15-February-2017
Nells Jazz And Blues
 London, England

via Matthew Jeffrey

Brendan's take on night two at Nells
As on the first night, Van announced at the outset that it would be a blues set given the name of the venue and he commenced the show once again with Goldfish Bowl which featured a great trumpet solo from Paul Moran. Playhouse moved things along at a brisk pace followed swiftly by Talk Is Cheap with Van first making a reference to "fake news". Fame was very strong once again and was followed by two covers in Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket (which saw Van chuckling merrily for the first couple of verses) and I Believe To My Soul. The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword from the new album then got a further airing followed by the most welcome inclusion of Beautiful Vision which featured Sumudu extensively on shared vocals and fine steel guitar from Dave Keary. Going Down to Bangor put us all in holiday mode and was followed by a great cover of Bo Diddley's I Can Tell which saw fine guitar and organ solos from Dave Keary and Paul Moran respectively. I Can't Stop Loving You featured both Sumudu and Dana Masters on vocals and they featured individually to great effect on Sometimes We Cry(Dana) and Whenever God Shines His Light (Sumudu).Van reprised his Maritime blues medley of Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie to bring us all back with him to share his 1964 memories. In The Afternoon followed to great acclaim and once more was the highlight of the night featuring lovely guitar and trumpet solos and lovely backing vocals from Dana and Sumudu who repeated the phrase "it's my life, it's your life baby" over and over to complement Van's extended and quite superb vocal workout. It was quite magical. Help Me and Gloria brought proceedings to a most lively conclusion once more.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Goldfish Bowl
Playhouse
Talk Is Cheap
Fame
Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket
I Believe To My Soul
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword
Beautiful Vision
Going Down To Bangor
I Can Tell
I Can't Stop Loving You
Sometimes We Cry
Whenever God Shines His Light
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now/Custard Pie
In The Afternoon
Help Me
Gloria

Set Time 1h 30m

via Matthew Jeffrey

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