16-November-2015
Europa Hotel
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Brendan Hynes sent in this review
This was the second night of Van’s ‘Cleaning Windows’ gigs which were promoted on the basis of Van playing that particular song and others. No real surprise then that he didn’t in fact play Cleaning Windows tonight.

The show opened with an instrumental called Allow Me which was a nice deviation from the usual and somewhat predictable Celtic Swing opener. Symphony Sid which followed was well delivered and featured Dana Masters prominently on vocals. Sack of Woe included nice guitar and organ solos from Dave Keary and Paul Moran respectively before Van informed us it was time for some John Lee Hooker as he embarked on a lively Think Twice Before You Go. Higher Than The World brought us some welcome mysticism and was followed by a nice and somewhat varied rendition of Magic Time. The only problem was that Van seemed to be the only one unaware of the new ending as he stood wielding his saxophone for his usual solo only for Paul Moran to give the signal to the band to stop which they duly did. Van didn’t seem too pleased but sure it will keep him on his toes! Carrying A Torch was as good as ever and was followed by a stomping version of Wild Night which pleased American visitors and Van debutants Tim and Christine at our table no end. Keep It Simple saw Van become really engaged with the song culminating in him swaying repeatedly over and back at the microphone as he sang with real purpose.

Fresh from the great Bluesfest duet with Tom Jones last week on Not Feeling It Anymore the song made a welcome return to the set list tonight and it was a simply blistering rendition which brought many in the audience to their feet. It was probably the highpoint of the night! Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now were well played and went down well. In The Afternoon was another long and really good version which included Van deliberating at one point with Paul Moran about a place in Cornwall and asking him if he knew where it was. Van continued in jovial vein for a while before concluding that “this is good stuff”. Whenever God Shines His Light fairly moved at pace and included some interplay between Bobbie on drums, Dana with some percussion and Van on tambourine. Van again included some tambourine on Sometimes We Cry which featured great vocals from Dana earning her a well deserved ovation. Ballerina featured great Spanish guitar from Dave Keary earning an outstretched arm of recognition from Van who departed the stage shortly afterwards before returning for Gloria.This was a very long version largely I suspect down to a time filler required to bring the set time up to 90 minutes following a somewhat early departure by Van but it was another tremendous band performance including Paul Moore laying down some really intricate and funky bass lines, Paul Moran alternating between synth and organ and finally Dana performing tremendous vocal acrobatics.

The show lasted exactly 90 minutes and saw Van in quite good humour including asking Paul Moran to get the band to laugh at his jokes before then telling him to “fire them”. It was a solid enjoyable show which should set Van and the band up nicely for the big Dublin show next Friday.

-Brendan Hynes

Set List

Allow Me

Symphony Sid

Sack of Woe

Think Twice Before You Go

Higher Than The World

Magic Time

Carrying A Torch

Wild Night

Keep It Simple

Not Feeling It Anymore

Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now

In The Afternoon

Whenever God Shines His Light

Sometimes We Cry

Ballerina

Gloria

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