The show was under way around 7:45 pm and ended around 9:30 pm. It was the first trip to the MTS Centre for the couple I went with, but they had seen Van a couple of years ago in Minneapolis.
Someone introduced the Van Morrison band and they played two songs before the diminutive Van the Man was introduced. He jumped right in on the saxophone for "Wavelength," from the 1978 album of the same name. Throughout the show, Van's vocals seemed effortless and just fine, unlike the vocal performance I witnessed by the past-prime folk icon Gordon Lightfoot last year.
The band were competent without being overly flashy. The organ player would solo with one hand which drew a fair bit of applause. The pedal steel player received a lot of applause when she appeared on the two video screens due to her overall attractiveness. I really enjoyed the trumpet player, who was flanked by two female backing vocalists, both stunning beauties. Toward the end of the show, each player soloed which more or less signaled that the evening was coming to a close. The Free Press had warned people not to call out for the old classic hits since that may upset the Man, but we were treated to "Baby Please Don't Go," "Brown Eyed Girl" and the finale, "Gloria."
Everything they played was worth it, no duds, no glaring mistakes, and no attitude from Van who seemed to be in a good mood. He appeals to blues, jazz, pop, country, and folk fans, but there wasn't a whole lot of country or folk played, saved for some instrumentation. I was surprised by the amount of sax Van played. On some of the looser tunes, he did some vocal improvisations, which went over well.
Van has 35 albums and a career spanning something like 45 years, so naturally, he left us wanting more. With 200 songs in their repertoire, they could have played longer, but I felt I had my money's worth.
Article comments
1 - kiteu2
Wow, I would love to have any Van Morrison Live DVD ? Any idea on where I can look ? Thanks.
Van the Man Fan
2 - kimberly
I don't know if this would reach the man well you see i love love and love the mans music scince 1971 well june he came and my sons friends were going it ended up my son had to work so i went never being there they parked an split i didn't have my glasses so i couldn't read my seat# well staff was very helpful but when i got there no one was there i sat for one song then i left crying you know my first time seeing a icon to me as i was leaving a girl at the booth said you should stay i said i was to hurt so this security guy walked with me to the winsor an my other son an wife came an got me oh but i did manage to buy a cd there an love it it's playing now this is the first time i let that pain out
3 - stu gedling
I saw a Van concert on tv in aprox 1978 the cd is titled "its too late to stop now"Does anyone know if a dvd or vid is available?
4 - Tony G
I saw Van Morrison in the fall of 09. I have always been a big fan and was very much looking forward to seeing him. It turned out to be the worst concert I have ever been to. I do not recomend wasting your money seeing him. He is much too arogant for my taste. He played for 90 minutes, never interacted with the audience and did not do an encore. Extremely disapointing!