Review: Van Morrison in Bournemouth 21/10/ 2019.

The big day had arrived. Five long months had gone by since that sunny evening in the city of Bath when I last saw a Van Morrison concert. It was time for another appointment with the Celtic Soul Brother. I caught the 11.01 train from Westbury on a golden autumn day and arrived in Bournemouth too early to check into the Hermitage hotel. I had a look at the concert venue which was on the bright side of the road across from the hotel because you never know who might be hanging about. Then I went for a walk along the sea front and the pier to pass the time and smell the sea and feel the sky. It’s nice in Bournemouth.

Back at the hotel it was great to meet Nell again who had come all the way from Canberra, Australia for all four Van shows on this mini tour. It was nice to meet Maryann for the first time as well from New York. Later, we were joined by Jane from Oxford and Fumiko from Guildford and Julien from France who I hadn’t met before. It was a nice little multinational gathering of Van fans. There are no frontiers in Vanland. We raised a glass to two Van fan friends who had sadly passed away recently, Birgit and Stewie. 

'Neath October skies.

Also, we had a toast to Jack Kerouac because Monday was the 50^th anniversary of his death. He is mentioned in three Van songs and I wondered if Van might acknowledge that later, but he didn’t. It was nice of  Teena Lyle from Van's band to take time out from her busy day and come and join us for a while. What a wonderful lady she is.

The time flew by and it was time to walk down the avenue again. We had time for one drink and a sandwich before it was show time. We had good seats in Row H. Sitting near us I spotted two old Van fan friends Tom & Sandra who I hadn’t seen for ages. Out of consideration for the people behind me I took off my hat and put it under my chair (more about that later!) 

Me, Julien, Jane, Fumiko, Maryann & Nell.

Right on time at 8.00 the band shuffled on stage. It was the usual band of Teena Lyle, Dana Masters, Mez Clough, Paul Moore, Dave Keary & Paul Moran. They were soon joined by Van wearing his saxophone. The first number was Gonna Send You Back To Where I got You From. It is a song from Van’s recent album The Prophet Speaks. It was originally recorded by Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson. It’s not one of my favourite Van songs but ok to start the show with. I really enjoyed the next song which I first heard performed live in Bath. It is It Once Was My Life from the Healing Game album. Then Van put on his guitar and treated us to an all time Van classic song St Dominic’s Preview. For me that was one of the highlights of the evening. Van has slightly changed some lyrics to ‘And Warner Brothers are still drinking my wine’. This was followed by a medley of Baby Please Don’t Go/ Parchman Farm. This has been part of the repertoire for quite a few years now. The next song was the title track from Van’s Roll With The Punches album of a couple of years ago.

Fumiko, Julien, Teena, Maryann, Me.

The audience all applauded when they recognised one of Van’s best-known songs Days Like This. I have heard it so often it has lost his impact a bit on me. I can’t complain though because it is a great song. Then Van announced that he has a new album coming out on Friday and played two new songs from it, Early Days and the title track 3 Chords & The Truth. It was great to hear some new songs. The first one had a kind of rockabilly flavour which brought out all of Dave Keary’s guitar skills and the other is a shot of rhythm & blues. I am looking forward to the new album. Watch this space for a review in a few days’ time. I have heard great reports of it. Then it was a return to the back catalogue for Magic Time and Moondance. The crowd cheered when they realised it was Moondance but I have heard it too often. I liked Teena’s contribution though, she always seems to be enjoying herself on stage. She also played a starring role in the next song Broken Record. I enjoyed Spirit Will Provide which I think is one of Van’s best songs of recent years. I am afraid though that I have heard his duet with Dana of Have I Told You Lately? too often. Another song from The Prophet Speaks was Ain’t Gonna Moan No More which was quite good but not great. The duet of Sometimes We Cry was good until the audience almost ruined the ending by cheering and applauding. Van stopped and said, “Anyone heard of Johnny Ray? This is it” and completed the song. I don’t like the next song Symphony Sid much but then Van said, “Ok, Ray Charles” and sang I Believe To My Soul which I loved. I usually enjoy the transcendental brilliance of In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/ Sitting Pretty which puts Van in a class of his own. During this song though some bloke decided to go to the toilet, and we all had to stand up to let him go by and about four minutes later he came back again. Why can’t people have the consideration to at least wait until the end of a song before disturbing everyone? The next song was The Party’s Over which Van seems to enjoy playing. He made the rhythm section of Paul Moore and Mez start again, I don’t think he was quite happy with the timing. Then it was the usual crowd-pleasing Brown Eyed Girl  and Gloria. Van left the stage and the band played on as I prepared to leave.

Maryann's new t-shirt.

Remember my hat which I had put under my seat? I reached under my seat for it and it was soaking wet and stinking of beer. Someone behind me had kicked over a drink and drenched my hat. That put me in a really bad mood I can tell you. Anyway, we all met up outside afterwards. We wanted to go to a restaurant and tried three of them, but they had all stopped serving. It wasn’t even 10 o’clock. What is wrong with this country? In the end we all went back to the hotel and ordered sandwiches from room service and a drink and I cheered up and forgot about the hat incident. It wasn’t the greatest ever Van concert but still good and when you meet up with such great friends it always makes every Van Morrison concert worthwhile.

                                                        THE END.