Van Morrison Concert in Fairfax, Virginia

[HWright]

Van Morrison came to the East Coast of the USA for three shows this month (Fairfax, VA near Washington, DC; Philadelphia; and Jones Beach, NY) and I went to the show at the Patriot Center on the George Mason University Campus in Fairfax, VA.

This was the "Pay the Devil" tour so he played material from the new album as well as a nice mix of well known and more obscure material.

The set list included:

(1) Pay the Devil Material: Playhouse, There Stands the Glass, Big Blue Diamonds

(2) Recent Work: All Work and No Play, Stranded, Back on Top, In My Memory, Only a Dream

(3) Covers: I Can't Stop Loving You, Help Me

(4) Greatest Hits: Cleaning Windows, Bright Side of the Road, Crazy Love, Brown Eyed Girl, Wild Night, Moon Dance, Gloria.

It was a great show. Van was in fine voice and played for about two hours. There was no opening act although the advertized guest James Hunter (guitar/vocals) came out and sang and played with Van during "Help Me." The horn section included Pee Wee Ellis on tenor and Chris Barber on trombone. In addition the band had a pedal steel player as well as a fiddle player, in order to be able to play the country numbers and anything else that came up

Edited August 7, 2006 by HWright

[Chalupa]

I saw the show in Philly. It was his first here in over 16 years!

Van was great. The show started at 5pm. No, that's not a typo. It ended right before 7. A shame because it seemed like the crowd was just starting to get into it when he walked offstage - no encore. The band was pretty good - nothing spectacular but they seemed sympathetic to all of the material. I would replace the trombone w/ a trumpet player and can the fiddle player. His voice is definitely sounding better than on some of his past recordings. Looks like the same set list for both shows. He also did "St. James Infirmary" here.

Weird that the North America part of the tour is so short. Oh, I got my ticket for free from a friend. I was shocked to see a $125 price on it. And that was for the back of the old Philly Spectrum just off the floor.

[HWright]

Weird that the North America part of the tour is so short. Oh, I got my ticket for free from a friend. I was shocked to see a $125 price on it. And that was for the back of the old Philly Spectrum just off the floor.

[medjuck]

I think sometime last summer Variety reported that Van's show at Red Rock was the highest grossing show of the week. I guess those $125 tickets add up. Last time I saw him he was with Dylan and Joni Mitchell but the tickets weren't that expensive. I love The Man and since 1969 I've seen him about 4 times but I don't think I'd pay $125 to see him again. I guess that's what performers who appeal to aging boomers can charge nowadays.

[Aggie87]

Over on the SH I mentioned that Hunter wasn't the opening act in Fairfax, but rather joined Van onstage during his show.

However, someone who was also at the show said that Hunter DID open the show:

I was there and Hunter came on at 6:45 for a strong, short set highlighted by a red-hot take on The 5 Royales - Baby Don't Do It.

I guess he will be opening the other shows on this tour after all...

[HWright]

Interesting that Hunter did open.... It seems rather strange though that he came on so early since as far as I knew the event start time was 7:00 pm and at most concerts I've been to the event start time is the start time of the opening act, not the main attraction.

In any case when I showed up at about 7:15/7:20 (I had to take a cab from the nearest Metro station to get to the show) Hunter was no longer on stage and they were preparing for Van to come on. I assumed Hunter hadn't played at all.

Edited August 8, 2006 by HWright