Happy 62nd Birthday Van!!!

Today I have spent the day listening to one of my favorite singers on the occasion of his 62nd birthday. The CD I chose to listen to was one I downloaded to my iPod last night and is a recording of a recent live show, one I would have given my eye teeth to have gone to, the performance as The Abbey in Glastonbury, England, that mystical place that was has been an inspiration to many of his songs as on his CDs Avalon, Enlightenment, and Common One (songs Haunts of Ancient Peace and Summertime in England being two of my favorite songs from the latter album). A Van Morrison concert is like a grab bag. You never know for sure what songs you're going to get. whether he'll say a few words to the audience or maybe nothing at all. It's pretty certain the evening will end with Brown-Eyed Girl and Gloria (and that the concert will last precisely 90 minutes) but no two concerts are the same. As so wanted to hear him sing Into the Mystic when I saw him in Seattle in October of 2006 and then again in Vancouver, BC in February of 2007 but it wasn't to be. And checking the set lists for ths shows since then, I can't recall that he has had this song in his repertoire. So it was with a sigh that via my friend Pat's review http://patrickmaginty.blogspot.com/2007/08/sun-was-setting-over-avalon.html I found out that he had sung it at Glastonbury August 11th. I was thrilled to get a copy of this show and doubly thrilled that it was of such good quality. One of the best I have heard in a long time. (BTW, check out Patrick's archives for his reviews of his favorite Van Morrison albums - they are wise and intelligent, the best I have ever read).

I own all of Van's commerically-released CDs and dozens of live shows and bootleg CDs and DVDs. I just can't get enough of this voice, the genius of his words that touch me to the very depths of my soul. It matters not to me that he is tempermental or grumpy (to put it mildly) what matters to me is that his words reach me.