Kew The Music Festival: Van Morrison still a class act reviewed by Yann Tear

He may have developed a reputation as something of an old grouch as the years go by, but Van Morrison is still a class act.

It helps if you are in the right surroundings too and if the beautiful setting of Kew Gardens does not inspire you as a performer, then maybe nothing can.

The Irish jazz-blues legend was the undoubted highlight of this year’s Kew The Music Festival – which feels finally to have thrown off the shackles of the pandemic with packed spaces all around the temporary stage.

There is a great deal of competition for lovers of outdoor concerts at this time of year, of course, with Hyde Park and Victoria Park in east London offering competition for attention.

Then again, the Kew version has never really been about competing with the Rolling Stones or Duran Duran in central London, as has been the case this summer.

It has its very own loyal band of followers – many of whom are probably the same crowd who are regularly drawn to the wonderful gardens themselves.

Whatever the dynamics, a warm Tuesday night among those 14,000 trees felt pretty perfect and Morrison did not disappoint.

Even at 76, the voice sounds immaculate and still resonates at turns with yearning, pain and calm resignation.

His trademark look, a dapper blue suit, shades, and distinctive brimmed hat, seemed somehow reassuring.

He does not waste time with niceties, just gets on with the hits, one after another.

And they are great. They include Swinging Sixties’ sounds like Baby Please Don’t Go – a permanent reminder of his old Northern Irish band Them, who were more like the Stones than the Stones themselves.

There’s the gloriously soulful Days Like This and of course the evergreen Brown Eyed Girl. Well, what’s not to like?

The early arrivers quickly pack away their picnics and rugs as the show unfolds and are soon hugging themselves in blissfully nostalgic swaying.

Those saxophones, that sense of easy calm. That sunset as the last rays of the day dip below the red-bricked Kew Garden Palace.

We are effectively on the lawn of King George III, who was holed up in that building, quietly losing his marbles. How he could have done with Van Morrison’s soothing tones.

On the way out, you have the vision of a half-moon over the eerily-silhouetted and towering Princess of Wales Conservatory.

This year’s list of performers would not have inspired the Too Cool for School brigade.

Gabriel and Bananarama headlined on Saturday night and it felt like a case of hoping no one would notice you there, for fear of damaging any credibility about musical taste.

But then you forgot all about that and enjoyed it.

They were fun performers both. Warm, self-deprecating. Capturing the happy mood bouncing back their way. It’s Not What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do It, after all. People of a certain age. There are a lot of us about.

Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin at times seemed like they were French and Saunders doing a parody sketch of Bananarama, such was the frivolity and banter.

The old Stock Aitken and Waterman songs are still awful beyond words, but then the maddening jauntiness of Cruel Summer or Robert De Niro’s Waiting takes over and you are done for.

Also on the six-day bill were James Blunt, DJ Spoony, Will Young, James Morrison and the Gipsy Kings. None of it is quite John Peel Stage at Glastonbury. But it really is a good week to circle in the calendar.

 

Van Morrison at the Kew Music Festival Pictures: Yann Tear