Big Hand For The Band!
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Big Hand For The Band!
Sunday, November 07, 2021
St. David's Hall
Cardiff, Wales
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 11:51 PM Labels: cardiff, Setlist, Van Morrison 0 comments
New Theatre Oxford
Oxford, England
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 12:28 AM 0 comments
Friday, October 29, 2021
Sheffield City Hall
Sheffield, England
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 11:13 PM Labels: 2021, october, Setlist, Sheffield, Van Morrison 1 comments
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Powerhaus
London, England
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 3:15 AM Labels: Chris Farlowe, London, Setlist, Van Morrison 0 comments
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Powerhaus
London, England
Humo (Source)
Latest Record Project
Deadbeat Saturday Night
Double Agent
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 4:53 PM Labels: London, Van Morrison 0 comments
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Posted By John Gilligan at 4:56 PM 0 comments
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Real World Studios
Box, England
*Broadcast date. Actual recording date possibly April 2021
Celtic New Year
Little Village
Laughing & Clowning
Celtic Excavation/Into The Mystic
How Far From God
Magic Time
Symphony Sid
Talk Is Cheap
Three Chords & The Truth
Moondance
Steal My Heart Away
Did Ye Get Healed?
Crazy Love
That's Life
Pete Hurley (Bass)
Richard Dunn (Keyboards)
Colin Griffin (Drums)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)
Matt Holland (Trumpet & Backing Vocals)
Stuarst McIlroy (Piano)
Dana Masters (Vocals, Tambourine)
Posted By John Gilligan at 1:53 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 07, 2021
Europa Hotel
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Setlist: 29-August-2021
Double Agent
Up County Down
Jealousy
Days Like This
Precious Time
Tried to Do the Right Thing
Baby, Please Don't Go / Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Tear Your Playhouse Down
Saint Dominic's Preview
Little Village
Have I Told You Lately
Ain't Gonna Moan No More
Help Me
Into the Mystic
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Setlist: 31-August-2021
Posted By John Gilligan at 2:21 AM 0 comments
Saturday, August 21, 2021
O2 Apollo Manchester
Manchester, England
The band took the stage promptly at 8pm and we were off. Van strolled on stage and played 3 songs from the new album. Dead Beat Saturday Night, Double Agent and Up County Down. He was in good voice but looked tense. These were quickly dispatched and Van moved straight on into Baby Please Don’t Go – The concert began at this point. Van segued into a great Mojo section and began to relax. This effortlessly led into I Can Tell. We were rocking!
Days Like This (lovely van Sax on this), Precious Time and Real Real Gone – changed the pace and were greatly received by the crowd.
The pace of the show was fast and Van was getting into the groove. Van then changed up the mood by playing Ain’t Gonna Moan. This song has really developed into a centrepiece and allows the band to stretch out (abit) and its clear that Van loves this song. I love it too for all of the musical references. It’s a history lesson – pay attention!
Did ye get Healed was next and I think in time the band will gel with this but it felt a little tentative tonight.
Symphony Sid was excellent and Chantelle really was magnificent tonight on this song. It was clear for all to see that she loves singing this song and her own singing voice really suits Vans Jazz choices well in my opinion. Magic time was lovely and Moondance went down well.
It was at this point that Van strapped on the guitar and gave us a nice surprise in Why Must I always Explain? with a lovely guitar solo.
Wild Night, How far from God and Cleaning Windows all flew by effortlessly and this led to the usual Think Twice, Help Me, BEG and Gloria finale.
The band played an absolute killer jam at the end with all giving superb solos. I just want to say that Dave’s guitar work was exceptional tonight and boy does he earn his pay – solo after solo – no wonder he needs to wipe his brow every now and then! Teena gave us some wonderful solos tonight as well, nuanced and entirely in the groove every time.
A couple of other comments from tonight – The Audience were great in my opinion. They clearly were pleased to have Van back at the Apollo and we really enthusiastic, without over stepping the mark. Secondly, the pianist was absent. Finally, My only criticism really was the brake neck speed of the concert. I really wish Van would pause for breath and allow some of the solos to stretch out more. Van once said that music is about stretching time. I think more space needs to be created somehow. I think that the concert needed a workshop to take it to the next level. I would have called out for In the Afternoon as it’s a personal favourite but there was no opportunity at any point.
A great concert overall and I thoroughly enjoyed it but please Van slow down … just a bit. Take a leaf out of my book – I’ve just got back from a gig... its nearly 1 o clock in the morning, new full moon and I’m Trying for Sleep. Until the next time...
-James Tennant
Double Agent
Up County Down
Baby Please Don’t Go/Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Days Like This
Precious Time
Real Real Gone/You Send Me
Ain’t Gonna Moan No More
Did Ye Get Healed?
Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
Magic Time
Moondance
Why Must I Always Explain?
Wild Night
How Far From God
Cleaning Windows/Be-Bop-A-Lula
Think Twice Before You Go
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 11:01 AM 0 comments
Sunday, August 15, 2021
Audley End House
Saffron Walden, England
Deadbeat Saturday Night
Double Agent
Up County Down
How Far From God
Days Like This
Precious Time
Blue Funk
Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
Did Ye Get Healed?
Moondance
Only a Song
Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue/Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket w/Chris Farlowe
Think Twice Before You Go
Cleaning Windows/Be-Bop-A-Lula
Whenever God Shines His Light
Baby, Please Don't Go/Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Things I Used to Do
Help Me
Stand by Me w/Chris Farlowe
Gloria
Big Hand For The Band!
