bböp Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I suppose I could probably just have posted this in the thread in Someone Else's Song, but I feel more comfortable here in After The Show. Haha. So anyway, I just wanted to say that I went to this show last night (the second night of a two-night stand at the MSG Theater; there is also another two-night stand next weekend at the Beacon Theater) and was pleasantly surprised. It was my first time seeing Van Morrison, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd heard about his, ahem, stage manner over the years. Last night he only spoke to the audience once, I think, when he was having some guitar problems and his tech had to come out and make on-the-fly adjustments. He jokingly said something like "Regular service will be resumed as soon as possible." He seemed to be in pretty good spirits, though. Actually, I could have understood if his mood wasn't better because of how many problems they seemed to be having with his guitar. At one point, his strap literally came off as he was playing a song. They also had to switch him to a spare acoustic at one point because his white one had some issues. And he seemed very fidgety early on with where his microphone and music stand was situated. I was a little surprised by this; you'd think that with as big a stage show (15-piece band) as this was, that they'd have this sort of stuff settled well beforehand. But anyway, I thought the setlist was pretty great actually--and that's totally coming from the perspective of a casual listener, so forgive me if this wasn't all that great a set for a hardcore fan. Morrison first played a set of his "classic songs" and then took about a 10-minute break and came back out and did the Astral Weeks set with a slightly scaled-down version of the band. Total show was probably about 2 hours, 15 minutes. I thought he didn't play many of the big hits anymore, so I wasn't really expecting to hear "Brown Eyed Girl" or "Moondance." But that was cool with me. And the Astral Weeks stuff sounded pretty good to these ears. Tickets were pretty obscenely priced, but I guess it was worth it to me to see him once. One good thing was that, apparently at the artist's behest, they cut off alcohol sales right at 8 p.m. when the show started. It's the first time I've seen a show like that and I have to say, it worked remarkably well because you didn't have people constantly coming in and out and didn't have the usual Saturday night drunks you might expect. People, for the most, part, actually sat and listened and that was kind of refreshing. I read that he changed up his "classic" set quite a bit from the first night, so I'd be interested to hear if anybody was at the first night and how it compared. And of course, also what anybody else thought of this show. (I poached the following setlist from a Van Morrison site, so I can't make any claims for its accuracy but it sounds right.) Set One:Northern MuseSpiritMoondanceWild NightJackie Wilson SaidBaby Please Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sunken mountain Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Even if you are a fan for ages like us,first time you saw him it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 are we talking in Pink Floyd cover terms with Comfortably Numb? (i'm only a greatest hits Van person) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 are we talking in Pink Floyd cover terms with Comfortably Numb? (i'm only a greatest hits Van person) yeah, it's a pretty interesting take (almost a duet with one of his backup singers). video here Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 ps: i wasnt there obviously, but i heard from an internet buddy of mine that went to both shows and that the 2nd show was better, but he played TB-Sheets at the first show Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bböp Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 ps: i wasnt there obviously, but i heard from an internet buddy of mine that went to both shows and that the 2nd show was better, but he played TB-Sheets at the first show that's what i heard from several people on the way out as well. but maybe it was just all the pandering crowd-pleasers! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dbf65 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 are we talking in Pink Floyd cover terms with Comfortably Numb? (i'm only a greatest hits Van person) you really need to hear the Van/Roger Waters version on the Departed Soundtrack. Its the way the song should be done and the most interesting thing Van had done in a long long time until this Astral Weeks thing. I have been bitching about Van and his hideously short/indifferent/unsatisfying shows for years but it looks like playing Astral has moved him to a better place (at least momentarily) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Van Morrison radio interview with Don Imus (audio link). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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