In the set’s most transcendent moment, Morrison reinvented Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame,” introducing new phrasing, rhythm and melody to create something hallowed and tender. That’s Van the singer; there was also Van the music director, conducting his band piece by piece — a piano chord here, a cymbal crash there. Morrison ad-libbed the phrase “stop breaking down” 17 times in a row while the band crested its long crescendo, turning the air into gold.

When the music writer Joel Selvin, a proud part-time grump himself, included droplets in his San Francisco Chronicle columns like “Truth be told, many people in the industry don’t like the music they are making. They go home and listen to old Van Morrison records like everyone else” — this is the Van Morrison he meant.

A marquee outside the Chapel announces Van Morrison’s afternoon set. (Gabe Meline/KQED)

Naturally, over the 80-minute set, some sections lagged, with the top-notch band applying formulaic arrangements to “I’m Ready,” “Can’t Help Myself” and “Social Climbing Scene,” the latter a Morrison original about the vapid quest for clout. During his other original composition, the complainy “Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge,” Morrison hunched over his printed lyrics and sang them with only a few ounces of conviction.

Then there was Van the perfectionist, kicking off “Rock Me Baby” after two false starts: “Too fast,” he said. During the first verse, in an agreeable tempo, he looked toward Woods: “Play!” Woods ran up and down the keys. “Not that much!” Morrison said. “Cut it in half!”

But the man knows what he wants, and when he gets it, everything falls into place. After an encore of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me,” the familiar three chords of “Gloria” charged in, somehow both a surprise and a foregone conclusion. For a few minutes, the crowd forgot about the troubles outside, chanting with a collective uplift of G-L-O-R-I-A, and Morrison was in his happy place of being in a bar band again.

Van Morrison performs Feb. 17, 18, 19, 23 and 24 at the Palace of Fine Arts (3301 Lyon St., San Francisco). Tickets and more information here.