Stuart McIlroy (Piano)
Posted By John Gilligan at 1:18 AM 0 comments
Friday, August 13, 2021
Hampton Court Palace
London, England
-Pamela K.
Van Morrison, Hampton Court Palace Festival, review: Refreshing, energetic and surprisingly joyous
You never quite know what sort of performance you’re going to get at a Van Morrison concert. Will he be in grumpy old man mode, picking
fights with the audience – or indeed with the Government, over its Covid-19 policies (which he vehemently opposes)? Or will we get
the seasoned entertainer with one of the richest back catalogues in pop?
Happily, at Hampton Court Palace Festival this weekend, he let the music speak for itself – literally. There was no between-number chat or patter: the rapport he built with a willing audience came from the songs themselves. And what songs they were.
Morrison’s career has always been built on the bedrock of blues, R&B and gospel that underlies popular music, and which he seems content to keep on mining.
Here, in the unlikely setting of a courtyard in Henry VIII’s Tudor palace, we had him on rambunctious form, revisiting his first hit, Big Joe Williams’ “Baby Please Don’t Go”, which then segued into the Muddy Waters classic “Got My Mojo Working”.
Clad in his usual uniform of dark suit, dark glasses and porkpie hat, he also gleefully tackled versions of Bo Diddley’s “I Can Tell”, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “How Far from God” (with an added spirited chorus of “Be-Bop-A-Lula”) and the Ray Charles hit “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. Best of all was a boisterous reworking of Sonny Boy Williamson’s
“Help Me”, which gave him the chance to show off his harmonica skills.
It was his own songs which inspired and impressed the most, though: a relaxed (almost nonchalant) performance of “My Time After a While”; a measured but still moving “Days Like This”. Both featured his own admirable tenor sax solos, before a slice of more up-tempo fun came with a jumping “Broken Record”.
The voice was as magnificent as ever, with its Celtic overtones and its ability to leap from a whisper to a roar in the space of a line. The backing, too, from his eight-strong band was never less than excellent,
with solid musicianship that ignored drum machines and digital wizardry to concentrate on brasswork, string bass solos and lap
steel brilliance.
Finally, it was the inspired mastery of a classic such as “Moondance”, the almost muscular exhilaration of “Brown-Eyed Girl” and the guttural joy of that old warhorse “Gloria” that lifted the concert to a fresh level.
These weren’t just Van Morrison classics: in an act of inspired transference, they became joyous crowd anthems.
In a welcome surprise, then, instead of grumpy old man we got the exuberant outpourings of an energetic 75-year-old. How refreshing that did feel.
Double Agent
My Time After A While
Baby Please Don’t Go / Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Days Like This
Precious Time
Cleaning Windows
Ain’t Gonna Moan No More
Moondance/My Funny Valentine
Broken Record
Enlightenment
Real Real Gone/You Send Me
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Wild Night
In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Raincheck
Help Me
Ballerina
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Big Hand For The Band!
Stuart McIlroy (Piano)
Posted By John Gilligan at 11:57 PM 4 comments
Sunday, August 08, 2021
Wickham Festival
Wickham, England
Deadbeat Saturday Night
Double Agent
Three Chords and the Truth
Wild Night
Baby, Please Don't Go / Got My Mojo Working
I Can Tell
Precious Time
Days Like This
How Far From God
Cleaning Windows
Jumpin' With Symphony Sid
Moondance
Have I Told You Lately
Ain't Gonna Moan No More
Did Ye Get Healed?
Think Twice Before You Go
Sometimes We Cry
Help Me
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Big Hand For The Band!
Posted By John Gilligan at 1:45 AM 0 comments
Thursday, July 22, 2021
York Barbican
York, England
As I type this review, I still can’t quite believe last night actually happened. Last night I was sat with several hundred others in a dark room with Van Morrison and his band. It was an actual gig – not streamed but live and in the present time. Its something not to take for granted. As I took my seat the first thing that I noticed was that the band has grown. Van has two new members - a fabulous new backing singer and a pianist who took several solos and took some of the pressure off Paul Moran.
This show started to remind me of the Euro Final between England and Italy. First Half very confident and the second slowly loosing grip and never quite reaching the heights you wanted but that’s not for the want of trying. The whole band were fighting against a flat audience and some distracting technical issues. I think the new members of the band will become great assets and I really look forward to see how they grow over time. As Van exited the stage he said “thank you for making it out to see us” – well I want to thank Van and the band for coming out to play for us.
So, my overall thoughts are that I’m really proud of Van for pushing on and bringing music to us. For his age he is doing so very well, the voice is sublime and when things settle down maybe we will be able to go into the mystic one more time. I am positive that this will happen.
Dead Beat Saturday Night
Double Agent
Love Should Come With A Warning
Three Chords & The Truth
Tried To Do The Right Thing
Baby Please Don’t Go / Parchment Farm /Don't Start Crying Now
I Can Tell
Precious Time
Cleaning Windows
Ain’t Gonna Moan No More
Symphony Sid
Broken Record
Little Village
Moondance
Carrying A Torch
Think Twice Before You Go
Days Like This
Enlightenment
Brown Eyed Girl
Have I Told You Lately
Help Me
Gloria
Posted By John Gilligan at 3:03 PM 0 comments