(Credits: Far Out / Sony Music)
Sat 11 April 2026 21:00, UK
It’s fair to say that Van Morrison has been responsible for some clangers in his time. Musical, artistic, political – he’s had all bases covered.
Yet whether it was a whole selection of sub-par albums or the fact he was lambasting the government over Covid restrictions, Morrison has never shied away from voicing his opinion. He did, however, somewhat ironically, get shy over the very way in which he made his name. After all, it’s a bit of a fatal flaw to be a singer with stage fright.
It was a problem that ‘Van the Man’ has been plagued with ever since his status started to ascend in the early 1970s, when clubs were swapped for larger venues, and instead of small audiences of hundreds, they started to come in mobs of thousands. It spooked him, to put it plainly, as he said: “I dig singing the songs, but there are times when it’s pretty agonising for me to be out there.”
However, there was one fateful night in 1978 – in Charlotte, North Carolina, of all places – where everything came to a head, and Morrison looked to be truly done. A devoted fan recalled the story, where he bumped into the man himself backstage and was well and truly snubbed, leaving sour tastes in the mouth of the supporter, and indeed, the star.
Whether it was a combination of his own nerves, annoying fans, or the fact that he just frankly didn’t want to be there, when Morrison took to the stage that night, it was always destined for disaster. But nevertheless, his band came on and played the introduction to ‘Tupelo Honey’ as his cue. He didn’t appear. So they played it again. Once more, he didn’t appear.
In total, they had to repeat themselves 11 times before the warbling wordsmith finally made his way on to stage, but not for long. During the first song alone, he walked off no less than four times, a pattern he copied throughout the next three tracks before simply leaving the stage altogether. Like a magician – whoosh – he was gone.
Yet magicians usually leave the crowd in a state of wonderment and amazement. In this instance, they were far more like an angry mob. It would have been understandable if none of those there that night ever stayed as Morrison fans again. But that disastrous night was nearly 50 years ago, and the man is still alive and kicking. So what redeemed him?
In a lot of ways, it’s difficult to say, but there was a certain element of Morrison’s work being so bad that it turned good at the time. Critics frankly loved nothing more than giving him an old-fashioned rollicking throughout the ‘80s, until one day, the clouds of disgust parted, and they realised that the music was actually alright.
Morrison may be the man that people love to hate, and regardless of whether his stage fright was genuine or just a ruse, it definitely heightened the sense of intrigue around him that kept people coming back, no matter how much he may have pissed them off. Four-song Morrison may have had a shocker on that night in 1978, but for better or worse, it didn’t keep him down.
