Australian rock stalwart Doug Parkinson will take the music of Irish stalwart Van Morrison on tour across Australia for a good chunk of 2020.
Doug will begin the tour in Forster, NSW on 15 Feb. There are dates now through until August.
Covering a diverse musical act like Van Morrison does have its challenges. “I’ve got a brilliant band who can play jazz, rock, soul and blues,” Doug tells Noise11.com. “We have reinvented some of the songs but also kept safely to the big hits. People don’t want you to muck around with that. We really have some interesting stuff going on with some of his songs. Its such an interesting repertoire.
Rehearsals are currently underway in Sydney. “We’ve had half a week of 6 to 8-hour days. Its intense,” Doug says.
Van Morrison never performs his own greatest hits show. To hear his hits live you have to see someone else, like Doug Parkinson, do them. “Every song has been a hit,” Doug says. “I try to select songs my voice can do justice too. If there is a song with a million lyrics its not suitable. I look for songs with big long notes. We’ve had to put the pencil through a lot of songs. I bet a million dollars someone will walk up at the end of the night and ask why we didn’t do something”.
Van’s hits, like his music, have a lot of variety. “’Gloria’, I did that in my first garage band. ‘Here Comes The Night’, we have to do that. ‘Days Like This’, ‘Moondance’, ‘Have I Told You Lately’, ‘Bright Side of the Road’, ‘Into The Mystic’. There are so many great songs. ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’, ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ … its endless”.
The early Van Morrison era from the band Them will be a big part of the show. “Them was only around for a couple of years,” Doug says. “Then he went solo. They were considered part of the British invasion, even though they were Irish. There is so much history attached to him”.
As for Doug’s own hits, you will get them too. He tells Noise11, “I do in the first half. These shows have been designed to work in clubs and theatres. They all have an intermission. The first half is all my stuff. Then the intermission. Then the Van stuff. It works really”.
TOUR DATES
Saturday 15th February, 2020 – Club Forster NSW – Bookings: (02) 6591 6591
Friday 21st February, 2020 – The Palms At Crow, Melbourne VIC – Bookings: Ticketmaster 136 100 www.ticketmaster.com.au
Saturday 22nd February, 2020 – Twin Towns Auditorium, Tweed Heads NSW – Bookings: 1800 014 014
Friday 6th March, 2020 – The Concourse, Chatswood NSW – Bookings: Ticketek 1300 795 012 www.ticketek.com.au
Saturday 7th March, 2020 – Wests Leagues Club, New Lambton NSW – Bookings: (02) 4935 1200
Saturday 14th March, 2020 – Canterbury Hurlsone Park RSL Club NSW – Bookings: (02) 9559 0000
Saturday 28th March, 2020 – Katoomba RSL Club NSW – Bookings: (02) 4782 2624
Saturday 4th April, 2020 – Astor Theatre, Perth WA – Bookings: 1300 111 369 www.ticketek.com.au
Saturday 18th April, 2020 – Souths Juniors Club, Kingsford NSW – Bookings: (02) 9349 7555
Saturday 9th May, 2020 – Ettalong Diggers Club, Ettalong Beach NSW – Bookings: (02) 4343 0111
Book for all shows here https://abstractentertainment.net/doug-parkinson-presents-here-comes-the-night-an-evening-of-van-morrison/
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