25-August-2012
Marlay Park, Dublin, Ireland

Here's our man in Dublin, Ciarán, with his review
Tom Jones has just finished a stormer of a set and the stage is being set for The Belfast Cowboy and his band. As the sun is setting Van and the band hit the stage, launching into a trio of Brown Eyed Girl/Baby Please Don't Go/Here Comes The Night which sets the pace for tonights show. Lots of fast upbeat numbers. Precious Time, Wavelength, Fever and Jackie Wilson Said had everyone dancing in the mud. And there was a lot of mud, ankle deep in most places. But back to the show. Van played many of the songs at the piano, which was a bit different from when I had seen him before. Moondance was the extended version, the large moon was hidden behind the clouds above. Have I Told You Lately at the piano was pure magic. In the Garden was another highlight, started on the piano and was a slighty shortened version than what has been played recently. Amazing none the less. Ballerina has again a slightly different outro than I have heard recently, this is jazzy and a bit longer. Van is great at changing songs around. The final two belters of Help Me and Gloria close the show, and as always, Van is half way to his hotel before the band finish playing. One thing I noticed was the crowd, very talkative through out the evening where I was, I don't know if that was everywhere or if I was just unlucky with my spot. Overall a great evening of live music from Gemma Hayes, Don Baker, Sinéad O'Connor, Tom Jones and Van The Man.

-Ciarán Kilbride

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
Baby, Please Don't Go
Here Comes the Night
How Can a Poor Boy?
Talk Is Cheap
Precious Time
Days Like This
Fever
Moondance
Have I Told You Lately
Jackie Wilson Said
Enlightenment
Haunts of Ancient Peace
In the Garden
Ballerina
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)

18-August-2012 Glanus Park, Wrexham, Wales

via Flick (Steven Shingler)

Virtual Festivals (source)

There's festival moments and then there's Van Morrison at Green Man 2012. Never one for procrastination, this was the time Van kicked off a rousing 75-minute-set with 'Brown Eyed Girl', gave us rapturous performances of 'Baby Please Don't Go' and 'Jackie Wilson Said' and is in a helicopter before his band has even finished a stupendous 'Gloria'.

It's a set that follows the classic Morrison tradition. No set list, songs decided on the go, but with all the urgency, passion and utter professionalism that is as much a standard for the Irish legend as the blues, R&B and soul that no doubt flows through his cranky veins.

Ah yes, the grumpiness. The myth is of an artist that dials in gigs, with little passion or care, who Rolling Stone called "an enigma shrouded in a Celtic Garb". But this set shows him full of head-down, no-messing determination. Standard black suit, trilby and shades. Standard crowd full of love, raising their hats and dancing to a riotous 'Baby, Please Don't Go', a sublime 'Haunts of Ancient Peace' and a blistering 'Jackie Wilson Said'.

'Gloria' is a genius set closer. The b-side (b-side!) to Them's 1964 cover of Big Joe William's Baby, Please Don't Go, Van's seven piece band make the garage classic sound as immediate as the day it was released, Morrison leading the crowd through that driving chorus, right up to the amazing giddy shout of "G-L-O-R-I-A!"

"I watch her come up to my house/She knocks upon my door/And then she comes up to my room/I want to say she makes me feel all right/G-L-O-R-I-A!"

And then he's off - into a car that delivers him into an adjacent field and a chopper that is in the skies before his band is even reaching the final notes of a wondrous Green Man experience.

-Kai Jones

Setlist
Brown Eyed Girl
Only A Dream
Young Lovers Do
Days Like This
Baby Please Don’t Go
Here Comes The Night
How Can a Poor Boy
The Mystery
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Jackie Wilson Said
All in the Game/No Plan B/Time is Running Out
Precious Time
Higher Than The World
Whenever God Shines his Light
Ballerina
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (saxophone)
Alistair White (trombone)
Dave Keary (guitar)
Paul Moore (keyboards)
Paul Moran (bass)
Jeff Lardner (drums)
Rod Quinn (percussion)