21-December-2014
Nell's Jazz and Blues Bar
 London, England

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Celtic Swing
Higher Than the World
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Mean Mean Woman Blues/Cry Cry Baby
MagicTime
I Believe to my Soul
Precious Time
What Am I Living For
Playhouse
Keep It Simple
Alan Watts Blues
Enlightenment
Sometimes We Cry
I Just Wanna Make Love To You
Whenever God Shines His Light
In the Midnight
Moondance
Who Can I Turn To
Real Real Gone/You Send Me
In the Garden
Gloria

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

20-December-2014
Nell's Jazz and Blues Bar
 London, England

Brendan sent in his thoughts on gig
This was the second night of Van Morrison's weekend residency at this newly opened club which is quite a bit off the beaten track.Were it not for the presence of some long established Van fans in the queue along the side of Sainsburys I would have concluded there was a pre Christmas clearout in the store.

Coming off the back of two really good Downpatrick shows and two excellent Lit Up Inside shows in London and Dublin I had no great expectation that this show could emulate those but what a surprise was in store.This turned out to be one of those nights when Van was really in the mood which combined with the quality of the set which developed on the night provided the lucky 300 or so present with a terrific show.Having opened quietly with Celtic Swing Van quickly took us an excursion Higher than the World before launching into a blistering combination of Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now which included De Nero and Pesci impersonations and Van aiming a number of kicks at an imaginary victim.A superb I Just Want To Make Love To You featured brilliant guitar playing from Dave Keary and brought us right back to the It's Too Late To Stop Now shows all those decades ago.Magic Time saw Van do some overtime on saxophone given the rather surprising absence of the brass section while Whenever God Shines His Light saw Dana Masters being quite em..masterful when given the opportunity to shine on vocals.Blue Money was preceded by a humorous background story from Van all the way back to his Monarch showband days in the 1960s. The song itself was great and included a high pitched vocal competition between Dana and Dave but no matter how high they went Van looked for them to go higher.We then had another epic return to the It's Too Late To Stop Now days with I Believe To My Soul which included beautiful back up vocals from Dana and quite incredible trumpet playing from Paul Moran.

Such was Van's humour he had by now ventured into asking us what we wanted him to play which brought Melancholia as the first successful request and this was another lovely rendition.Following the always welcome Enlightenment, Van did a long and humorous introduction to Why Must I Always Explain which he again informed us started out originally as Tupelo Honey.Van was in his element on this one playing electric guitar while vocalising over his end solo to brilliant effect.Such was the energy on stage that even the most regularly played numbers such as Moondance seemed to have a new vibrancy and on this occasion Van had introduced a chant of "So What" a number of times towards the end of the song.Keep It Simple was preceded by Van asking what someone has to do to get a ukulele around here before re-telling his 'Billy Connolly thinks Van is very funny' story.

By now the song requests were coming fast and furious with a couple of audience members literally pleading for In The Garden.Van finally relented and delivered a stunning elongated version during which he brought everything down to a whisper before the holy guardian angels brought us up into the heavens in a stunning crescendo.Magnificent!

A wonderful Ballerina saw Van depart the stage before returning with a power packed Help Me which included his "It's Too Late to Stop Now" chant(always a sign that he is really into the performance).When Van had finally departed the band cut loose with extended solos to send the audience into rapturous applause after 1 hour 40 minutes of magnificence.

Travelling back from the concert my overriding feeling was one of being privileged to be able to see an artist of such quality in such small and intimate surroundings delivering a set that left one almost breathless by it's conclusion.
-Brendan Hynes.

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Celtic Swing
Higher Than the World
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Cry Cry Baby
I Just Wanna Make Love to You
Magic Time
Whenever God Shines His Light
Blue Money
I Believe To My Soul
In the Midnight
Enlightenment
Why Must I Always Explain
Moondance
Keep it Simple
In the Garden
Ballerina
Help Me

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

19-December-2014
Nell's Jazz and Blues Bar
 London, England

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Higher Than the World
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm/Don't Start Cryin Now
I just Wanna Make Love To You
You Don't Love Me No More
Blue Money
Days Like This
Magic Time
Did Ye Get Healed
Think Twice Before You Go
I Believe to My Soul
Moondance/My Funny Valentine
In the Midnight
Whenever God Shines His Light
I Can't Stop Loving You
Enlightenment
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl

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

Van Morrison Signs With RCA For 35th Studio Album, Due Early 2015

George Benson & Van Morrison recording session for "Higher Than The World" duet in August 2014. 

Breaking news from Billboard Van has signed with RCA and will release new album in 2015.

