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And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Van (versus) The Man
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 21 September 2020
A number of artists – including Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown – have spoken out against various aspects of the COVID-19 restrictions that are currently in place, but so far they haven’t put those concerns into lyrics. Well, never fear, Van Morrison is making up for lost time.
The musician has announced three anti-lockdown songs to be released over the course of a month, starting this week. This Friday, Morrison will put out the not exactly subtly titled ‘Born To Be Free’. That will be followed on 9 Oct by ‘As I Walked Out’ and then on 23 Oct by one final track to push the point home, ‘No More Lockdown’.
The songs are apparently part of a campaign to save the live music industry. The concern for live music isn’t really reflected in any of the lyrics though. They more focus on those increasingly popular if ill-founded claims that the government is using lockdown for more nefarious reasons than protecting public health, and that COVID-19 doesn’t actually pose any serious risk at all.
“I’m not telling people what to do or think, the government is doing a great job of that already”, says Morrison of the songs. “It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves”.
Ahead of their release, Morrison planned to premiere the three songs at his London Palladium shows this week, which were rescheduled from March due to lockdown.
While those performances were set to go ahead with the required social distancing measures in place, it appears that the shows will not now take place this week, having been postponed again to November.
