23-November-2014
Great Hall
 Downpatrick 
Northern Ireland

via David K.

After the previous evening’s concert it was with a great sense of anticipation that I made my way to the second of Van Morrison’s concerts at Downshire Estate. The concert started very promisingly with the instrumental Caledonian Swing replacing the regular Celtic Swing opener and providing a nice variation. As was the case the night before, Blue Money followed to the great delight of the audience. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child was next and I felt it was even better than the night before. In particular, Paul Moran was given the latitude to play an extended organ solo which was quite exceptional and further enhanced the magnificence of what we were hearing. Melancholia featured Dana Masters prominently on vocals and a great piano solo from Paul Moran in a wonderful arrangement. Van then gave us another rare gem in The Streets Only Knew Your Name which was quite beautiful. Everything was going great but then the first signs of turbulence appeared as the band launched into Wavelength but without any vocal contribution from Van for the first couple of verses. A stage crew member came on with what appeared to be a lyric sheet but it wasn’t clear whether Van had drawn a blank on the lyrics or there was something else he was unhappy about. When the song finally took off with Van finally on board (much to the relief of the audience who were holding their collective breath) there was some great guitar playing from Dave Keary before the band brought the song to what proved to be a premature end while Van continued to sing resulting in them having to start up again. It was somewhat shambolic and whatever the reason it was clear that Van and the band were not on this occasion on the same wavelength. The wonderful Queen of the Slipstream brought the concert back onto an even keel followed by Sometimes We Cry featuring Dana Masters on shared vocals. At this point Van engaged briefly with the audience to tell us he was going to change things around a bit and do a number off the country album. What followed was a song called More and More but pretty quickly I knew I would be quite happy to hear less and less of this particular song. When Days Like This and Precious Time followed in quick procession I sensed a distinct shift in emphasis and so it proved. Nonetheless, a pretty rip roaring Think Twice Before You Go livened things up again somewhat followed by Open The Door and In The Midnight which featured Dave Keary doing the high pitched vocal piece and impressing Van so much he got him to do it again. Van then gave us a really thunderous version of John Lee Hooker’s Boogie Chillun which is really quite infectious. Magic Time was pleasant but no more than that but Higher Than The World elevated things once again before Van coasted firmly into festival set territory to finish the concert with Jackie Wilson Said, Whenever God Shines His Light,Real Real Gone and Brown Eyed Girl. The concert finished very tamely dead on 90 minutes with no encore and the band not bothering to do any real extended instrumental workout after Van had departed.

The concert ddidn'tscale the heights of the previous night’s show and Van clearly wasn’t anything like as animated but there was so much good(and at times great) music in there(particularly the opening 7 songs) that it still for me provided plenty to enjoy and savour. It was just a pity it ended in a pretty downbeat manner as this can often be the abiding memory that one is left with afterwards.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks to David/Pablo)
Caledonian Swing (Instrumental)
Blue Money
Motherless Child
Melancholia
Streets Only Knew Your Name
Wavelength
Queen of the Slipstream
Sometimes We Cry
More and More
Days Like This
Precious Time
Think Twice Before You Go
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
In The Midnight
Boogie Chillun
Magic Time
Higher Than The World
Jackie Wilson Said
Whenever God Shines His Light
Real Real Gone
Brown Eyed Girl

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

22-November-2014
Great Hall
 Downpatrick 
Northern Ireland

This was the first night of Van Morrison’s two night stint at this intimate venue and reports coming back from those who had heard some of the sound check promised the unearthing of some rare musical gems. Happily these reports proved well founded and after the usual Celtic Swing opener Van launched into a really vibrant Blue Money which I don’t recall hearing live previously so it was a real treat. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child followed and this was quite magnificent with backing vocalist Dana Masters making a significant contribution to it’s delivery. 

