He may have held some controversial views over Covid-19 and lockdowns but Van Morrison had a pretty productive pandemic.
Last year, he released his 42nd album, Latest Record Project Volume 1, and he has been back on the road since restrictions were lifted. At 76, there’s still no stopping this Irish singing legend after six decades of performing.
Backed by a seven-piece band, Morrison appeared on the stroke of 8pm as planned and the show ran for 90 minutes - with the best seats in the 2,000-seat venue costing £80, that’s not a bad hourly rate and it’s no wonder Morrison’s microphone and saxophone are gold-plated.
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Morrison fans have come to expect the unexpected at his live show. He famously works without a set list and only tells the well-rehearsed band which song he wants to play next when the previous one ends.
Such spontaneity makes for an exhilarating spectacle for the fans but, one imagines, less so for the musicians who have to know around 300 of Morrison’s songs just in case he decides to sing them.
I’ve been watching Morrison live for around 25 years - half the time of many of his older fans - and you never know what kind of mood the curmudgeonly singer is in until he starts the set.
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Morrison was keen for his loyal fans to hear a few choice cuts from the new album at the Hippodrome on Monday night.
The first four numbers were from Latest Record Project Volume 1, including the ridiculously catchy Up County Down.
New songs out of the way, it was then pretty much back-to-back classics for the next 70 minutes, starting with mid-90s favourite Days Like This and the 1930s blues song Baby, Please Don’t Go, made famous by Morrison and his band Them in 1964.
Effortlessly switching styles, what followed was a carousel of jazz, soul, country blues and swing, from Magic Time and Broken Record to Precious Time and Ain’t Gonna Moan No More.
There will be a few fans who felt short-changed that he didn’t dust off songs like Moondance and Wild Night, but compensation came in the form of a truly mesmerising version of Into The Mystic, which sounds as good today as it did in 1970. It’s a solid gold classic.
A rare outing for the beautiful Foreign Window (from 1986’s brilliant album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher) was followed by Cleaning Windows, which morphed into Gene Vincent’s Be Bop a Lula.
But for me it was a sprawling version of In The Afternoon that was worth the price of the ticket alone.
By the end of the song, the lights were turned so low that the only things shining were reflections from the illuminated music stands in Morrison’s aviator shades.
As is now tradition at Morrison gigs, the set ended with Brown Eyed Girl and a rousing Gloria, both of which had the audience singing when the spotlights were turned full blast on the stalls.
Morrison, who had barely said a word or acknowledged the audience all evening, walked off during the final song to let the musicians play for a further ten minutes.
He didn’t return and the lights came up. The legend had left the building, job done, enigma intact. And we wouldn’t want it any other way.
Which gigs are you most looking forward to in 2022? Let us know in the comments below
