14-November-2016
Festival Hall
 Glasgow, Scotland

Brendan Hynes sent in this review
In keeping with the precedent set the previous night in Edinburgh Van Morrison varied the set list once again with seven different songs included on this occasion. The first of these was the pleasant instrumental Caledonian Swing from the new album while Memory Lane from the album was later performed and was really impressive. The Beauty of The Days Gone By saw Van on acoustic guitar and it seemed to catch the band by surprise as Van started more or less unaccompanied before turning around to see if the band were going to join in which thankfully they did with Paul Moran adding a fine extended trumpet solo to the rendition. A rare and most welcome Domino followed and Van and Paul Moran manfully added some brass sounds which are pretty integral to this song but they were obviously restricted to doing so only when Van wasn’t singing and Paul was not playing keyboards. Mose Allison’s Benediction (Thank God For Self Love ) was a rather poignant inclusion in the set given that his death was announced the following day and the reason for the exclusion of the Parchman Farm(a song long associated with Mose) comedy routine after Baby Please Don’t Go now seems apparent. In The Garden was the final set list change from the previous night but was once again quite a shortened version so Van didn’t really get too immersed in it but it was beautiful nevertheless while it lasted and he departed into the wings at its ending only to return once more for Gloria which saw the band cut loose once again to great acclaim.

Highlights among the remainder of the concert included Someone Like You, Tore Down A La Rimbaud and Beautiful Vision once more, the magnificent Haunts of Ancient Peace (which ventured into Summertime in England territory down by Avalon with even Mr. Lawrence getting a mention along the way) and The Mystery which was wonderful once again but was somewhat blighted towards its conclusion as Van attempted a harmonica solo only to find the first harmonica he tried to be out of tune so he promptly flung it back down. The second one Van tried was even worse and suffered the same fate while the third one didn’t sound much better but he persevered as we all kept our heads down and prayed(to The One of course).

While not quite reaching the heady heights of the previous night’s Edinburgh concert with Van appearing somewhat subdued this was nevertheless another really good show which was loudly acknowledged by a captive audience at its conclusion.

-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Caledonian Swing
Sack of Woe
Back On Top
Too Late
Memory Lane
The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword
Have I Told You Lately (fast version)
Beautiful Vision
The Mystery
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Haunts of Ancient Peace/excerpts from Summertime in England
The Beauty of the Days Gone By
Domino
Carrying a Torch
Lonely Avenue
Benediction (Thank God For Self Love)
Moondance
Someone Like You
Brown Eyed Girl
Baby Please Don’t Go/Don’t Start Crying Now
In The Garden
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Set Time 1h 40m.