Next up was a beautiful arrangement of Melancolia which far exceeded the recorded version in my estimation. Without getting time to draw breath we were then brought into mystical territory with a wonderful Someone Like You during which Dana Masters’s superb soulful voice extracted a spontaneous round of applause from the audience. I felt she stole Van’s thunder somewhat on this one but I’m sure he doesn't mind. It was just getting better and better and a thunderous Wavelength followed with superb guitar playing from Dave Keary. The always welcome Enlightenment was followed by a brisk Choppin Wood before Van launched into an extended blues/rock and roll medley starting with Baby Please Don’t Go then onto Parchman Farm before Van and the band let loose on Don’t Start Crying Now/Boppin the Blues/Mean Woman Blues/Shake Rattle and Roll. Van and the band were in rip roaring form during this medley and it fairly brought the house down. A rather short Rough God was ended quickly by Van who seemed unhappy with something so De Niro, Pesci and Clint impressions did not feature at all. 

Magic Time featured some nice piano from Paul Moran who also excelled with a great organ solo on the following number, In the Midnight. Fairly routine versions of Moondance and St. James Infirmary were followed by a fairly rare rendition of Glad Tidings which featured a lot of hand clapping from the band with which the audience joined in. Keep it Simple was sung with great conviction by Van who spat the lyrics out as if he really meant them. The start of this song featured a cameo appearance by one of Van’s crew who upon hearing the opening line charged onto the stage holding Van’s ukulele only to be met by a look from Van which sent him scurrying back off even quicker still holding the ukulele. Great entertainment! The opening bars of Help Me indicated that the night was coming to a close but not before Van brought proceedings right down to a whisper before engaging in a monologue during which he had some sort of imaginary conversation asking whether the person he was talking to was referring to “you know who?” while also making references to blackmail. I don’t really know what this was about but it was certainly something different. Van then thanked the band and departed the stage before returning for a funked up version of Gloria which moved into I Feel Good and gave the band the latitude to really cut loose which they did.

The show clocked in at 1h45m and was a really good one. The inclusion of the rarely played numbers brought an added dimension to the show and served to emphasise the wealth of material in Van’s armoury much of which has been sadly neglected over the years but since the publication of it Lit Up Inside seems to have been revisited by Van which is good news for all his fans.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks David K./Pablo G.)
Celtic Swing
Blue Money
Motherless Child
Melancholia
Someone Like You
Wavelength
Enlightenment
Choppin' Wood
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm
Rough God Goes Riding
Magic Time
In The Midnight
Moondance
St James Infirmary
Glad Tidings
Keep it Simple
Help Me/Lonely Avenue
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

17-November-2014
Lyric Threatre
 London, England

LIT UP INSIDE : A short personal reflection

If anyone had asked me 10, 15, 20 years ago what sort of Van concert I’d love to see most of all – this would have been it. Van performing with real thought and care some of his best songs, with great intros and explanations, and very sympathetic backing from a small rhythm section. I’ve seen the Coleraine conversation and playing with Derek Bell on TV in ‘88, but I missed the Swansea Literature event with Gerald Dawe in ‘95, so it was wonderful to finally get to enjoy The Man stripped down to basic Van, and firing on all cylinders.

The first 50 minutes was taken up with a chat in armchairs between Van and Ian Rankin, whose main hero Rebus is always playing Astral Weeks; a couple of film clips from old TV programmes – Dylan and Van on the Hill of the Muses, and Van talking with Michael Longley; and readings of the lyrics from Michael Longley and Edna O’Brien. The introductions were made by Eamon Hughes, the editor of Van’s lyric book.
Ian and Van hit it off pretty much straight away and had obviously been talking for a while backstage – Ian came out with some real sensible questions and some good quips too – the one about George Best Airport being a goodie. When asked how it felt having Bob play behind him on Foreign Window, Van cracked that Dylan had done it before – for Harry Belafonte! - Bob’s first professional recording. Some questions from the audience elicited one or two good comments including the possible derivation of ‘Justin’ by Paul Durcan. But like most of these things Van has stock answers, and although Ian did throw him a couple of times, it was all entertaining and interesting.


