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Jeff Moehlis: Van Morrison in Top Form at Santa Barbara Bowl
Van Morrison has been called a lot of things, including a mystic poet, a romantic, a genius and a pain in the you-know-what. I think a strong case could be made for each of these.
Before ably demonstrating the first three things on that list, Morrison managed to provoke grumblings by concertgoers at the Santa Barbara Bowl about the latter one on Saturday night, in particular by requiring that sales of all concessions — including beer and wine — would end before he went onstage. What? Is it actually possible to enjoy a concert while sober?
It turns out that, yes, it is, especially when Van The Man is in top form.
The concert began — promptly at the advertised time of 8 p.m. — with “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” the urgent Big Joe Williams blues stomp that provided Morrison’s band, Them, their first hit way back in 1964. That led into another classic Them hit, “Here Comes the Night.”
Then came the granddaddy of all Morrison songs — the infectious “Brown Eyed Girl,” his smash first single after leaving Them for a solo career. Morrison has dismissed it as being a “throw-away” song, but it certainly didn’t feel that way to the appreciative crowd.
Morrison played other old classics, including the sublime “Into the Mystic” and sensual “Moondance,” plus less familiar but powerful tracks such as the swinging “Precious Time,” the spiritually inspired “In the Garden” — which in its quieter moments had the crowd rapt in attention — and the soulful “Rough God Goes Riding,” the latter of which even had Morrison joking at the end about Clint Eastwood who always just “moseys on” looking bored, or pissed off.
In addition to singing, Morrison played great blues harp and saxophone. His band — with Jay Berliner (who played on Morrison’s acclaimed 1968 album Astral Weeks) on guitar and banjo, David Hayes on bass, Paul Moran on organ and trumpet, Andy Jones on guitar, Becky Ramsey on violin, Richie Buckley on saxophone and flute, and Bobby Ruggiero on drums — sounded phenomenal, and was appropriately bluesy, jazzy or soulful as the songs dictated. In many of the songs, they took turns playing tasty little solos.
The show ended in something of a reflection of how it began, with the longtime Chicago blues Morrison concert staple “Help Me” by Sonny Boy Williamson, and then garage rock classic — and another “throw-away” song — “Gloria”, first recorded by Them and since covered by countless others, including inspired versions by Jimi Hendrix and punk poetess Patti Smith. (My grad school band Cosmik Debris also spent many enjoyable hours jamming on this song.)
By the time the concert was over, I don’t think anybody really cared that Morrison can be a pain in the you-know-what. It was a magical night, and for that we must thank Van The Man.
Setlist
Baby, Please Don’t Go
Here Comes the Night
Brown Eyed Girl
Fair Play
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Little Village
Playhouse
Keep It Simple
Back on Top
Rough God Goes Riding
It’s All in the Game
Precious Time
In the Garden
Celtic Excavation
Into the Mystic
Moondance
My Funny Valentine
Help Me
Gloria
— Noozhawk contributor Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB. Upcoming show recommendations, advice from musicians, interviews and more are available on his Web site, music-illuminati.com.
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