17-October-2018
Princess Theatre 
Torquay, England

Brendan's take on night 2 in Torquay
Van Morrison at Princess Theatre,Torquay - 17th October 2018
The second show started with two different songs to those which started the previous night's show in Let's Get Lost and Benediction. The next five songs overlapped with the previous show with How Far From God,Magic Time (a really good version with lovely guitar and trumpet solos), Have I Told You Lately, Baby Please Don't Go medley and Here Comes The Night following in quick succession. Cleaning Windows was well performed and was very well received. Van then announced that the next song was being played as it had been requested earlier (by long time Van fan Pat Corley aided in no small measure by Nell who had travelled all the way from Australia and had approached Van in her role as co-ordinator with the song request and some others put together by co-conspirators Jane and Corinne). This turned out to be When the Leaves Come Falling Down and it was quite exquisite and altered the whole mood and direction of the show. The brilliant Tore Down A la Rimbaud followed to great acclaim before Van kindly acceded to a second of the requests (Corrine's) in the form of Little Village which was really good and featured a great trumpet solo by Paul Moran. Just when the gates to mystical heaven seemed to be opening Symphony Sid arrived on cue to bring some order to proceedings. Bring It on Home To Me was very strong and was followed by Ride On Josephine. The most welcome Steal My Heart Away made another appearance and featured a lovely trumpet solo again by Paul Moran.Days Like This was followed by Enlightenment, Broken Record (still stuck on 29)and Moondance. A really good Carrying A Torch featured Dana Masters prominently on shared vocals. Whenever God Shines His Light included a really good bass solo by Paul Moore which pleased Van greatly as he shared a joke regarding same with Dana. The Party's Over, Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria brought proceedings to a close with the latter included in the main set so there was no encore.

This show was quite an improvement from the previous night aided in no small measure by the inclusion of the two special requests. The pity is that Van doesn't include such quality material in his set as a matter of course rather than only responding to requests to play them. Either way, Van's positive response in acceding to the requests was greatly appreciated by the fans who had made them and enhanced their enjoyment (and that of the rest of the audience) of the show considerably. Van seemed much more engaged and relaxed throughout tonight's show.

One unusual sight over the two nights was that of the several rows of empty unsold seats. This was hardly surprising given that Torquay is primarily a summer seaside resort. I suspect that the individual who felt that it made sound commercial sense to book Van to play two shows at a seaside venue heading into the winter months a mere eleven months after he had played the same venue previously may just miss out on a 2018 nomination for outstanding contribution to the music industry!
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Let's Get Lost
Benediction
How Far From God
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately (fast version)
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Cleaning Windows
When The Leaves Come Falling Down
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Little Village
Symphony Sid
Bring It On Home To Me
Ride On Josephine
Steal My Heart Away
Days Like This
Enlightenment
Broken Record
Moondance
Carrying A Torch
Whenever God Shines His Light
The Party's Over
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Set Time: 1h 45m