The film of Van chatting with Michael Longley from Without Walls led into Michael reading a couple of lyrics – Coney Island and Into The Mystic. Just proved to me that lyrics are not poetry. However Edna O’Brien put a whole different spin on the lyrics, and Madame George became mesmerising with her soft brogue and emphasis in unusual places, and following the verses right through to the end repetition.


After the interval came the piece de resistance – a superb selection of songs with Van singing so well and getting deeply into the music. The band were following him with delicacy and precision – Dave Keary’s fills and trills were exceptional. Van was seated for most of the show and played acoustic on Foreign Window and electric on Why Must I? and Mystic, and took a few solos.

His readings of the songs were by no means straightfoward, adding intonations, asides and extra lyrics, and using that powerful voice to real emotive power. Many of the songs early in the set got explanations before and after, and Madame George even had location references during the song. Coney Island brought a memory to him while singing and he stifled a laugh and added a line about ‘dropping you off at the corner’! Strange he should perform Wonderful Remark when it’s not in the book – Volume 2 next year?


Both Madame George (actually sang as Madame Joy) and On Hyndford Street were tour de forces, both using different voices to complement the music. These songs bring Belfast alive for me, and I can imagine those long 1950s Sunday summer nights lying in bed trying to get to sleep while listening to the radio. He had those voices over Beechie River, I had tennis players from the tennis club – we all had our own sounds floating in on the warm air. Sunday six bells – what a great phrase. And adding in Satre and Christmas Humphreys for good measure tonight.

Van proved again that lyrics are lyrics – they are different with every night, every nuance, every musician, every improv, every original thought that inspired them for the singer, and every new thought they bring to the listener. I don’t care now if I never see Van again – I’ve fulfilled every ambition by seeing and living and breathing this Lit Up Inside show. But as Van told us tonight it’s always being NOW, but there will be other NOWs to come till we get the healing done.
10/10
-Simon Gee

Telegraph

Irish poet Michael Longley promised a unique night, and "Van Morrison presents an evening of words & music" was certainly that, not least because we heard Edna O'Brien reading Madame George as a poem.
The event, at London's Lyric Theatre, was to mark a new book brought out by Faber, Lit Up Inside, which contains the lyrics to nearly 200 Morrison songs, presented as poems.
So was Van the Man lit up? At times, definitely, but there were also moments of vintage deadpan Morrison. The second half of the evening was a concert. He introduced Foreign Window by saying: "This was partly based on a documentary about Lord Byron in which he said 'I have learned to love despair'. I wish I could."
It was mainly chatty Van rather than grumpy Van treading the boards, though, and novelist Ian Rankin did a good job of drawing out anecdotes during a 25-minute question-and-answer session. We had listened to Dr Eamonn Hughes talking about Morrison and watched film footage of Morrison singing with Bob Dylan, and when Rankin asked him how many people have had Dylan as an accompanist, Morrison said: "Harry Belafonte, for one." Asked by Rankin about shows like the X Factor, and whether they were for people "selling their souls", Morrison replied: "Nothing has changed. I wish it had."
The thing about Morrison is that he adores music. Old jazz musicians who know him will tell you that he is passionate about the music of his youth - Morrison is 69 - and he was fulsome in his praise of blues musicians such as Sonny Boy Williamson, Leroy Carr and Lightnin' Hopkins. "it's difficult to understand how people supposed to be so uneducated, like Lightnin', were coming up with Elizabethan language and imagery in songs that were like poetry," Morrison said. He talked here with real fondness about the jazz and blues he had heard as a boy, both from his father's record collection and by listening to AFN radio. "Ray Charles, Sidney Bechet, Mahalia Jackson singing the Lord's Prayer. It was only years later I realised that wasn't normal. I heard Lenny Bruce doing a sketch about Stars of Jazz when he was an in-thing."

