05-February-2019
The Wiltern
Los Angeles, USA

Setlist
A Foggy Day
Symphony Sid
Ain’t Gonna Moan
Days Like This
Have I Told You Lately
Baby Please Don’t Go
Playhouse
Little Village
Beautiful Vision w/ Shana Morrison
Why Must I Always Explain
Magic Time
Moondance
Crazy Love
Did Ye Get Healed
Who Can I Turn To
Cleaning Windows
In the Afternoon
Brown Eyed Girl
Ballerina

02-February-2019
The Colosseum Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, USA

Once again, here's Brendan's thoughts
The fifth show of Van's 2019 Las Vegas residency commenced in a low key manner with a rendition of A Foggy Day (in London Town) but the pace picked up considerably with How Far From God followed by the Baby Please Don't Go medley.Van then addressed the audience to say he was going to do a song off the new album which was Ain't Gonna Moan No More. This was really good and several band member solos were enthusiastically received but none more than Van's saxophone solo. After Have I Told You Lately and Days Like This, Van and Dana Masters shared vocals on a very strong Carrying A Torch before doing so again on Symphony Sid. I Can Tell fairly chugged along while Cleaning Windows saw Van reference various rock and rollers from Little Richard to Jerry Lee Lewis to Gene Vincent to Fats Domino to Chuck Berry over and over. After another fine version of Sometimes We Cry Van said he wanted to play a song from his blues album from a couple of years ago and wondered if any of the audience had bought it.This turned out to be Brand New Automobile which went down well. Moondance was followed by another fine rendition of  Little Village which I would have enjoyed a lot more if I didn't have to leave my seat to remonstrate with a number of the standard ignorant idiots who attend concerts in these times who were laughing and talking at high volume. Luckily it worked and order was restored. Chatty Van enquired at the song's conclusion as to how we were all doing so far and then became very amused at his own joviality. Broken Record was unsurprisingly reprised once more before Crazy Love got a further airing which was enthusiastically received although I still feel it seems a bit rushed. A terrific version of Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child was followed by the clear highlight of the concert which was In The Afternoon which got the full Van 'lights down low' workshop treatment including some humorous Las Vegas references.Brown Eyed Girl unsurprisingly brought the main set to its conclusion with Van returning for Gloria. The latter included an amusing incident during the band jam session after Van had departed when Teena Lyle was shrouded in total darkness when doing an extended percussion solo while drummer Mez Clough basked under the spotlight shining on him. Obviously there was an apprentice on the lights tonight!

Van was once more in fine voice throughout and the superb sound system in the venue complemented his vocals and those of Dana Masters perfectly. He was clearly in good form as evidenced by his all too rare audience interaction which went down a treat.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
A Foggy Day (in London Town)
How Far From God
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now/ Got My Mojo Working/Playhouse
Ain't Gonna Moan No More
Have I Told You Lately
Days Like This
Carrying A Torch
Symphony Sid
I Can Tell
Cleaning Windows
Sometimes We Cry
Brand New Automobile
Moondance
Little Village
Broken Record
Crazy Love
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
In The Afternoon
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Set Time 1h 39m (Van on stage 1h 30m)

01-February-2019
The Colosseum Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, USA

Brendan's take on gig:
As Van and the band took to the stage I had a sinking feeling when I noticed that guitarist extraordinaire Jay Berliner was absent from the lineup. This left me with a feeling of foreboding that his absence would impact adversely on the song selection and sadly this proved to be the case as Van delivered a set consisting largely of jazz numbers and 'hits'.
The show commenced with three songs from the new album namely Gonna Send You Back To Where I Got You From, Got To Go Where The Love Is and Ain't Gonna Moan No More, the last of which featured a really good organ solo by Paul Moran.Rather predictably Days Like This and Have I Told You Lately followed in quick succession before the Baby Please Don't Go medley which tonight also included Playhouse and which featured Dave Keary to great effect on electric guitar. Wild Night proved a real crowd pleaser while the version of Sometimes We Cry was quite exceptional with Van bringing proceedings down to a near whisper at one stage aided in no small measure by Dana Masters on backing vocals. Talk Is Cheap and Symphony Sid followed before Van delivered a rare nugget on the night in Little Village which was quite superb and saw Van emphasising over and over that he comes from the island of the saints.Several enthusiastic audience members gave the song a standing ovation at its conclusion and their enthusiasm was rewarded(?) by Van and the band immediately launching headlong into Precious Time. The term 'from the sublime to the ridiculous' crossed by mind. That's Life featured Paul Moran on organ and trumpet but not simultaneously. Unsurprisingly the seemingly ever present Broken Record made yet another appearance followed by a somewhat subdued rendition of St.James Infirmary. Did Ye Get Healed was a most welcome inclusion and was great with Dave Keary delivering some great guitar sounds reminiscent of George Benson. Moondance (featuring David Hayes prominently on bass) launched us firmly into 'hits' territory with Whenever God Shines His Light, I Can't Stop Loving You, Jackie Wilson Said and Brown Eyed Girl bringing the main set to it's conclusion. Van did return for Gloria which as usual saw the band deliver a 10 minute jam session after Van had departed.
While Van was in fine voice and the band performed well throughout, the set was unfortunately largely devoid of Van's real classic material. There were no real meditative moments and no workshop to immerse oneself in which for me was disappointing.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Gonna Send You Back To Where I Got You From
Got To Go Where The Love Is
Ain't Gonna Moan No More
Days Like This
Have I Told You Lately (fast version)
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now/Got My Mojo Working/Playhouse
Wild Night
Sometimes We Cry
Talk Is Cheap
Symphony Sid
Little Village
Precious Time
That's Life
Broken Record
St.James Infirmary
Did Ye Get Healed
Moondance
Whenever God Shines His Light
I Can't Stop Loving You
Jackie Wilson Said
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Set Time 1h 45m ( Van on stage 1h 35m)

