Van Morrison bans alcohol at gig

Now this is ridiculous...Van Morrison has banned his fans from drinking alcohol at his gigs. So already, people can't smoke at these places anymore, now they can't drink alcohol, what's next? How bloody boring!

I mean, it's understandable that you may want to ban real drunken people from coming in in the first place or throwing someone out if they behave in a way that is too disruptive to others. But telling the whole audience to not have one drink? Not even a 'civilized' glass of wine? Come on! And it's not like Van's audience would consist of hordes of teenagers. Most will be middle-aged. You can't tell these people what to do on their night out. Especially as they will have paid between 40 to 105 Pounds per ticket!

Van Morrison battled alcohol addiction in the 70s and 80s and is now teetotal. He told bosses at the Brighton Dome (the venue he played last night) not to sell any alcohol before or during his performance because it might disturb his singing, but he insists his decision is not an attempt to impose his lifestyle on his audience. Yeah, right!

The 63-year-old star is notoriously temperamental, and has previously said he finds it annoying when his fans walk around during his shows because he thinks they should be 'savouring the experience of seeing him live'.

What a prima donna! What will he do next? Throw people out of they dare to whisper something to each other during his performance?

Understandably many concert-goers are furious with the demands. One disgruntled fan said: 'Having a drink at a live show is part of the concert-going experience. It is a real shame Van has decided to make this decision.'

Morrison is also due to play alcohol-free shows at the Liverpool Philharmonic and Birmingham Symphony Halls next month.