A Joyful Van Morrison Sings Like a Dream

In all the years I’ve been writing about pop music, I’ve never dreamed about being at a concert. The closest is a recurring nightmare about struggling in a hotel somewhere to write a review on deadline on a malfunctioning laptop.

But there were moments so unlikely during Van Morrison’s concert at the Wiltern Theatre on Saturday that I was sure I was going to wake up with a start any minute.

Get this: The notoriously eccentric and sometimes grouchy performer was having as much fun as the audience. To make it more surprising, the musician at his side was the unlikeliest of muses: Linda Gail Lewis, the little-known sister of rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis.

Without question, Morrison is one of the greats of modern pop, someone whose best compositions have a mystical, poetic edge and whose vocals experiment with words the way a master jazz musician examines notes.

But the Belfast native can be uneven on stage. He’s spellbinding on nights when he’s totally involved, but there are times when he’s so self-absorbed that he either walks through the show or goes into the mystic for long stretches.

On Saturday, the first of two sold-out nights at the Wiltern, Morrison was fully committed and focused. The nearly two-hour performance was so joyful that he broke into wide grins and even danced a few good-natured steps here and there.

The first dreamlike element came when Morrison’s new album, a collaboration with Linda Gail Lewis titled “You Win Again,” was played over the sound system before the start of the show. It was the first time in my concert-going experience that I was exposed to the music presumably about to be performed on stage.

As it turned out, Morrison didn’t do much of the album--even though he and Lewis are backed on the tour by the band, the Red Hot Pokers, that plays on the record.

The album is a slight collection of mostly old country and R&B; tunes that Jerry Lee Lewis either recorded or might have--from Hank Williams’ “You Win Again” to Bo Diddley’s “Cadillac.”

My guess is that when Morrison, whose music tends to be complex and introspective, saw Linda Gail perform with her band a few years ago, he responded to the simplicity and punch of that ‘50s-era music. It was a sound that inspired him as a teenager, and he probably wanted to revisit that period.

But he isn’t ready to devote his whole show to the album, so he just played it before the concert for fans. Then he and the six-piece, horn-driven Pokers dug deeper into the R&B; component of the collection.

They played some classic R&B; (“Real Gone Lover” was a highlight) and also dressed up some of his own work in a roots-minded, R&B; style. The latter ranged from signature hits, including “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Moondance,” to such recent tunes as “Back on Top” and “Sometimes We Cry.”

Lewis, who recorded with her brother and on her own in the early ‘70s and who performs regularly in Europe, seemed lively, but she was a relatively routine singer during a three-song opening set. She proved to be a valuable sidekick for Morrison, however. She added vigorous vocal punctuation and played the electric piano in the energetic, “pumping” style identified with her brother.

Even though Morrison didn’t sing any Jerry Lee Lewis songs during the main part of the show, he paid tribute to the legendary rocker during the encore by using Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” as the centerpiece of a medley that also included Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”

In that sequence, especially, Morrison--who has carried the weight of the “pop genius” label ever since his landmark “Astral Weeks” was released more than 30 years ago--seemed liberated in a way that was both disarming and revealing.

Morrison even touched on that theme early in the show with “Back on Top,” his 1999 statement of an artist’s struggle to meet personal and public expectations. In the song, he sings, “Always strivin’, always climbing way beyond my will / Same old sensation, isolation at the top of the bill.”

Even Morrison’s sparkling suit seemed to underscore the sense of playfulness and delight that made the night so special.

Now I need someone to tell me that this show wasn’t just a dream.

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Robert Hilburn can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.