30-October-2016
Bluesfest - O2
 London, England

Brendan Hynes review of gig
Van Morrison made what has become by now his annual appearance at this festival but as this large venue was only filled to about half capacity, saturation point appears to have been reached. Van had a hard act to follow in Jeff Beck who turned in a guitar virtuoso performance in opening the show but Van proved well up to the task. Too Late from the new album opened Van's set in lively fashion followed by an up tempo version of Have I Told You Lately which in my view detracts from the song's quality. A nice delivery of Magic Time was followed by a lively version of Wavelength. Van then announced his new single off the album as Every Time I See A River and this sounded great live and even better than on the album featuring a lovely guitar solo from Dave Keary and nice backing vocals from Dana Masters.Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now raised the tempo and was followed by Here Comes The Night.Cleaning Windows was enjoyable but continues to suffer from the absence of a brass section which is such an integral part of the song in its original incarnation.

When Van announced a blues medley featuring Chris Farlowe and Jeff Beck few could have imagined what was to follow as we were taken through Stormy Monday/Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket/Lonely Avenue with Van and Chris trading vocals interspersed with searing guitar solos from Jeff.Van went into John Lee Hooker style mode during Lonely Avenue with terrific vocals answered magnificently by Jeff on guitar. This was incredible! Chris stayed onstage to trade vocals with Van on Sometimes We Cry and as usual improved Van's humour no end.Moondance was merged with Way Beyond The Hill from the new album to good effect before we reached another major highlight with In The Afternoon which again got the full treatment from Van and included a superb trumpet solo from Paul Moran and nice backing vocals from Dana.Help Me signalled that the end was nigh but Van returned for two encores in Ballerina which featured lovely acoustic guitar from Dave Keary and then Gloria which saw the band cut loose once Van had departed with Dana on vocals and Paul Moore on bass being particularly impressive.

All in all this was a fine and fitting show to conclude Bluesfest 2016.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist
Too Late
Have I Told You Lately
Magic Time
Wavelength
Every Time I See A River
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Cleaning Windows
Stormy Monday/Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket/Lonely Avenue (w/Chris Farlowe & Jeff Beck)
Sometimes We Cry (w/Chris Farlowe)
Moondance/Look Beyond The Hill
In The Afternoon
Help Me
Ballerina
Gloria

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

Set Time 1H 29M