Van Morrison
Fri, Sep 15, 8:30 PM AT&T Stage Stage
It is possible to pick the most popular song in rock n roll history the one tune everyone knows, from bedroom strummer to wedding band to big-time rock star to sing-along fan. And her name is G-L-O-R-I-I-I-I-I-A! GLORRR-IA! Youre humming it now, arent you? The tune is indelibly imprinted on our collective musical memory; one critic labeled it (an) impossible to match exultant slice of rock n roll euphoria. Van Morrison wrote Gloria during his days with the band Them; since then, hes delivered 37 albums full of soul, blues, R&B, jazz, rock, pop, skiffle, ska, Celtic ballads, mysticism and spirituality and marvelous nights for moondances. The Emerald-Isle equivalent of Al Green, Van the Man can send tingles down your spine, make you find religion, make you cry, make you dance. Make you sing. He might not crack a smile, but hes delivered love songs as timeless as Tupelo Honey and captured the very essence of romance in one sweet verse: Standing in the sunlight laughing, hiding behind a rainbows wall / Slipping and sliding all along the water fall / with you my brown eyed girl. A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame bio describes his output as one of the great bodies of recorded work in the 20th century and notes, Heedless of trends and immune to fashion, Morrison has never bowed to commercial demands and always created his music with an almost defiant purity of intent. He gave blue-eyed soul its name, and now hes visiting the work of country songwriters like Hank Williams and Rodney Crowell on Pay the Devil. Lets hope he never has to.
www.vanmorrison.co.uk