Longley, 75, told the audience that what he and Morrison talked about most was jazz: Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith – "where it began" – and the man known as Dr Jazz of Belfast, the late Solly Lipsitz, who ran the Atlantic Records shop on Belfast High Street.
If there was a point to the evening, and to the book, it seemed to be to place Morrison among the literary figures of Ireland. Morrison compared himself to William Blake (he had London, I had East Belfast seemed to be the gist)and used the term 'Blake-ian' three times. But it wasn't all portentous. Morrison has a funny side (he is a fan of Spike Milligan and The Goons and is good at impersonations) and this came across in a few replies to Rankin. After Morrison said that "I wrote poems before I ever picked up a guitar", Rankin asked if a young boy in Belfast would have had to hide his poetry writing for fear of being beaten up. "My first poem was about a shipyard and you wouldn't have been beaten up for that," Morrison joked. He was also witty when Rankin listed the writers Morrison had name-checked in a song (Beckett, Joyce and Wilde), with the singer saying: "Yes, and George Best and Alex Higgins, too."
But both Longley and O'Brien repeatedly described the songs they were reading as poems. O'Brien admitted that she has always been "a little stuck on him" and said she thought he was "in the business of making magic". The 83-year-old author of The Country Girls read his Astral Weeks song Madame George particularly well – and it would be easy to trip up over the lines:
'And the love that loves to love,
That loves the love that loves,
The love that loves to love,
The love that loves to love,
The love that loves.'

Morrison, dressed in his John Lee Hooker outfit (dark hat, dark suit, sunglasses), had already left the stage at that point to prepare for his concert.

So what did we learn?
• That he connects with Samuel Beckett, especially in a love of repetition of words and an agreement about having to go on despite a "sense of despair and futility".
• That the song Moondance started as an instrumental, which he had been playing as far back as 1965, when he used to jam on saxophone in Notting Hill with Mick Fleetwood on conga drums. Have I Told You Lately (that I love you) also started as an instrumental.
• That Tore Down a la Rimbaud took eight years to finish – the longest it's ever taken him to complete a song.
• That part of his early song Mystic Eyes was inspired by the scene in Dickens's Great Expectations in which Pip meets Magwitch.
• That he was a big fan of Sixties English folk singer and guitarist Steve Benbow.
The concert, just under an hour, was enjoyable. This was gentle Van with a tight, acoustic, four-piece backing band (piano, double bass, drums, guitar) featuring brief, chatty explanations of the songs he played, including Alan Watt Blues, Wonderful Remark and Why Must I Always Explain. There was a jazzy version of Into the Mystic.

The highlight, showing Morrison at his playful best, was a version of Coney Island. In the foreword to the book, Rankin says of Morrison's music: "There was a search for the spiritual in the commonplace . . . But there are also stories teeming with incidents and characters and grand travelogues, and extolling of life's simple pleasures."
That's true of the spoken song Coney Island, which Morrison said had a significance because as a boy, around 1959, he helped deliver bread in the van for Stewart's bakery in East Belfast and he would have to get up at 5am to make deliveries at the beach in Coney Island. Belfast, of that time, resonates in some of his best songs about Orangefield, which was still almost a village with cobbled streets when he was growing up.

Although Coney Island had been read out earlier by Longley, Morrison played around with the composition, telling the affluent audience that "jam jar" was "Cockney rhyming slang for car" and, with a grin, changing the emotional end to the song, which is about a car journey across the glorious countryside of Northern Ireland, to include the joke:
'And all the time going to Coney Island I'm thinking,
Shall I drop you off at the next corner?'
For Morrison fans the book is interesting (although for the £500 deluxe version you might want your own Van the Man house concert), not least because you can finally learn some of the lines to songs such as Bulbs, in which I now know he sings about someone called Ada:
'Now Ada was a straight clear case of,
Havin' taken in too much juice.'
You also get a sense of the range of his writing and some of the bleakness in lesser known compositions such as Not Supposed to Break Down:
'Fifteen families starving,
All around the corner block.
Here we're standing so alone,
Just like Gibraltar Rock.'
But Longley was right. This was a unique event, right down to Morrison, no isolated rock for once, exiting stage left, whispering like a revivalist preacher, as he sang a line about crossing a river.
-Martin Chilton

