch their legs. ‘Fair play’ and ‘little village’ were exceptional. Then of course there was the man simply pleasing himself, with a blinding rendition of the Sonny boy Williamson number ‘help me’. Have no illusions about it, he was enjoying himself.
Other highlights included ‘Ballerina’, ‘Tupelo honey’, ‘why must I always explain’ and a duet with Shana on ‘sometimes we cry’ (a welcome replacement for Brian Kennedy). The audience were treated to a vast repertoire of material, spanning now six decades. All boxes were ticked, ranging in musical genres through the night in the same manner he has done throughout his career. Jazz to Blues to celtic soul and some good old fashioned rock and roll thrown in for good measure. At times Van would lose himself in the music, falling into a transient state as he encouraged the band to really express themselves. The man himself played around with a few guitar solos, a sax intro, and a few blasts of the harmonica for the bluesier tunes at the close of the evening.
The roll of the pianist on Tupelo, impromptu due guitar solos, and a little confusion over the closing number –(‘Gloria’ seemed to be the outro, until Van arrived back on stage with Shana, to do a cover of ‘Stand by me’) –was enough to give the vibe that this was an outfit not unrehearsed so as to be unprofessional, but improvised enough to be spontaneous. A true Jazz band. The great man, is still very much, on top.
After paying £100 per ticket,I did not expect to be so cold that I could not take coat off!also sat in front of a couple who insisted in clapping out of time and doing loud wolf whistles every couple of minutes!!I had to move away from them eventually.also found it very distracting as the staff walked up and down the aisle all night stopping people from using cameras!great performance from van but would never,ever go back to odyssey,
I'm not van's biggest fan, and dont know as much about the music as other reviewers. I was disappointed with the performance and thought that the jazzed-up reworks of his old songs were designed to make the band the focus of the evening rather than the main artist. I'd say 50% of the performance was dragged out instrumentals. This would have been fine on a few songs here and there, but people had paid to see vanmorrison, not a jazz or blues band perform instrumentals.
And for those criticising the folks who were there to hear the greatest hits - IT WAS BILLED AS A GREATEST HITS PERFORMANCE !
I wasnt under any illusions that we'd get anyhting close to that, but even a few solo acoustic numbers would have given the performace a little variation as it became a little tedious at points, hence the crowd's coming and goings. There was also a considerable amount of people who left early.
The reviews on here are far too Van Fanboy and lack any sense of a proper critique.
I completed agree, concert was terrible, no large screens, not loud enough, mumbling through songs, unfamiliar songs, band took centre stage for most of it, overpriced, could hardly see him on stage, crowd talking, stewards walking up and down aisles with torches. Not worth going to
Excellent reviews of Belfast gig,very precise, my one comment was how good the sound was at the back given the arena shape.He bridged the gap to us guys in the back seats very well and his performance and band was top notch.A risky business going to VAN given his sometimes cranky nature.Almost as good as 73 in the Gaiety!
Thanks everybody for the comments, positive and negative. This show seems to have really divided opinion. Really appreciate everyone's contributions.
Anne F
We were in the tiered seats and the sound quality was poor. Couldn't clearly make out any of Van's words. With no big screens, he was a mere dot on the stage and any instrumentals lacked impact as we couldn't see what was happening. No atmosphere as there was no interaction with the audience at all except for a couple of mumbles. Definitely prefer him on CD. Ithink that if you get the reputation of being a legend, people are afraid to critisise in case it is they that are wrong!! Well this concert was a big disappointment and we left before the end.
Each Van concert I have attended in the past 25 years has been his best yet and Belfast on Friday night was DEFINITELY his best yet! I was in the lower tier about a third of the way back, luckily not disturbed by any wanderers, and could see Van and Band throughout and hear every note and every lyric of this stander-outer of a show. Special moment of this homecoming night was in the middle of 'In The Garden', Van about to sing "wet with rain" when a man shouted up "all wet with rain" and Van looked in his direction and replied "That's right" - a very sweet thing to do right in the middle of such intense and immense performance. Thank you, Andrew for such a wonderful review which we were all able to enjoy so soon after the show.
I've seen VM six times in the last few years (flew over from America to see him in Belfast in 2005 and 2006, saw him at both shows last weekend); his voice remains strong but the shows are boring: the set list was nearly identical the last three times I saw him, the arrangements haven't changed much and too much emphasis is put on the band's solos. I, too, didn't like the way the Odyssey was set up, but thought the sound quality was okay. He did seem much attentive to the audience than at previous shows-- although he only spoke about 10 words the entire night. Most glaring, though, was his sequeing from "Tupelo Honey" to "Why Must I Always Explain"-- from a tender love song to one about the hassle of being famous? That's just stupid.
I was at the Belfast concert. It was wonderful. Is "No Plan B, No Safety Net" a new song? I haven't heard it before.
a total waste off £60 no screens just a blur of the band and van didnt feel i was enjoying myself the whole concert will never go to another van concert again sorry to say that as ive enjoyed his music for years to much jazz
Post a Comment