Van Morrison will release his as-yet-untitled 35th studio album on RCA Records in early 2015, the label confirmed Tuesday. The set will be a follow-up to 2012’s Born To Sing: No Plan B, which was released via Blue Note and debuted and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200.

“We are thrilled to have Van Morrison, the iconic musical visionary and legend, join the RCA roster,” RCA President and COO Tom Corson and CEO Peter Edge said in a joint statement. “He is one of the most prolific and talented songwriters and performers in music today and we are honored to have him join us at the label and work with him on his forthcoming new album.”

Added Morrison in a statement, “I am looking forward to working with Tom, Peter and the RCA team as we plan release of the new project for next year.”

The upcoming set will mark Morrison’s first set for Sony Music, following a long stint with Warner Bros. in the 1970s (Astral Weeks, Moondance), a 7-year run with Mercury in the 1980s and stints with Polydor, Exile, Virgin/Point Blank and Blue Note. Though he continues to tour extensively through Europe, Morrison hasn’t performed in the States since a U.S. tour wrapped in November 2013.

10-December-2014
Olympia Theatre
 Dublin, Ireland

via Pablo G.

Brendan sent in his thoughts on the show
The question I pondered in the build up to this show was whether the magic of the inaugural Lit Up Inside show in The Lyric Theatre in London the previous month could be repeated. The resounding answer delivered at the Olympia was that it most certainly could and this was another marvelous night for dedicated Van Morrison fans in particular.

via Pablo G.

The format was similar to the London show with Eamon Hughes, editor of Van’s Lit Up Inside book, doing the introductions before some footage from an old BBC Arena programme was shown of Van and Bob Dylan singing Foreign Window in Greece. Van was then introduced for a question and answer session largely conducted by author Ian Rankin but with some input also from Eamon Hughes.If anything, Van was even more relaxed this time round and really warmed to the process as it developed. Interestingly, the questions explored differed significantly from the London show and Van somehow got drawn into areas one might not have anticipated including a reference to a book written by Morrissey which Van was clearly very impressed by as he really enthused about its brilliance. At this point Ian Rankin somewhat mischievously interjected to say that Morrissey is not like Van at all because Morrissey is grumpy. This seemed to go over Van’s head despite Ian repeating the comment but it was not lost on the audience who laughed heartily. Van also got quite animated talking about Spike Milligan and a performance he had given where a cat ran on to the stage and according to Van the cat did a 30 minute performance. This all went down great with the audience who would not normally encounter Van’s humour and wit to such a degree.

Van with Edna O'Brien

Following the interview there was a short film of Van in discussion with poet Michael Longley followed by readings of some of Van’s lyrics by Michael Longley (Coney Island and Into The Mystic) and by Irish broadcaster Marty Whelan (Tore Down A La Rimbaud and Madame George).The latter, who was hugely enthusiastic about Van’s work, was unable in my view to match Edna O’Brien’s mesmeric readings of both songs at the London show, particularly Madame George.

After a short interval the concert performance commenced with the rarely played Alan Watts Blues in a really nice arrangement followed by stirring performances of Tore Down A La Rimbaud and Wonderful Remark. The beautiful Foreign Window followed and while it was great the brilliant acoustic guitar work of Dave Keary which was so prominent at the London show was somewhat drowned out by Van’s electric guitar on this occasion which was a pity. Coney Island conjured up lovely images in our minds and was followed by Magic Time which was one of two additions to the London set list (the other one being Moondance as the penultimate number).In introducing Why Must I Always Explain, Van informed us this was a re-write of Tupelo Honey and this version featured Van on electric guitar with the legs pumping as he sang over his solo in that inimitable style of his. Incredibly when the song had just finished an audience member shouted out looking for Tupelo Honey to which Van replied like a shot “we just played it!”.Van then brought us through Celtic Excavation with nice saxophone playing from him and on Into the Mystic. This was quite incredible and Van brought things down to a whisper as he stepped away from the microphone and then back and then away again gently whispering the lyrics to a totally silent Olympia. It was hard to follow that but Madame George wasn’t far behind and it is great to be treated to such a classic from the vaults again. Moondance brought proceedings to a halt as Van thanked the band while the audience clapped along enthusiastically with their closing instrumental workout. This was not quite the end however as Van returned one more time to deliver On Hyndford Street to leave the audience truly healed having enjoyed a really magic time in the presence of the undisputed musical genius that is Van Morrison.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Alan Watts Blues
Tore Down at La Rimbaud
Wonderful Remark
Foreign Window
Coney Island
Magic Time
Why Must I Always Explain
Celtic Excavation/Into the Mystic
Madame George
Moondance
On Hyndford Street

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