Van Morrison

Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, September 19, 2015

Zoom Recorder - Internal Mics
Wav file recorded in 16 bit/44kHz
Audience Digital Master
Taping location is estimated to be "close - on the floor"
Mastered and tracked by ninjadave -> who is NOT the taper

The Band
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

"A thousand thanks to the taper, to my music-loving brother for his work on polishing these shows, and to all who make
sharing the music possible." ~ avalondan


SET LIST [87:51]

01 - Celtic Swing 3:46
02 - Close Enough For Jazz 3:00
03 - Moondance 6:11
04 - Days Like This 3:17
05 - Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now 6:30
06 - I Believe To My Soul 3:49
07 - Talk is Cheap 4:18
08 - Whenever God Shines His Light 4:38
09 - Wild Night 3:49
10 - In the Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Don't You Make Me High/Burn Baby Burn/Raincheck 9:34
11 - Cleaning Windows 4:20
12 - Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child 5:13
13 - And The Healing Has Begun 7:28
14 - Precious Time 2:58
15 - Magic Time 4:31
16 - All in the Game/You Know What They're Writing About/Make It Real One More Time/Time is Running Out/Burning Ground 12:33
17 - Gloria [incomplete] 2:04


~ THE REVIEW ~

"Magic Time in Toronto"
by avalondan [who attended the shows but is not the taper]

During two powerful shows at Toronto's Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on September 19 and 20, Sir George Ivan
Morrison
demonstrated his continued vitality as supreme soul-sender and improvisational marvel. I have been whining
for a good year now
that I thought Van had cut back considerably on his classic improvisational skills, musical dynamics
and pure, unvarnished
passion. There were times of brilliance, but I thought things were becoming much too routine.
I chalked it up to age, and death,
and the ghosts, as poet John Berryman put it. But the Belfast Cyprus Avenue birthday
gigs showed major signs of the Van performance
style I have known and will always love. The afternoon show finale of
Ballerina, And the Healing and Garden were terrific songs
delivered with drive and beauty. The finale of Hyndford Street
in the evening set summed up the day in gorgeous, dramatic style.
And then on to Toronto three weeks later, where a
combination of a lovely venue, a great audience, pristine sound, a performer
completely committed to the cause, and a
finely tuned band added up to two wonderful evenings of music. The sound of surprise as
the music unfolded, the passion,
the drama were all back in full force, and a relaxed Van sang with as much authority as I have
ever heard. The set lists
featured a diverse mix of Van tunes in the first half, nicely paced. The second half of the show
brimmed each night with
Morrison in full vocal flight, the lights of the cars on the overpass, shining like diamonds in the night,
driving all
night long, until the sun comes up. Burn baby Burn, you're gonna make me high. Morrison used all of his classic
imagery,
nature-based and mystical. I believe there was even a reference to his young children, as he repeated over and over
"Daddy,
take me down, please, to the burning ground. Daddy, take me across the river, across the water. Daddy, please."



The shows opened with the traditional songs to warm up the pipes, merely pleasant. Then he mixed things up in the middle
of the
gigs, doing songs ranging from the greasy, grinding blues of Talk is Cheap and Keep Mediocrity at Bay and I Believe
to My Soul,
to a propulsive, sweeping version of Motherless Child, guitars strummed hard, and a wonderful, woozy In the
Midnight. The All in
the Game both nights was epic, so much new revealed, despite the fact that he has sung it so often.
The way he formed the words
into exquisite shapes: "Make it real one more time....one more, one... one.... one... one."
"And you take my hand, and you walk
with me, and sometimes it feels, like eternity." Can it be said any better? And how
much more pleasurable to hear it sung by a
voice that is truly blessed. Van's enunciation at these gigs was the best I
have ever heard. The Ballerina was superb in its
beauty and clarity. Both shows ended with Gloria, which the audience
loved, and the great band absolutely pulverized it as Van
got into his limo and took flight again...




~ Mastering Notes ~

The show is very good for internal mics. The sound does occasionally waiver and it gets quietier a few times during the show but
that is quickly corrected - the taper probably hiding the recorder. There are some minor mic bumps/muffles due to shifting but
very little talking. Overall, its a *very* nice sounding show - check out the sample. The only "editing" I performed was 1) balancing
out the channels; 2) a small bump to the overall volume (some parts were very loud and some parts were soft - they are intact);
and finally, 3) I added a *tiny* bit of warmth to the overall sound. The only setback is Gloria is cut and fades out on this
night. The good news is, this song is complete on night two and that entire show is intact and complete. I'll be posting the
second night shortly (same taper and recorder).

Repost if you like - just keep info and file set intact. I would start disc 2 with song 11.

Upped by ninjadave - Oct 2015

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: