Seeing Van Morrison & The Hothouse Flowers at Westonbirt Arboretum 7/7/2024

After being a fan of Van Morrison for fifty years my enthusiasm for his music had waned in the last few years. I hadn’t even bought two of his recent studio albums and it had been well over a year since I last saw him live at Cheltenham Jazz Festival. However, I still think Van has the greatest back catalogue of anyone in music, and Sunday’s concert in the bucolic surroundings of Westonbirt Arboretum has certainly restored my faith in him as a live performer. This is what happened on Sunday. 

Lee & me.

The rain of Sunday morning had cleared to warm sunshine when my niece Lee picked me up on the town square in Westbury at 4.30. It only took about 40 minutes to drive to the 600-acre Westonbirt estate 3 miles south of Tetbury. I had never been here before, but it is an idyllic setting for a concert. Managed by Forestry England, it is the most important and widely known arboretum in the United Kingdom. Established in 1829 it contains over 2,500 species of trees and exotic plants from all over the world. It is adjacent to the Highgrove estate of King Charles 111, but Charles and Camilla were nowhere to be seen on Sunday evening. 

Me & Treve

The days of big Van fan pre-show gatherings seem to be a thing of the past, but on arrival, almost as soon as we had opened out our fold up chairs, I was pleased to see an old Van fan friend Treve who I hadn’t seen since Liverpool in 2018. The first act was a singer called Vince Freeman who I had never heard of before. The next band on stage were The Hothouse Flowers from Ireland. This band and Van go back a long way. I remember they played at Glastonbury on the same scorching hot day as Van in 1989. Also, they were the support band to Van in Bath a few short years ago. They were obviously thrilled to be sharing the same stage as Van yet again. 

Hothouse Flowers.

The singer and piano player Liam Ó Maonlaí is a very likeable and humorous band leader who knows how to engage the audience. They are a rock band, but with a strong element of Irish traditional music. A lot of the songs were in Irish, but it didn’t matter if the audience didn’t understand the words, by the end of their performance large sections of the crowd were dancing and jigging about. The only song I recognised was their big hit Don’t Go with a kind of calypso arrangement. They were perfect music for a sunny summer’s evening. Then it was time for the main event, Van the man. 

As soon as they all shuffled on stage, I realised the band were unchanged from Dublin a few nights before. They are, Pete Hurley, Colin Griffin, John McCullough, Dave Keary, Chris White, Matt Holland, Jolene O’Hara, & Dana Masters. I must say it is great to see Chris and Matt restored to the band adding a rich warm sound. Van looked well and was in very good humour and in a chatty mood, introducing many of the songs with a few words. He started with the Everly Brothers song When Will I Be Loved, followed by Louis Jordan’s I Wanna Roof Over My Head. Then he sat on a chair to sing the great Hank Williams song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.

The crowd seemed to enjoy all this, but I wanted to hear a Van classic. This was provided by For Mr Thomas written by his friend Robin Williamson. (See video below) It was another friend Mose Allison who wrote the next song Benediction. Then another classic from the Philosophers Stone album Crazy Jane On God which Van informed the audience was written by W.B. Yeats. This Sunday evening Radio 2 listening type audience recognised Days Like This and the upbeat jazzy Have I Told You Lately? and all sang along. I never tire of hearing Enlightenment and Van never seems to tire of singing it either. The words obviously mean a lot to him. “Think!”, he exclaimed quite pointedly at the end. 

The Ray Charles song What Would I Do was a highlight for me, I wish I had filmed it to share because Van seated at the piano sang it very soulfully and emotionally, improvising a few words at the end. His voice is still as good as ever, quite remarkable when you think that he will be 80 next year. Northern Muse from the Beautiful Vision album was also excellent. Van introduced all the band individually by name which shows what a good mood he was in. The crowd pleasing and danceable Wild Night followed with Van improvising, “Take me way back, to the wild night”. Van was in jazz mode for the next three songs Symphony Sid, Laughin’ and Clownin’ & Moondance with all the band getting the chance to show off their skills. I used to get fed up with hearing Moondance but enjoyed it tonight because absence makes the heart grow fonder. Green Rocky Road is one of Van’s best recordings of recent years and it was performed brilliantly. Then we were treated to one of the greatest songs Van or anyone else ever wrote, namely Into The Mystic. Van and the band excelled themselves on this classic.

The crowd immediately recognised Jackie Wilson Says and started dancing and singing along. When Gloria began, me and Lee started packing up our chairs and moving towards the back. As soon as Van left the stage, the band played on, and we were heading for the carpark. Before they finished, we had made a sharp exit to avoid the traffic. I was back home 40 minutes later. What a wonderful night it had been. Thank you very much Lee, and a big hand for Van and the band. A new album by Van should manifest itself through my letterbox any day now, so hopefully I'll tell you what I think of that next week. Cheers. 

Westonbirt Arboretum.