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)