I was lucky enough to catch Van Morrison last Friday night at the recently re-opened tennis stadium in Forest Hills Queens. This was Van's only US date (I think) and I happened to get a pre-sale email one morning. Considering how big of a fan the Ms. is, I had no choice. Plus, Taj Mahal was going to be on the bill - what a perfect combo.

Well, the big bummer was that Taj Mahal had recently canceled his summer tour due to what sounded like recuperation from non-stop touring (can't blame the guy, Taj puts on a monster of a show whenever I see him). It would have been great to see who could out Jelly Roll the other, BUT, hey, there's still Van Morrison. I saw Van put on a really smooth show from the nose bleeds at the Beacon maybe a year or two ago, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

I was surprised how many of his classics he busted out, including a monster "Gloria" towards the end, especially how crotchety Van has been towards that material in the past. I am always reminded of how many jam bands I typically go see when I see a "typical" show where the songs are actually 3-4 minutes long and the set list is maybe 20+ deep. But Van's shows are great, and I love that he comes out playing his alto sax before he sings a note. There's no pausing between songs, no chit chat, which I always prefer (as soon as a musician starts chatting into the mic, you can often hear how pleased they are with themselves). His band is exceptional, as you'd expect from Van, as an amateur musician I found myself paying more attention to them than Van a lot of the time. It looks like the rest of his tour dates are in Europe, mostly in Ireland, which is no surprise. Really glad I saw this one.

The re-opened venue is great. I live in Brooklyn, so I was surprised that a venue in quiet and relatively remote Forest Hills (relatively for the average provincial NYCer) was being re-opened with such big names (other acts this summer - The Who, James Taylor, Alabama Shakes, etc) but the LIRR is right there for mom and dad to get back to LI or NJ. If the Kings Theatre in Flatbush can be resurrected, no doubt the Tennis Stadium will do really well. Restaurants on Austin St didn't seem to know what hit them with all of the crowds. There wasn't a lot of dancing on the court where we were, mostly sitting room until the end of the show. People in the cheap seats always have more fun, except for the really drunk guy next to me who could barely stand. Still, always cool to have another open-air music venue.