30-January-2019
The Colosseum Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, USA

Brendan Hynes was in Vegas for gig
This was the third night of Van's 2019 Las Vegas residency (and first night of mine) and as Van and his band hit the stage exactly on time I was very pleased to see that Astral Week's guitarist Jay Berliner was augmenting the line up as his inclusion usually guarantees the delivery of some real classic Van material. As has become the norm for USA shows David Hayes(with somewhat shorter silver locks) was on bass instead of Paul Moore.

The show commenced in jazzy fashion with I Get A Kick Out Of You and Symphony Sid with the latter featuring a fine accoustic guitar solo by Jay Berliner.The Baby Please Don't Go medley featured Dave Keary prominently on guitar and was quickly followed by a lively Think Twice Before You Go and then Days Like This.Vocalist Dana Masters got a huge ovation for her contribution on Have I Told You Lately and was also very prominent on Sometimes We Cry which followed.This was a great version with crystal clear vocals from both Van and Dana. Wild Night was very well received and was followed by a really good version of Whenever God Shines His Light with Dana very prominent once more. Dana received even more acclaim following her contribution on Real Real Gone. Magic Time featured great solos by Jay on guitar and Paul Moran on trumpet and was followed by the jazzy Moondance and Broken Record (still stuck in the groove with 29 title references in the conclusion). Crazy Love was a pretty disappointing version and the tempo was much too fast but Cleaning Windows was much more impressive. When Van strapped on his electric guitar I anticipated some magic would follow and so it proved with Why Must I Always Explain followed immediately by a standout Vanlose Stairway with Van once more on electric guitar and Dana excelling on backing vocals. The Party's Over was followed by All In The Game which was a somewhat shortened version so it did not get the workshop treatment and instead made way for Jackie Wilson Said. The somewhat ironically titled Ain't Gonna Moan No More was the sole set inclusion from the new album and featured an amusing moment when Van shouted 'Satchmo' in Paul Moran's direction which was the cue for him to jump up suddenly from the keyboards and race over to deliver a fine trumpet solo.Did Ye Get Healed featured an incredible Jay guitar solo and brought the main set to a close.Van did return for an encore of Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria with the extended band jam session in the latter including yet another unbelievable guitar contribution from Jay, terrific vocals by Dana and percussionist Teena Lyle proving that her Las Vegas following is still intact.

Van was in fine voice throughout what was a strong performance.It was somewhat surprising though given the presence of Jay Berliner that no Astral Weeks songs were featured tonight but hopefully the Friday and Saturday night shows will deliver on that count.
-Brendan Hynes

Set List
I Get A Kick Out Of You
Symphony Sid
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now/Got My Mojo Working
Think Twice Before You Go
Days Like This
Have I Told You Lately(fast version)
Sometimes We Cry
Wild Night
Whenever God Shines His Light
Real Real Gone
Magic Time
Moondance
Broken Record
Crazy Love
Cleaning Windows/Shakin' All Over/ Be Bob A Lula
Why Must I Always Explain
Vanlose Stairway
The Party's Over
All In The Game
Jackie Wilson Said
Ain't Gonna Moan No More
Did Ye Get Healed
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria

Set Time 1h 49m (Van on stage 1h 37m)