The musician released an angry statement about returning to full capacity gigs

He may be a musical legend, but Van Morrison has irked a lot of people with this thoughts on the coronavirus and live music.

While most people have accepted that large gatherings, gigs and festivals are off the menu for the forseeable future - or at least until a workable solution is found - Morrison has pooh-poohed the government's cautious measures as 'pseudo-science'.

In a statement posted on his website dubbed 'Fight for Live', the Belfast man encouraged music fans and his fellow musicians to "come forward, stand up, fight against the psuedo-science and speak up".

He added that the fact that he is playing a socially-distanced gig in the UK soon was "not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs", but instead "is to get my band up ad running and out of the doldrums."

In fact, the 'Moondance' singer called for socially distanced gigs to be scrapped entirely, saying "This is not the answer... we need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward".

He added: "Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and myself appear to be the only people in the music business trying to get it back up and running again. Come forward. It’s not economically viable to do socially distanced gigs. Come forward now, the future is now."

Some have called Morrison's statement irresponsible, although others - including Jim Corr - have welcomed his comments.

See below for a selection of the reactions...