14-September-2025
Waterfront Hall
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Waterfront Hall
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Van Morrison Lit Up Inside & Keep 'Er Lit Relaunch Show
After compere and interviewer for the night Dylan Jones had set out the programme to be followed throughout the show Van Morrison made his way to the stage for the interview part of the night to an ecstatic audience response. This was quickly replaced however by audible gasps from the audience as Van unfortunately stumbled and fell over. After he had been helped to his feet there were various shouts of " We love you Van" from audience members while a woman asked Van if he was alright to which he responded by saying "not really but I'll carry on regardless". After some microphone issues before the interview commenced Van asked that the house lights be turned on and left on so that they could see the audience. I suspect this may have been more to avoid a further fall after the interview was completed rather than a desire on Van's part to see how well we were all looking!!.
The interview itself largely focused on Van's musical influences and his process in writing and recording over the years. On the question of why he had chosen to do tonight's type of show Van said it was for something different and that the songs tonight would differ from his birthday shows and be more "wordy"! Van provided some quite comical responses to some of the questions put to him. When asked why he picked tonight's poets to do readings Van replied "because they're good". On the question of the good things about playing in Belfast Van jokingly responded that it means he doesn't have to go the airport or stay in hotels which got a good laugh from the audience!!.
Paul Muldoon read out the lyrics of Cleaning Windows and Madame George followed by Scarlett Sabet who recited On Hyndford Street and The Way Young Lovers Do. Scarlett spoke in glowing terms about how Van's songs, and Astral Weeks in particular, provided a soundtrack to her earlier life.
After the interval Paul Muldoon returned to recite a poem he wrote called Here And Now in tribute to Van while Scarlett recited a poem called For Jack which she wrote about Jack Kerouac. The final guest was John Cooper Clarke who recited some of his own material. He greatly enjoyed himself to such an extent that he wanted to do another reading despite the signals he was getting from the off stage crew. When he moved across the stage to ask if he could do one more reading he was unceremoniously told that the time was up which was quite amusing really.
It was now time for the main event and having attended the original Lit Up Inside shows back in 2014 I was hopeful that a similar set of songs would be performed. I was not to be disappointed and when Van immediately sat at the piano to the opening notes of Haunts Of Ancient Peace I sensed that something really special was about to unfold. This was quite beautiful with the superb backing vocals of Dan's Masters and Jolene O' Hara contributing hugely. Little Village featured nice flugelhorn and trumpet solos from Chris White and Matt Holland respectively while Van performed a fine extended saxophone solo towards the song's conclusion. The superb and so distinctive TB Sheets followed and featured extensive harmonica playing by Van and fine organ by John McCullough. This song went down a storm and got a huge ovation. The Way Young Lovers Do was a fine arrangement followed quickly by Enlightenment.
Foreign Window was quite beautiful and included some lovely guitar work by Dave Keary while Tore Down A La Rimbaud which followed featured lovely saxophone and organ solos. An extended Slim Slow Slider featured another lovely organ solo while Van featured with some electric guitar playing to complement his vocals. On Hyndford Street also saw Van on electric guitar but he cut the song short somewhat abruptly to instruct the band to play Crazy Jane On God which was really good and saw the backing vocalists excel once more. A fine rendition of Saint Dominic's Preview followed before the beautiful In The Garden brought proceedings to a tumultuous ending with Chris White doing a great extended saxophone solo after Van had departed the stage and the backing vocalists involving the audience in singing the No Guru No Method No Teacher refrain over and over to conclude the song.
This show was a masterclass from Van which featured a dream setlist for the multitude of his fans who have deeply explored his immense body of work. It would be great if further performances of this particular show were to be scheduled in the future.
-Brendan Hynes
Setlist
Haunts Of Ancient Peace
Little Village
TB Sheets
The Way Young Lovers Do
Enlightenment
Foreign Window
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Slim Slow Slider
On Hyndford Street
Crazy John On God
Saint Dominic's Preview
In The Garden
The interview itself largely focused on Van's musical influences and his process in writing and recording over the years. On the question of why he had chosen to do tonight's type of show Van said it was for something different and that the songs tonight would differ from his birthday shows and be more "wordy"! Van provided some quite comical responses to some of the questions put to him. When asked why he picked tonight's poets to do readings Van replied "because they're good". On the question of the good things about playing in Belfast Van jokingly responded that it means he doesn't have to go the airport or stay in hotels which got a good laugh from the audience!!.
Paul Muldoon read out the lyrics of Cleaning Windows and Madame George followed by Scarlett Sabet who recited On Hyndford Street and The Way Young Lovers Do. Scarlett spoke in glowing terms about how Van's songs, and Astral Weeks in particular, provided a soundtrack to her earlier life.
After the interval Paul Muldoon returned to recite a poem he wrote called Here And Now in tribute to Van while Scarlett recited a poem called For Jack which she wrote about Jack Kerouac. The final guest was John Cooper Clarke who recited some of his own material. He greatly enjoyed himself to such an extent that he wanted to do another reading despite the signals he was getting from the off stage crew. When he moved across the stage to ask if he could do one more reading he was unceremoniously told that the time was up which was quite amusing really.
It was now time for the main event and having attended the original Lit Up Inside shows back in 2014 I was hopeful that a similar set of songs would be performed. I was not to be disappointed and when Van immediately sat at the piano to the opening notes of Haunts Of Ancient Peace I sensed that something really special was about to unfold. This was quite beautiful with the superb backing vocals of Dan's Masters and Jolene O' Hara contributing hugely. Little Village featured nice flugelhorn and trumpet solos from Chris White and Matt Holland respectively while Van performed a fine extended saxophone solo towards the song's conclusion. The superb and so distinctive TB Sheets followed and featured extensive harmonica playing by Van and fine organ by John McCullough. This song went down a storm and got a huge ovation. The Way Young Lovers Do was a fine arrangement followed quickly by Enlightenment.
Foreign Window was quite beautiful and included some lovely guitar work by Dave Keary while Tore Down A La Rimbaud which followed featured lovely saxophone and organ solos. An extended Slim Slow Slider featured another lovely organ solo while Van featured with some electric guitar playing to complement his vocals. On Hyndford Street also saw Van on electric guitar but he cut the song short somewhat abruptly to instruct the band to play Crazy Jane On God which was really good and saw the backing vocalists excel once more. A fine rendition of Saint Dominic's Preview followed before the beautiful In The Garden brought proceedings to a tumultuous ending with Chris White doing a great extended saxophone solo after Van had departed the stage and the backing vocalists involving the audience in singing the No Guru No Method No Teacher refrain over and over to conclude the song.
This show was a masterclass from Van which featured a dream setlist for the multitude of his fans who have deeply explored his immense body of work. It would be great if further performances of this particular show were to be scheduled in the future.
-Brendan Hynes
Setlist
Haunts Of Ancient Peace
Little Village
TB Sheets
The Way Young Lovers Do
Enlightenment
Foreign Window
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Slim Slow Slider
On Hyndford Street
Crazy John On God
Saint Dominic's Preview
In The Garden
Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Nicky Scott (Bass)
Alan 'Sticky' Wicket (Percussion)
John McCullough (Keyboards)
Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Neal Wilkinson (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)
Christopher White (Saxophone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Nicky Scott (Bass)
Alan 'Sticky' Wicket (Percussion)
John McCullough (Keyboards)
Matt Holland (Trumpet)
Neal Wilkinson (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)
Christopher White (Saxophone)
Set Length 1h 14m
Overall show length 2h 42m (including short interval)
