Van Morrison

Back to his roots

For over 50 years, since I first heard the album Moondance, I have wanted to see Van Morrison live in concert. He was prolific in the seventies, releasing 9 albums in the decade, and a staple on the FM progressive rock stations of that era. Through the 80s and 90s, Van continued to release new music like Beautiful Vision and Avalon Sunset with similar originality and some overt references to spirituality.

With Enlightenment, released in 1990, he hit another high mark with the song “Real Real Gone” that Rolling Stone called “his most engaging R&B raveup since the days of ‘Domino’."  In this uplifting, horn-dominant rocker, his lyrics speak to our need for a higher spirit to walk alongside us: “I can’t stand up by myself, don’t you know I need your help.”  Then, as the song transitions to the lyric…” you’re an old friend of mine…”, he namechecks Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and James Brown. It’s as if he’s asking his R&B heroes of the past to save him. 

When I heard Van had booked a few gigs at a small venue in Las Vegas, I leapt at the chance to finally see this legend in concert. In the past 40 years, a few friends and I have considered a Van odyssey to Northern Ireland where we might catch a concert in a quaint castle with a few hundred people. Well, Vegas would have to do. I had heard that Van on stage could be aloof or downright indifferent to his audience. Either way, I knew this was not a guy on a nostalgia tour for all of us 60 and 70 somethings. I had a hunch we would not be hearing a medley of greatest hits.

I began checking current setlists on his tour of Europe. What were all these cover songs he was doing?  Another song from the Enlightenment album, "In the Days Before Rock 'N' Roll" could have given me a clue. I then discovered his most recent album release, Moving on Skiffle.

Van was born in 1945. As he was growing up in the 50s in Northern Ireland, a popular music style called Skiffle was everywhere. This music form originated in the USA in the early twentieth century.  A mashup of blues, jazz, country and bluegrass, it was played on homemade instruments like washboards, cigar-box guitars and such.

In the 1950s, Skiffle became extremely popular in the UK.  There were over 30,000 skiffle groups in Britain during this time. Among the early devotees to this music were John Lennon (The Quarrymen), Ronnie Wood (later of the Rolling Stones), and Van Morrison.

Moving on Skiffle is Van’s homage to his roots. You can understand the progression from Skiffle to Rock n’ Roll if you start with Van’s cover of Hank Snow’s “I’m Movin’ On” (1950) then fast forward to Elvis’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight” (1954), and finally, Danny & the Junior’s “At the Hop” (1957). Skiffle lyrics reflect early American themes (trains, money, travel, lonesomeness). With Van’s voice (sounding as clear and strong as ever) on top of an infectious shuffle beat, the result is a toe-tapping, finger-snapping sing-along. The instruments used reflect the eclectic mix of musical styles - a baritone sax feels right at home alongside a fiddle and steel guitar.

And that’s the sound Van brought to his latest tour in Las Vegas.

With his band chock full of multi-instrumentalists and a fabulous backup singing duo, Van played a rapid-fire interpretation of these all-too-familiar tunes to a largely appreciative audience. Certainly, there were those of us longing for a few of our favorites from the 70s era, but the closest we got was the set-closing “Gloria” and a few older Van lyrics mashed up into his Skiffle cover songs (“And she moves on the solid ground” from 1982’s Beautiful Vision).

However, we didn’t feel like we were cheated out of our favorite tunes. Most of us felt invigorated by seeing an incredible talent, whose voice was in top form, and who clearly was enjoying being just another member of a band. A band who sounded much like the first one he formed at the age of twelve.

Moving on Skiffle’s 23 songs closes with a 9:00 epic that could have been at home on say, 1971’s Tupelo Honey with its mesmerizing refrain and expressive violin. You find yourself singing the “promenade in green” chorus while Van elevates his vocals above the washboard and droning fiddle like a Sunday preacher.  It’s fitting that this song, “Green Rocky Road,” is a traditional children’s folk song. Kids never want songs to end. Maybe it was this tune that inspired 78-year-old Van Morrison to release a tribute to the music he grew up hearing.