Your last concert was to see who and when?

Van Morrison - Last week. It was fun but strange as hell. Van came out spoke no words between songs, grinded out 15 songs back-to-back-to-back. Walked off stage halfway through the last song (G-L-O-R-I-A), lights went up and that was that. He still sounds like Van only he may well have just been mumbling "Chicken" all night...

I went to Paul Simon's last concert on Saturday. It was a disappointment. I had great hopes. It was a good concert but nothing special. He seemed happy to be finished, rather than celebrating. I thought there might be special guests but there weren't. He did Bridge Over Troubled Water and introduced it saying that he got his baby back (dissing Art Garfunkel). The crowd was stoned, pushy and unpleasant. It was filmed and probably will show up on PBS. At least you will be able to sit in a comfortable chair without people stepping on you. The review in the NY Times was similar to my opinion.

Whatever his reasons for disliking Art Garfunkel, it's gotten very old over the years, and it is part one of the reasons that I don't hold much respect for him. I'm sure that with their close proximity for a number of years, there were plenty of reasons to be annoyed or worse, but in the end, the way a person can put those things away and move forward with a loving spirit is the way he's measured. It jus makes a lot of his songs ring false. 

I saw a televised Van Morrison concert where he did Astral Weeks at the Hollywood Bowl. It was kind of sad. As mcslipp mentioned, you could tell it was Van Morrison singing but otherwise his singing was just a big muddy run-together jumble of words. I'm a huge Morrison fan but from what I've read he's not a particularly nice person, has a reputation for being unnecessarily petulant and a bit arrogant (he is Van the Man after all). He also has a history of stage fright. Hard to say but from what I've seen on TV and heard from live footage in recent years, I would not pay to go see him.

I would contrast Van with Robert Plant, another one of my favorite singers. It has been a while since I saw Plant in concert but every time I have seen him you get the distinct impression that he is having the time of his life even in some podunk arena in South Carolina. Either he is having a great time and loves what he's doing OR he is a great actor. Either way, I respect that he makes the effort.

Has Van lost his voice? That is possible and it does happen. Linda Ronstadt does not perform any more for that reason. Robert Plant admitted in a recent interview that he no longer has the range he used to have and so does not perform some of the more iconic Zep songs.

If I want to see some iconic bands of my youth...the first thing I do is google the most recent concert utube videos for a look see. This way I can get an idea of what my money is actually buying. If the singer is bad I generally pass on a ticket purchase...