I saw Van the Man in New York on October 25th and he was excellent. Morrison's band was tight, his voice was clear, Moondance was just how I expected it to sound, everything was perfect, except....
Van didn't acknowledge the audience. Not even a "Hello New York". He didn't introduce the band to us. There was no intermission, he played for exactly an hour and a half then he went off stage briefly and came back and sang G-L-O-R-I-A and then he went off again and the lights came on, it seemed abruptly over. I felt cheated, I wanted to clap and yell and get him back on. He put on a very good concert but it just didn't have enough heart in it to be that perfect transforming event. With the spark of audience connection missing -- it felt chilly in that venue and it wasn't the temperature. I flew all the way to New York just to see you Van, come to Florida next time, we will warm you up!
P.S. I still love your music, you will always be Van the Man to me.
5 comments:
These artists can be temperamental....
I'll never forget seeing Dylan at the "old" Miami Arena back in 1987 (I think he was touring on "Knocked Out Loaded" believe it or not).
Not only was I hassled by The Man for the usual pre-show rituals, but Dylan came out, never once addressed the crowd or cracked a smile, played a 40 minute set straight at a breakneck pace, then walked off without an encore.
Sorry to be off subject, but I was at that Dylan concert at what was the new Miami Arena. I was so disappointed, that I have not listened to Dylan since then, and would never spend another dime on his music.
I saw Van Morrision when he played at the Jackie Gleason about 12 or so years ago. Worst concert I ever saw, but I still loved the music. Still do, but after once hearing him interviewed, it's never been quite the same. Best to separate the man from the music.
I got tickets and travelled from the UK to be there.
As often happens Van was totally lacking in social skills but the question has to be "did the quality of the music make up for that?"
You bet it did! Band on a par with the old Caledonian Soul Orchestra, Van's voice fantastic and bits of Astral Weeks as well - obviously, there is a God
You beat me, I only traveled from Florida to New York but I do agree that the quality of the music did make up for it. His voice was as good as I have heard on his albums and cd's.
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