Van Morrison doesn't play hits, but still enjoys himself

Thor Christensen, The Dallas Morning News
Dec. 31--There's only one way to enjoy a Van Morrison concert: Check your expectations at the door and accept the show on his terms.
If you went to the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on Saturday craving his hits, you probably left sulking. He played just one during the 95-minute show -- "Moondance" -- and he acted so bored during it he shouldn't have bothered.
But if you were willing to indulge his fancy, you got a thrilling journey through sock-hop country-soul, gritty funk-blues and wherever else he felt like taking you. Mr. Morrison has a rep as for being a cold performer, but by the end of Saturday's show he was clearly having a ball -- -- taking requests and making up funny expletive-laced lyrics on the spot.
I'm not positive, but at one point, it almost appeared as if he cracked a smile.
Performing only his second North Texas show in 30 years, he took the stage looking awkward and aloof -- his face obscured by a fedora, his body stuffed uncomfortably in a gray suit that seemed two sizes too small. Whenever he wasn't singing or playing sax, he disappeared into the shadows with his back to the crowd.
But slowly, song by song, the ice started to thaw.
He jolted "Magic Time" with a playful sax solo and scatted up a storm in "I Can't Stop Loving You." He reclaimed "Have I Told You Lately" from Rod Stewart (who had a hit with it) and transformed it into furious ska-jazz. By the time he lit into 1999's "Precious Time," he was bleating like a lamb and leading his band with an imaginary whip.
His 10-piece group was stellar -- especially fiddler Tony Fitzgibbon and pedal steel player Sarah Jory, who made the stately Meyerson feel like a campfire hootenanny. During several tunes, the group swung hard like a '50s dance band, but since the Meyerson isn't built for dancing, none of the fans got the nerve to stand up and cut a rug.
As top-notch as the band was, Mr. Morrison was the unmistakable leader. At 62, his voice has grown lower and more nasal than in his Tupelo Honey prime. But when he started growling and scatting and ad-libbing through "Georgia On My Mind," he was still the greatest blue-eyed soul singer alive.
The show-opening Bobby "Blue" Bland was a welcome surprise. At 77, the blues legend is getting frail -- he had to be helped onstage -- and his once mighty voice has grown soft (a poor sound mix didn't help).
But he persevered, filling "Every Day I Have the Blues" with an unearthly falsetto and spicing up "Stormy Monday" with his famous guttural "love snort." Mr. Morrison has been known to emulate Mr. Bland's trademark sound, but his snort has nothing on the master's.
-- Repeats at 7:30 Sunday night at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora. $150-$225. Ticketmaster.
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December 31, 2007

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