Live Review - Van Morrison in the Olympia

HP sharpshooter Kathrin Baumbach was on hand to capture the action - check out the photo gallery here
Described as 'An Evening of Words and Music', this was Van Morrison as few have seen him before – being interviewed live on stage and performing an intimate set with a four-piece band.
With opening words by Queen’s University lecturer Dr Michael Hughes we were first shown a short film with Van jamming and chatting with Bob Dylan. Then the Belfast Cowboy himself arrived out taking a seat in the centre of the stage. For around 25 minutes, Scots author Ian Rankin fired questions at Morrison which he answered in a surprisingly chatty, informative, entertaining and occasionally mischievous manner.
He spoke nostalgically about some of his early influences: Lord Byron, Ray Charles, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jack Kerouac’s Dharma Bums, listening to old jazz and blues records – from his father’s collection and at a Belfast’s legendary Atlantic Records store. It wasn’t as po-faced or earnest as you might expect and when asked what it was like eventually getting to record with one of his childhood heroes John Lee Hooker, Van recalled that everything was done in one quick take in the studio, followed by a Chinese take-away, to laughs from the audience. He also spoke about the songwriting process, which he revealed takes many forms with some starting out with the title alone while others such as ‘Moondance’ beginning as an instrumental which he played for years before penning the lyrics. He was soon gone – for the moment at least - to loud cheers. Belfast poet Michael Longley and (somewhat unexpectedly) Lyric FM’s Marty Whelan then read from selected Morrison lyrics with the latter revealing that he has once had a conversation with Van during The Rose of Tralee about, among other things, being an only child.
The second half of the show was Van on more familiar ground with a tight and superb four-piece performing a mix of favourites and rarely heard tunes from his nearly half a century as a solo artist. Opening with, ‘Alan Watts Blues’ it was clear from the first note he sang that he was in fine voice while he blew impressive harmonica too. This was followed by a storming, ‘Tore Down A La Rimbaud’ where he offered some impressive guitar solo-ing on his Gibson Les Paul.
The audience was reverend and pin-drop quiet for the most part but when one excited fan shouted up, “fifty years Van – thanks Van,” he responded with an appreciative, “thank you” going on to say, “this one goes back more than fifty years, although it was written in the early 80s” before performing a mesmerizingly evocative and atmospheric, ‘Coney Island’. It was just one highlight in a tight, no-time-wasted set that included a soulful ‘Into The Mystic’ a jazzy ‘Moondance’ with Van blowing saxophone and a pretty stunning ‘Madam George’. Other gems included the overlooked ‘Wonderful Remark’ and a playful ‘Magic Time’, while he concluded with the hypnotic and nostalgic ‘On Hyndford Street’ – yet another tribute to the Belfast of his youth. Another vintage Van performance then. Gypsy souls were rocked tonight.