Van Morrison review: Van the man turns rainy night in Dublin into a celebration

Van Morrison

Iveagh Gardens, Dublin

★★★☆☆

Vanatics – fans of Van the Man – have long ago learned to manage their expectations of his live shows. We go in hope of seeing a spark of that old soul magic reignite, but understand that Morrison is more likely to just cruise through a workmanlike set of old R&B, country and skiffle standards, and we can consider ourselves lucky if he deigns to toss in an original song or two. But at the Iveagh Gardens on Thursday night, he surprised and delighted the crowd by pulling a few rabbits out of the hat, turning what could have been a plodding gig into something close to a celebration.

At 78, Morrison has earned the right to play whatever he wants onstage, and on his current tour he’s paying homage to the artists he listened to as a young lad growing up in Belfast, including The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams and Mose Allison. Morrison’s current set list draws mostly on cover songs from his most recent albums, Accentuate the Positive and Moving on Skiffle, and he opened his Iveagh Gardens show with The Everly Brothers’ Problems – wasting no time in demonstrating that, despite his age and the occasional need to sit down, he has no problem barking out his vocals or blowing a storm on his saxophone.

His backing band, including guitarist Dave Keary, drummer Colin Griffin and bassist Pete Hurley, are well tuned in to Van’s moods by now, while superb backing vocalists Dana Masters and Jolene O’Hara put life into the musical relics on offer. Steve Gibson’s I Want a Roof over My Head and Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry accentuated the downbeat mood as grey clouds gathered in the sky above Iveagh Gardens, but Big Joe Turner’s Flip-flop and Fly provided a ray of sunshine.

Van Morrison in The Iveagh Gardens. Photograph: Bryan Meade

For Mr Thomas is a Robin Williamson cover, but it could easily have been written by Van himself in the 1970s. Crazy Jane on God, though, is actually an obscure Van original – with lyrics by William Butler Yeats. Days Like These and Enlightenment needed no introduction while Sometimes We Cry, from 1997′s The Healing Game, was worth getting to know. Green Rocky Road, a cover of a traditional song, was a high point of the show, Van and the band getting into the zone for this folksy, evocative track.

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Showers accompanied another batch of covers, including Kenny Lee Martin’s The Shape I’m In, and as the rain cleared, somewhere under Van’s hat a switch must have clicked. He followed Wild Night with a surprise rendition of Cleaning Windows, then followed that with an even bigger surprise: his Zen masterpiece In The Garden. The Iveagh Gardens may have been wet with rain by now, but no one was complaining.

Then he pulled one more cóinín out of the hat with The Star of the County Down, from his album with The Chieftains, Irish Heartbeat, before ending as usual with Gloria, shuffling offstage before the end of the song and leaving the band to finish up. With the boss gone home, he band were able to really cut loose and show their chops on this extended finale. Morrison may be old and settled in his contrary ways, but on this night he proved he can still exceed expectations when he wants to.