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September 18th was unquestionably the pinnacle of the 2015 CityFolk Festival, and arguably stands as the top billing of the Ottawa festival since the Bluesfest people took it over several years earlier. Why? Two glorious words: Van Morrison.
I first became aware of Van Morrison shortly after I read (and became infatuated with) No One Here Gets Out Alive – the Jim Morrison story – as a young teenager. Though I was quite unfamiliar with the music of The Doors I was immediately smitten with the character of Jim as presented in the book, and in my spare time (of which I had much) I would scour libraries for any mention of his name. And as I perused one index after another I would invariably find the odd name “Van Morrison” right below Jim’s listing. Heck, even when the great Jim Morrison was omitted this Van guy always seemed to be there.
But it’s not like I listened to his music or anything.
Then I started playing in bands and when you do that you can’t possibly avoid learning Brown-Eyed Girl and Gloria, among others. Then I went to university and heard Moondance for the first time. Then the awareness started to flood in…Wild Night, Baby, Please Don’t Go, Real Real Gone…man, the guy was it!
And here he was playing outdoors on a nice medium-sized stage on Lansdowne’s Great Lawn just a mile from my house. It was my third time seeing Van and he was great. He played every song I’ve mentioned and a hundred others, and he did it all with classy confidence, a strong voice, and a solid band.
It’s curious to realize that as my interest in Van Morrison grew my interest in Jim Morrison and his Doors waned, seemingly at equal measure. I wonder what Jim would have had to say about that.
Todd Man Out 