24-May-2015
Town Hall 
Late Show
 Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

Brendan's review of the 2nd Warrenpoint gig
After opening yet again with Celtic Swing Van Morrison shifted very much into jazz mode with Centrepiece/Corinne Corrina ( featuring a really good instrumental intro and brilliant trumpet playing by Paul Moran) followed by Sack Of Woe, St.James Infirmary and Mondance.Little Village then got a rare airing and provided a welcome change of emphasis.As in the early show Van then performed his BB King tribute with Early In The Morning/Rock Me Baby to great acclaim. Think Twice Before You Go kept things lively and was followed by Jambalaya which Van introduced by saying they were going to play some rock and roll and emphasising that it wasn’t rock as rock doesn’t roll!. Things I Used To Do immediately followed and the concert was beginning to feel like an informal blues/ rock and roll session but normal business was somewhat restored with In The Midnight. Whenever God Shines His Light not only allowed Dana Masters to shine on shared vocals but also featured great guitar and bass solos from Dave Keary and Paul Moore respectively to such a degree that Van got a bit excited and started to clatter along on tambourine towards the end.Somewhat surprisingly Van once again performed an extended In The Afternoon and this time he conducted a Q and A session with what he considered a blues audience asking in turn who had heard of Big Joe Turner, TV Mama, Flip Flop and Fly etc.etc. This song was followed by Van’s stage departure only to return for Gloria.

This show was very much geared towards a blues/jazz audience and was pretty lacking in classic songs from Van’s extensive repertoire with around half of the songs performed being cover versions of other people’s work.The concert was again disappointingly very short at 1 hour 19 minutes.

-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Celtic Swing
Centrepiece/Corrine Corrina
Sack Of Woe
St.James Infirmary
Moondance
Little Village
Early In The Morning/Rock Me Baby
Think Twice Before You Go
Jambalaya
Things I Used To Do
In The Midnight
Whenever God Shines His Light
In The Afternoon
Gloria

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

24-May-2015
Town Hall 
Early Show
 Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

Brendan Sends in his thoughts on First of two gigs
After the unsurprising opening Celtic Swing, Van Morrison moved firmly into jazz territory to deliver Close Enough For Jazz and If You Only Knew before performing a rare rendition of Meaning Of Loneliness which featured nice organ from Paul Moran and guitar from Dave Keary. As a tribute to the late BB King Van then performed stirring versions of Early in The Morning (which Van recorded with BB some years back) and Rock Me Baby. Van was in great form during these numbers aided in no small measure by his excellent band who fairly motored along.An extended In The Afternoon followed and provided the high point of the performance for me with Van taking things right down before bringing the song towards it’s conclusion as he repeated the phrase Burn Baby Burn over and over to the hushed audience. I Believe To My Soul was brilliant as always and saw Paul Moran excel on trumpet. Talk Is Cheap and Sometimes We Cry were followed by a rendition of a Chuck Willis number in What Am I Living For? which was pretty ordinary. Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now were lapped up by the blues appreciators who made up the majority of the audience before Van brought things way down for a really good In The Midnight which saw Dave Keary’s high pitched vocal range put to the test again much to Van’s apparent amusement. Rapid fire renditions of Things I Used To Do and Help Me incredibly triggered Van’s departure before a quick return for Gloria.

This show was solid and enjoyable without reaching too many lofty heights. As always with these double shows in one evening (but hopefully not at the forthcoming Cyprus Avenue concerts) the show was shortened considerably clocking in at a pretty miserly I hour 18 minutes leaving the audience somewhat short changed to say the least.

-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
If You Only Knew
Meaning Of Loneliness
Early In The Morning/Rock Me Baby
In The Afternoon
I Believe To My Soul
Talk Is Cheap
Sometimes We Cry
What Am I Living For?
Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now
In The Midnight
Things I Used To Do
Help Me
Gloria