Van Morrison: Live In Düsseldorf 1998

Van Morrison is a legend.  Not only that, but he’s a prolific legend.
Between launching his solo career in 1967 and May 2018, he’s recorded a staggering 39 studio albums.  The last five of those have been released within a three year stretch.

While so many people are keen to view Van’s 70s work as the golden age, some of his later works are every bit as good as those famous early releases.  2012’s ‘Born To Sing: No Plan B’ and 2017’s ‘Roll With The Punches’ in particular find Morrison in particularly good voice, backed by a lot of blues based material.  Both are albums that far outshine anything any of Van’s potential peers – Dylan, Neil Young, Clapton – could muster during their twilight years.

Given such a vast catalogue of such a high quality, it’s frustrating how little concert footage has been issued on blu ray or DVD.  His first VHS live release ‘Van Morrison In Ireland’ hasn’t been upgraded to anything digital and while there are a few other shows available, there’s a wealth of professionally shot stuff that’s been ignored.

Here’s a great show featuring Candy Dulfer live in Germany, featuring Van and band in a particularly jazzy mood promoting the ‘Healing Game’ album.   Highlights include an especially brassy version of ‘Satisfied’.

Check out Real Gone’s favourite Van Morrison album cuts here.