23-August-2015
Slieve Donard Hotel
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Brendan Hynes sent in this review
And so it finally came to pass after many months of great anticipation for one of the largest ever gatherings of Van Morrison fans that the week long musical celebration of Van’s 70th birthday and career finally got under way in earnest with the first of two shows at the venue.

Arriving on stage around 15 minutes ahead of schedule, Van opened as usual with Celtic Swing before a welcome rendition of Higher Than The World which followed. Next up was a stirring Kingdom Hall which went down a treat although the sight of Van so obviously reading the lyrics as he sang was a bit off putting.Carrying a Torch featuring nice vocal exchanges between Van and Dana Masters was a treat yet again and hugely appreciated by the very enthusiastic audience.Magic Time,Days Like This and Choppin Wood followed in quick succession and were well performed without reaching any great heights.The same could not be said of Mystic Of the East which followed which was quite beautiful and so appropriate for the concert setting.Deep in the Heart of Down is right!. A fairly rip roaring Playhouse followed and when played live like this it certainly stands up well by comparison with other top songs in the country rock songbook. I Can’t Stop Loving You was well delivered as was Whenever God Shines His Light which featured a brilliant Dave Keary guitar solo.Another but quite different sounding guitar solo on Precious Time was met with laughter by Van who was quite clearly impressed.

At this stage we were treated to something quite different with Van performing a stunning cover of Cole Porter’s Miss Otis Regrets which quite rightly received a standing ovation from many of the audience. Enlightenment and HelpMe followed in quick succession with the latter being a particularly good version.Baby Please Don’t go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now went down an absolute storm so much so that one more senior audience member could supress his exuberance no longer as he leapt to his feet and engaged in some slick dance moves between the tables.What a mover and shaker!After all that excitement Van told us he had a request and what followed was a brilliant All In The Game with Van getting right into it and bringing us into You Know What They Are Writing About before heading to the Burning Ground.On and on it went as Van gave us one of those real magical moments that one yearns for when attending a Van concert.Van shuffled off stage to bring the song to it’s conclusion as the audience jumped to their feet and roared their approval. Van returned one more time to deliver Ballerina but with many of the audience now storming to the front of the stage Van seemed somewhat uneasy and he cut short his rendition leaving the band to finish the job which they did with fine extended solos.
The concert length was 1 h 39m and it provided a very encouraging start to the week’s proceedings.

-Brendan Hynes

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Higher Than The World
Kingdom Hall
Carrying A Torch
Magic Time
Days Like This
Choppin' Wood
Mystic of the East
Playhouse
I Can't Stop Loving You
Whenever God Shines His Light
Precious Time
Miss Otis Regrets
Enlightenment
Help Me
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm
Cry Cry Baby
All in the Game
Ballerina

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