London Evening Standard

Van Morrison has long been regarded as pop’s outpost of grouch. Not any more. Not since last night, when Morrison was gently interviewed on stage by the well-researched and only slightly cowed author Ian Rankin. Whatever Morrison’s motives beyond promoting a book (and Lit Up Inside is a lyrics compendium rather than an autobiography), the writer of Why Must I Always Explain? explained himself with good grace and even a smile.

If that wasn’t enough, Ulster poet Michael Longley and Ireland’s esteemed author Edna O’Brien out read some of Morrison’s lyrics. At the age of 83 O’Brien’s glamorous, stately magnificence remains undimmed: wonderfully, she declaimed Tore Down a la Rimbaud like a frisky Shakespearean heroine.

After that, Morrison’s set might have been an anticlimax. Instead, he cheerily and painstakingly introduced almost every song, most of which had been referenced in the chat or spoken by the Irish giants.

Better still, the man who has spent recent years bludgeoning his back catalogue into bluesy pub rock has rediscovered what made him great. Backed by a super-subtle, super-restrained four-piece band and referencing Samuel Beckett, Byron and Allen Ginsberg, Morrison showcased his almost other-worldly ability to paint word pictures.

The lengthy, languid and impossibly beautiful On Hyndford Street ended the evening with Morrison singing off-stage and, amazingly, he even inserted a genuinely funny new line into Coney Island. As an artist and as a performer, Van Morrison is re-born. About time too.
-JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Setlist (Thanks David K)
Intro: Eamon Hughes
Film: Foreign Window Van with Dylan
Q&A: Ian Rankin & Van
Film: Van & Michael Longley
Reading: Michael Longley - Coney Island & Into The Mystic
Reading: Edna O'Brien - Tore Down a La Rimbaud & Madame George

Second Half - Van & His Band:
Alan Watts Blues
Foreign Window
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Wonderful Remark
Coney Island
Why Must I Always Explain?
Celtic Excavation/Into The Mystic
Madame George
On Hyndford Street

Big Hand for The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

03-November-2014
Nell's Jazz and Blues Bar
 London, England

FOR MARY AT NELL’S

A very interesting show in which Van The Man became Van The Blues Man, Van The Comic, and Van The Raconteur. Maybe Billy Connolly was right after all.

The words ‘health’ and ‘safety’ didn’t apply tonight with 300+ souls rammed into the space for 150 laid back jazzers. Thanks goodness some wag didn’t shout “f-f-fire” during Streets Of Arklow. Remind me not to go back to Nell’s when there is a crowd-puller on stage.

But at least most of the crowd had a close up and personal sight and sound of Van enjoying himself for once. Having seen many interminable, by rote, shows during the last 20 years it was a joy to see those besuited legs a-pumpin’, the chest expandin’ and the jowls a-howlin’.

A pretty pedestrian start with Van warming up the band and getting their chops loosened. A real pleasure to hear the new(ish) vocalist Dana letting rip on New Symphony Sid – she has a fine jazz and gospel voice and is more than capable of standing with Van on an equal footing. Even when she was presented twice with songs she was not prepared for (Streets and Somerset) she slipped in behind Van with some choice harmonising.

The first highlight hurried in with Someone Like You – a long-time personal favourite – which was delivered in style and with much emotion. A lovely version. Then came Van’s dedication of Magic Time to Mary Bell – an unexpectted but sincere tribute and a very dynamic reading of the song too. Maybe us fans are not so parasitic after all.

We then settled into some excellent versions of well-known Van standards – a rich and concentrated In The Midnight, a spirited Rough God with Dana letting go, and a good reading of If You Only Knew which I haven’theard live for ages – since 2003 GB tells me.

