29-May-2016
Town Hall 
Early Show
 Warrenpoint
 Northern Ireland

Brendan sent in this review
This was the first of Van Morrison’s two concerts at what has by now come to be his annual appearance as part of the Blues on the Bay festival. The show was once again opened by the Bluez Katz Blues Band which are very much a family affair with half of the six piece band consisting of father, son and daughter and their four song set of blues/jazz rock classics was highly entertaining with a nice brass section augmenting the overall sound to considerable effect.

Van’s set opened in very predictable fashion with Celtic Swing and Close Enough for Jazz while the jazz theme was continued with Symphony Sid which featured Dana Masters on extended vocals. Magic Time and Playhouse followed in quick succession before Van told us that these type of shows gave them the opportunity to do songs they wouldn’t normally do. What followed were covers of Miss Otis Regrets (featuring a nice trumpet solo from Paul Moran) and Travelling Light which Van told us was a Billie Holliday song with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The usual medley of Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/Don’t Start Crying Now went down well and was followed by In the Midnight which was well delivered and included a nice organ solo by Paul Moran.Both Whenever God Shines His Light and Sometimes We Cry saw Dana feature prominently on shared vocals. Think Twice Before You Go moved at a fair pace with the band in full flow before Days Like This calmed everything down again. By His Grace featured a nice organ sound throughout before we were returned once more to the ‘hits’ territory with Brown Eyed Girl and Precious Time, neither of which did much for me personally. Wild Night was powerfully delivered after which Van entered the finishing straight with Help Me before departing the stage only to return once more for Gloria which was notable for Dana’s great vocals after Van had finally departed.

My overall feeling was that this was a very disappointing show with none of the really outstanding or spine tingling moments that one normally associates with a Van Morrison concert and a distinct absence of any hint of the celtic mysticism for which Van is so well renowned. There was quite a degree of over- reliance on the radio friendly ‘hits’ which are arguably mainly of appeal to ‘occasional’ fans of Van’s music .

The set time was 1h 20 m.

-Brendan Hynes

via Meg M.

Setlist (Thanks Al B.)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Symphony Sid
Magic Time
Playhouse
Miss Otis Regrets
Travelling Light
Baby, Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
In The Midnight
Whenever God Shines His Light
Sometimes We Cry
Think Twice Before You Go
Days Like This
By His Grace
Brown Eyed Girl
Precious Time
Wild Night
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)