Oct. 28, 1978 review: Van Morrison and Rockpile in Shea's Buffalo

 


Two enormous favorites of mine, but on this night just one of them delivered.

Oct. 28, 1978 

Good Old Days All That’s Left of Van Morrison

         A sellout crowd in Shea’s Buffalo Theater Friday got to see a living legend having a dead night. Van Morrison, the Irish-born singer and songwriter rave of the early ‘70s, seemed generally dispirited, sang weakly and turned in a set that lasted barely an hour.

         Sadly to say, the most thrilling moment came when he abandoned his microphone and allowed one of his backup singers to come forward to do a splendid rendition of “Crazy Love.”

         Morrison played harmonica, but didn’t touch his saxophone. He was generally remote from both his audience and his new band, which sounded as anemic as he did. Oh, for the good old days of the Caledonia Soul Orchestra with its slam-bang breaks and high-horsepower horns.

         They were especially missing on “Wild Night.” Pete Bardens’ synthesizer just couldn’t provide the necessary impact. As for the selections from Morrison’s new “Wavelength” album, the studio versions had more life.

         He did a quick exit after a perfunctory encore of “Caravan” while his fans applauded him generously. Half of them had arrived late, missing the real excitement of the evening – British guitarist Dave Edmunds and Rockpile.

         Although their first couple of numbers were muffled by a poor sound mix, the quartet turned in a 50-minute set that pretty much equaled their high-energy effort here in March when they opened for Elvis Costello.

         Since Rockpile is a band with two stars, Edmunds alternated songs with bassist Nick Lowe, bowing to Lowe’s vocals on numbers both of them have recorded separately under their own names, like “I Knew the Bride” and “Heart of the City.”

         Lowe’s bright ‘60s energy came through in quirky pop tunes like “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,” while Edmunds’ dark ‘50s romance illuminated early rock replicas like “Ju Ju Man,” his Chuck Berry tunes and his 1970 hit, “I Hear You Knockin’.”

         Second guitarist Billy Bremner gave the raspy vocal for Edmunds’ new single, “Trouble Boys,” while his playing gave proof of the tightness Edmunds praised when talking about the band earlier in the day.

         Edmunds said he’d been mystified as to why this set hadn’t ignited Van Morrison crowds so far, including Toronto Thursday night. Here the fans were beginning to respond. Had the house lights not come up so quickly, they might have been good for an encore.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Van Morrison with backup singers Katie Kissoon and Anna Peacock at the Bottom Line in New York City on Nov. 1, 1978. 

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: What Van Morrison did in the early ‘70s with the Caledonia Soul Orchestra is some of my all-time favorite music. At this juncture, though, he was steering in a different direction and "Wavelength" turned out to be his most commercially successful album. Reports from other dates on the tour were positive, so Buffalo may have been just an aberration. He was in much finer fettle a few nights later at the Bottom Line in New York City, a set that can be experienced in its entirety on YouTube.

As for the band, Pete Bardens, best known for his work with the progressive rock group Camel, was an old mate from Van's days with the group Them in the mid 1960s. Others include guitarist and backing vocalist Bobby Tench, guitarist Herbie Armstrong, drummer Pete Van Hooke and saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis.

Backing vocals were courtesy of Trinidad-born Katie Kissoon, who did that fabulous work on "Crazy Love," and Anna Peacock. Katie has worked numerous times with Van through the years and has done extensive backup singing for Eric Clapton and Roger Waters.

No setlist from the Shea's show on setlist.fm, but here's what he did the previous night in the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto:

Moondance

Wavelength

Checkin' It Out

Into the Mystic

Hungry for Your Love

Brown Eyed Girl

Crazy Love

Kingdom Hall

I Just Want to Make Love to You (Willie Dixon cover)

Natalia

Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson cover)

Wild Night

Joyous Sound

Caravan

Both Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe had released albums in 1978, so they traded time in the spotlight. Setlist.fm only lists five songs from the Buffalo date. Here's what they played at the Bottom Line a few nights earlier: 

Down Down Down (Edmunds)

So It Goes (Lowe) (on the Buffalo list)

I Knew the Bride (Lowe)

Deborah (Edmunds) (on the Buffalo list)

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (Lowe)

Goodbye Mr. Good Guy (Edmunds)

Trouble Boys (Edmunds) (on the Buffalo list)

It's My Own Business (Chuck Berry cover)

Never Been in Love (Edmunds)

Love So Fine (Lowe)

Promised Land (Chuck Berry cover) (on the Buffalo List)

I Hear You Knocking (Smiley Lewis cover)

They Called It Rock (Lowe)

Ju Ju Man (Brinsley Schwarz cover) (on Buffalo list)

Heart of the City (Lowe)

Here Comes the Weekend (Edmunds)

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