Van’s maracas had by now appeared from backstage, so it was OK to summon up the ghosts of Bo Diddley and Them. In fact much of the blues material reminded me so much of Van as lead singer of an r&b band – what with Dave playing those Billy Harrison licks. The r&B section finished with the Harpo belter Them made ‘famous’ Don’t Start Crying Now, and Van mentioned his recent Slim Harpo award which he said wasn’t on his website - takes two clicks Van, to find it. A diverting Sometimes We Cry followed, with Van cupping his ear a la Johnny Ray (sorry, reader, but I am old enough to remember Johnny Ray ‘crying’ with his hand over his bad ear on Sunday Night At The London Palladium).

Hooker’s Think Twice was another belter, and the show was chugging along at a goodly 7 out of 10 when a jolly decent fellow down front requested Streets Of Arklow. Van hesitated at first but Paul Moran’s enthusiasm led into Van getting into the zone and rendering a delicious balanced Streets, summoning up those long past celtic emotions from his Irish trip in the rearlly 70s, and the show became an instant 7.5!

Next up was more Hooker with that fabulous Hooker boogie. Having been immersed in a 45 minute Canned Heat boogie down the Marquee in the 60s, I just love it, and even the Red Hot Pokers’ version coiuldn’t destroy that riff. Of course Van brought it off in great style – ad-libbing the Henry’s Swing Club verse into Nell’s Club and Kensington High Street, and Vince Power got one more of the many name-checks.

Through some throwaway Van stuff in the next couple of ditties, and another fine Moondance. Van went off and was soon back on to play tribute to his old acker, Acker Bilk, with Somerset. Then the evening finished with a roaring Help Me full of improvs around the Revue-era Lonely Avenue.

All in all a thoroughly satisfactory show with some real highs and no lows, no tumbleweed tonight, and Van as loose, amiable, chattyand funny as I’ve ever seen him. Echoing Brendan’s last comments, I still want to hear more of the Van Classics - even some of those in Lit Up Inside – and most of those that aren’t. But not all long-time fans agree – they want a rich stew with many elements – not just Van’s writing. But after all, in 50 years time no-one will be singing Van’s songs like Van!
-Simon Gee

7.5 / 10

NELL’S JAZZ & BLUES CLUB
LONDON
ENGLAND
3 NOVEMBER 2014
1h 51m
:Celtic Swing (*)
:Lost John
:The New Symphony Sid
:Someone Like You
:Magic Time
:Who Can I Turn To?
:In The Midnight
:Rough God Goes Riding
:If You Only Knew
:I Can Tell
:Baby Please Don't Go >
Parchman Farm >
Don't Start Crying Now
:Sometimes We Cry
:Think Twice Before You Go
:Streets of Arklow
:Boogie Chillen
:Whenever God Shines His Light
:Brown Eyed Girl
:Moondance >
My Funny Valentine
***
:Somerset
:Help Me > Stormy Monday >
Night Time Is The Right Time >
Lonely Avenue >
Mansion On The Hill >
Mean Old World

Van Morrison : vocals (except on *), saxes, harmonicas, maracas
The Van Morrison Band : Dave Keary : guitar; Dana Masters : lead and back-up vocals; Paul Moran : keyboards, MA; Paul Moore : electric and double bass; Bobby Ruggiero: drums, MC; Alistair White : trombone, tuba; Chris White : saxophones, flute.

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Celtic Swing
Lost John
Symphony Sid
Someone Like You
Magic Time (Dedicated by Van to Mary Bell)
Who Can I Turn To
In the Midnight
Rough God Goes Riding
If You Only Knew
I Can Tel (You Don't Love Me)
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm/Don't Start Cryin' Now
Sometimes We Cry
Think Twice Before You Go
Streets of Arklow
Boogie Chillin
Whenever God Shines His Light
Brown Eyed Girl
Moondance/Funny Valentine
Somerset (Acker Bilk tribute)
Help Me/Stormy Monday/Lonely Ave/Stormy Monday

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)