29-September-2016
Radio Theatre
 London, England

Setlist
Too Late
Magic Time
Wild Night
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Every Time I see A River
Cleaning Windows/Be Bop A Lula
Let It Rhyme
Whenever God Shines His Light
Sometimes We Cry
Going Down To Bangor
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword
Keep Me Singing
Enlightenment
Carrying A Torch
Brown Eyed Girl
Jackie Wilson Say
In The Garden

21-September-2016
Culloden Estate & Spa
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Brendan sent in his thoughts on gig:
This was the fourth installment of these special shows highlighting Van Morrison’s lyrics and followed a similar pattern to the previous shows with Van first being interviewed by writer Ian Rankin before readings of some of Van’s song lyrics were delivered by luminaries from the world of acting and poetry in the form of Kim Catrall, Scarlett Sabet and Paul Muldoon.

The interview was a bit of a duel between Ian and Van with the latter not allowing himself to be led in particular directions by the line of questioning. Parts of the interview were quite hilarious (sometimes unintentionally) with Van at one stage questioning whether something he said was funny as the audience were laughing merrily. At one point Ian provided a quotation purported to have come from Van to the effect that it is not so much the words that are important as the conviction behind them when they were written. Van asked him who wrote that to which Ian replied “you did”. Van was quite amused at this revelation and said he didn’t recall doing so before going on to joke that it sounded like something he might have stolen from the writings of Mark Twain! At another stage Van asked whether this was comedy and were Ian and himself a double act. When pressed as to whether he could see himself as a comedian and doing a ‘stand up’ routine Van replied that he could see himself doing a 30 minute routine if someone wrote some better jokes for him!

The first readings were done by Kim Catrall and featured Someone Like You and a rare outing for Meaning of Loneliness from the ‘What’s Wrong with This Picture’ album which was delivered particularly well and even featured some singing at the end by Kim. Van provided acoustic guitar backing for both readings and there appeared to be huge mutual respect between both artists. Scarlett Sabet enthralled us with On Hyndford Street and The Way Young Lovers Do before Paul Muldoon finished this segment of the show with Cleaning Windows and Madame George to great acclaim.

After a short break the music part of the show started quite suddenly with a vibrant Tore Down A La Rimbaud as audience members rushed in all directions to reclaim their seats. The magnificent Foreign Window followed and was brilliantly delivered and ecstatically received before a relatively rare rendition of Little Village kept things moving nicely. At this point Van introduced a song off the new album called Out In The Cold Again which was not out of place alongside the established material and it saw Van bringing the sound way down low to a whisper. Three of the next four songs (the exception being Fame) were also off the new album namely Going Down to Bangor(a fairly routine rhythm and blues number), Memory Lane which was quite nice and Too Late which is the current single from the album. I felt the performance fell quite flat at that point and given the brevity of the performance the showcasing of so many new songs was somewhat inopportune. Personally, I would happily have swapped a couple of them to hear songs such as Madame George and Into The Mystic which were such spectacular highlights of the London and Dublin versions of the show. We were not to be left disappointed, however, as Van concluded the set with an extended and mesmeric In The Afternoon before departing into the night.

Brendan Hynes

Set List
Tore Down A la Rimbaud
Foreign Window
Little Village
Out In The Cold Again
Going Down To Bangor
Fame
Memory Lane
Too Late
In The Afternoon

19-September-2016
Culloden Estate & Spa
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Per H.)
Look Beyond the Hill
Too Late
Magic Time
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Foreign Window
Carrying A Torch
Fame
Baby Please Don't Go/Don’t Start Crying Now
Here Comes the Night
Out in the Cold Again
Have I Told You Lately (Vegas Version)
In the Afternoon
Precious Time
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Whenever God Shines His Light
Into the Mystic
Brown Eyed Girl
It’s All In the Game/Burning Ground
Gloria

18-September-2016
Culloden Estate & Spa
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Dan Murray)
All Saints Day
Magic Time
Too Late
Keep It Simple
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Foreign Window
Whenever God Shines His Light
Someone Like You
Have I Told You Lately (Vegas Version)
Sometimes We Cry
Baby Please Don't Go
Here Comes the Night
WIndows
Precious Time
In the Afternoon
Wild Night
It's all In The Game/Burning Ground
Help Me
Gloria

17-September-2016
Culloden Estate & Spa
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Dan Murray)
Back On Top
By His Grace
Baby Please Don't Go
Here Comes The Night
Whenever God Shines His Light
Precious Time
Wild Night
Real Real Gone
Have I Told You Lately (Vegas Version)
Moondance
Cleaning Windows
Jackie Wilson Said
Think Twice Before You Go
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

09-September-2016
Messehalle Erfurt
 Erfurt, Germany

Setlist (Thanks Ben)
Centerpiece/Corina
Magic Time
Wild Night
Someone Like You
Wavelength
Precious Time
Baby Please Don't Go
Here Comes The Night
Cleaning windows
Sometimes We Cry
Enlightenment
Whenever God Shines His Light
In The Afternoon
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
I Can't stop Loving You
Crazy Love
Brown Eyed Girl
In The Garden
Help Me
Gloria

08-September-2016
Freilichtbühne Junge Garde
 Dresden, Germany

Setlist
Moondance
Magic Time
Wild Night
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm
Here Comes The Night
Talk Is Cheap
Precious Time
Sometimes We Cry
Cleaning Windows
Carrying A Torch
Think Twice Before You Go
Too Late
Keep Me Singing
Why Must I Always Explain
Jackie Wilson
Whenever God...
St. James Infirmary
Help Me
In The Garden
Gloria