VAN MORRISON
Live In Dublin
with the Richie Buckley Jazz Group
(bootleg CD)
Tonight Only! 98/009-010
(Released 1998)


Source: Audience
Lineage: Trade Audio CDR's -> EAC (secure/offset correct) -> WAV -> TLH - FLAC Level 8



Disc 1

Richie Buckley Jazz Group instrumental #1 (7:40)
Richie Buckley Jazz Group instrumental #2 (9:00)
Honestly I Love You (Haji Akbar) (5:51)
Ain't That Lovin' You Baby (3:36)
All Saints Day (2:26)
Centerpiece (4:27)
Early In The Morning (5:45)
Did Ye Get Healed (4:03)
How Long Has This Been Going On (5:32)
I Will Be There (2:23)
Moondance (Instrumental) (:51)
Marie Dickerson vocal #1 (6:10)
Marie Dickerson vocal #2 (8:49)
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Instrumental) (7:08)
Total time: (73:41)

Disc 2

I Don't Worry About A Thing (3:03)
Who Can I Turn To (4:04)
Symphony Sid (7:11)
That's Life (4:11)
Sticks And Stones (2:24)
Lonely Avenue (8:56)
You Don't Know Me (8:19)
Help Me / Shake, Rattle & Roll / Good Mornin' Blues / Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough (9:29)
Moondance (11:49)
Georgia On My Mind (Instrumental) (11:30)
Total time: (70:56)

Recorded live at the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin, May 29, 1997

Musicians:
Van Morrison: Lead Vocals, Harmonica
Richie Buckley: Tenor Saxophone
Haji Akba: Flugelhorn
Myles Drennan: Piano
Hugh Buckley: Guitar
Marie Dickerson: Lead & Backup Vocals
Keith Donald: Soprano Saxophone
Dave Fleming: Upright Bass
Johnny Wadham: Drums

Liner notes: We're accustomed to Van Morrison playing small venues, but rarely a club holding fewer than 300 enthusiastic souls.

But that indeed was the setting on 29.5.97 at Dublin's Temple Bar Music Centre when Van joined the Richie Buckley Jazz Group. In fact, the audience numbered perhaps only a bit over 200. It was a "secret" concert, the tiny newspaper notice raising barely a blip, if that, on the local entertainment radars - all the better for musical and other forms of intimacy, as reported by our on-the-scene correspondent:

Temple Bar is the "cool" area in Dublin. It's a thriving hotbed of art, music and property development. The Music Centre is on a side street, a nice small venue. The doors opened at 7:40. Van and Michelle arrived at around that time. My friend who went straight to the toilets met them arriving in the back door.

It was that kind of evening.

Here on two CDs, is the permanent record of that evening: a shoulder-to-shoulder, stand-up-and-shout night, full of Guinness and great music, high spirits and the poetry of jazz and blues in a small room. You can almost smell the smoke and taste the beer. You can definitely feel the music.

And what music it was: Richie Buckley and Group in great form; Van at ease and in great voice. Haji Akba and vocalist daughter Marie Dickerson on stage together. To quote: "It was a show with great musicianship. Van seemed to be very intense when the various musicians were taking their solos - and there were plenty of them".

With the exception of the first 15 seconds of the opening number (which caught our correspondent by surprise as he finished another of his beloved pints of Guiness in the Music Centre bar), you hold in your hands the complete 2 1/2 hour Temple Bar Music Centre concert, not "Shot Down", but rather soaring High.

Enjoy.
- T.O.

Review by Richard (Drawboy@aol.com):
While this performance has already been booted as the single-CD Shot Down In May, there's really no comparison between the two.

Like Shot Down, Live In Dublin appears to be an audience DAT recording. But where Shot Down cherry picks the performance, Live In Dublin captures the entire 2-1/2 hour workout with exquisite results in pacing and momentum. In addition, my ear tells me that the sound quality on Live In Dublin has been ratcheted up a couple of notches. But what really drives my enjoyment of this album is its audio presence. The concert took place in a very small club, and as the liner notes indicate, the recording is the next best thing to having been there

In addition, the album is beautifully packaged. Unlike most boots with a cover foldout, this one uses the space to describe the club and the setting, rather than advertising other titles.