31-January-2018
The Colosseum Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, USA

Brendan is in Vegas from Ireland and sent this review
As the band hit the stage 3 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time the first thing I noticed was that David Hayes of the long flowing silver hair was back on bass in place of Paul Moore on this occasion. The opening few numbers were the same as on the recent UK tour apart from the regrettable exclusion of Warm Love. The Baby Please Don't Go medley featured Dave Keary to great effect on guitar and the final segment saw Van do a full version of Got My Mojo Working complete with Van comically stumbling over the words. This went down a storm as did I Can Tell which followed. Sometimes We Cry featured Dana Masters on shared vocals to considerable acclaim before Van delivered an extremely good In The Afternoon which saw him lose concentration momentarily following some rowdy shouts from a couple of idiots in the audience before then continuing on to mesmerise us. As we are in Las Vegas it was no surprise that we got the speeded up version of Have I Told You Lately and Van has done this version so often at this stage that if he reverted to the original slow version it would probably sound like a new and in my view much superior arrangement. Whenever God Shines His Light featured a great organ solo by Paul Moran while Wild Night was rapturously received.Days Like This, Precious Time and Cleaning Windows followed in quick succession before Van slowed things down to deliver an extended and quite wonderful version of All In The Game which received the full treatment as Van reminded us one more time that there is no Plan B and no safety net before bringing us down to the factory and on to the burning ground before finally taking us down to the river as he made his way off stage. This was pure class!

Van returned for an encore of Brown Eyed Girl followed by a storming Help Me before exiting the stage once more only to return a final time for Gloria which featured outrageously good extended guitar and organ solos by Dave Keary and Paul Moran respectively.

Van seemed re-energised tonight after a break following the extensive UK tour late last year. He was fully committed and in great voice throughout which was aided in no small part by the superb acoustics in this iconic venue.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Wait A Minute Baby
Moondance
Magic Time
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now/Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Sometimes We Cry
In The Afternoon
Have I Told You Lately (fast version)
Whenever God Shines His LIght
Wild Night
Days Like This
Precious Time
I Can't Stop Loving You
Cleaning Windows
All In The Game/Burning Ground
Brown Eyed Girl
Help Me
Gloria

Set Time 1h 41m

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
David Hayes (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards/Trumpet)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Teena Lyle (Percussion, Vocals)
Dana Masters (Vocals)