May Garland by Lisa Knapp.

Van Morrison, 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', Cheltenham Jazz Fest 2023.

Van Morrison, Cotton Fields, Cheltenham 2023.

Van Morrison at Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2023.

Van Morrison’s performance at Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Sunday night was the most enjoyable show of his that I have seen in five years. I had lost interest in seeing him after a quite disappointing show in Liverpool last year and his previous album What’s It Gonna Take? was the first Van album ever that I didn’t buy. However, I had heard glowing reports from friends about his recent shows in England, Europe & Ireland and I liked what I heard of his new album Moving On Skiffle, especially a song called Green Rocky Road which I thought was an instant Van classic. I liked the contribution of Seth Lakeman on fiddle. I did hope that Seth might have joined the band for these live shows, but that hasn’t happened. Anyway, I hadn’t planned on going to Cheltenham, but when a friend John offered me a spare ticket I thought I ought to go, and I’m very pleased I did.

I got to my hotel quite early and passed the time watching snooker on the telly until meeting up with John and Stuart at about 3.00. After picking up the tickets at the box office we found a pub across the road. It was crowded and noisy, full of football fans watching Liverpool v Spurs, but we found a table and the food was nice. After 3 pints and Liverpool winning 4-3 we made our way back to the festival site. It had been raining earlier but had turned into quite a pleasant evening.

There was even a record store there, so I thought I ought to buy the new album, which I am listening to at this very moment. At 7.00 in the bar area we met up with fellow Van fan Jane who I hadn’t seen since Oxford in 2021. At 8.30 it was time to make our way to the Big Top to see Van the man. I had a great seat near the front to the right of the stage. The band were unchanged from previous concerts, Dave Keary on guitars, Colin Griffin on drums, Paul Moore on bass Sticky Wicket on percussion & washboard, Crawford Bell on vocals & trumpet, Elle Cato vocals, and Stuart McIlroy piano & keyboards. I won’t discuss every song, but I think this was the setlist. I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. Streamline Train, Sail Away Ladies, Yonder Comes A Sucker, Travelin’ Blues, Take This Hammer, I Wish I Was An Apple On A Tree, Careless Love, Freight Train, Oh Lonesome Me, Greenback Dollar, Come On In, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Gov Don’t Allow, No Other Baby, Cold Cold Heart, Cottonfields, Gypsy Davy, Worried Man Blues, Green Rocky Road, I’m Movin’ On.

The band were all excellent. Crawford Bell and Elle Cato provided some great backing harmony singing to some of the songs, Dave Keary excelled on guitar, especially on pedal steel on songs like Careless Love, Van drew lots of applause from the audience when he played sax on songs like Greenback Dollar and he played some mean harmonica on Streamline Train, Sail Away Ladies, and other songs. The biggest reaction from the audience was for Gov Don’t Allow where every band member got applause for their solos. I think my personal favourites were the two Hank Williams songs I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry and Cold Cold Heart. I have always liked Cottonfields because the Beach Boys had a big hit with it, and I have liked Oh Lonesome Me ever since I heard it on After The Gold Rush by Neil Young. Van gave all the band a well-deserved individual acknowledgement after Cottonfields. I think I enjoyed every single song. Worried Man Blues was pure rock & roll. I thought Van was going to stretch Green Rocky Road into an extended improvisation because he introduced a few new words, but then seemed to change his mind.

When we met up outside after the show everyone agreed that it had been a great concert. I would never have believed that I would enjoy a Van Morrison concert that didn’t contain a single Van Morrison composition. I expect by the end of the year Van will have returned to playing his own material, but I hope the reception for these recent shows means that he is inspired to return with a brand-new set list full of his best classic songs. A big hand for the band.

Van Morrison, Freight Train. Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2023

Emilíana Torrini- Crazy love

Listening To Emiliana Torrini

It has been a nice sunny day for a change. I had to go up town this morning to get some provisions, and also bought a couple of plants on my way back home which I put in a bowl of water for a good soak before potting them out this evening. Then I sat in my chair outside the back door and basked in the April sunshine watching the birds flying to and fro at the neighbour’s bird table. The sound of music floated from my CD player in the kitchen. It was an album from 2005 called Fisherman’s Woman by an Icelandic singer called Emiliana Torrini. If you are wondering how someone from Iceland has a surname like Torrini, it is because her father came from Naples. I bought this album a couple of years ago and I think I have only played it once previously. I don’t think I was very impressed on first listen, but today it clicked with me. 

The gentle acoustic guitar and her wistful voice just seemed perfect for the mood I was in, or maybe it was the music that created the mood. All the songs apart from two were written by Emiliana and Dan Carey who also produced the album. He has produced many hit albums over the last twenty years or so for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Wet Leg, Fontaines D.C. Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip and many others. He is also a very talented multi-instrumentalist and achieves a perfect balance between the under-stated playing and the vocals. Emiliana’s voice reminds me of Bjork which isn’t surprising, but I don’t think she is deliberately copying Bjork, maybe all women from Iceland sound like this when they sing in English.

I won’t go through every song because I’m not sure what they are all about. The lyrics seem very subjective and personal to the singer, often like a stream of consciousness. They create a very warm emotion in the listener though. I noticed that Honeymoon Child is written by Bill Callahan whose work I have admired for a few years now. His quirky lyrics are spotted immediately with such lines as ‘Gathering like ravens on a rusty scythe’. A song I particularly enjoyed is Next Time Around because I know this song. It was written by the wonderful Sandy Denny who I have often mentioned before on this blog page. I have Sandy’s version on a double album called I’ve Always Kept A Unicorn. Reading the lyrics today it suddenly dawned on me that the song is about Sandy’s tragic boyfriend from the mid-1960s Jackson C. Frank. That is because of references to the city of Buffalo where he came from and allusions to lyrics from songs of Jackson’s. It shows that Sandy was still remembering Jackson years after they split up. Emiliana’s own songs also seem to be about lost loves and waiting for someone. This is especially true of the title song Fisherman’s Woman where she waits for someone, just like Anna Ingunn’s mom. I haven’t got a clue who Anna Ingunn is though. I think my favourite song of all is Today Has Been OK, so I have shared a video of Emiliana singing that song live below to give you an idea of her.

After Emiliana’s music finished I enjoyed an album by Devendra Banhart which I might tell you about another day. I also heard In Gardens Where We Feel Secure by Virginia Astley, an album I never get tired of hearing. Even the birds in the trees seemed to enjoy that one. Eventually clouds floated across the sky, it got a bit chilly, and I came indoors, but it had been a nice afternoon.