05-April-2022
 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

London, England

Brendan on 2nd night in London 

Night Two 

Chris Farlowe once more filled the support slot and really seemed to enjoy his time in the limelight as he at one point addressed the rhetorical question "He's not a bad singer is he,?" to the audience! His set was the same as on the previous night. 

From the outset Van appeared to be somewhat more energised than on the previous night He commenced with similar song choices but with Have I Told You Lately (with a strong vocal contribution from Elle Cato) included instead of Up County Down.Chris Farlowe once more joined Van starting with Mr DJ which worked really well and featured a deep voice contribution of the song title from guitarist Dave Keary which greatly amused Van. Stormy Monday/ Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket was really good with Van and Chris trading lines and verses and Dave Keary providing a terrific guitar solo. I Can Tell increased the tempo while Cleaning Windows benefited considerably from the subtle saxophone playing of Chris White in the background. 

And It Stoned Me and These Dreams of You were reprised once more much to the delight of the audience while Sometimes We Cry was very strong and featured Elle Cato to great effect once more. The opening notes of In the Afternoon prompted the necessity for the audience to fasten their collective seatbelts as Van transported us not only down the ancient highway but also on this occasion along the coastline on an extended mystical journey with the stage shrouded in darkness and the band sound level reduced to a minimal one apart from Elle Cato whose background vocals supplemented Van's beautifully. This was the clear highlight of the night for me as the audience sat in mesmerised silence throughout its delivery. 

The encore was limited to Gloria tonight with Chris Farlowe joining Van once more. The band did excellent extended solos following Van's departure with Elle Cato bringing the house down with her stupendous and seemingly near impossible vocal range while Teena Lyle in particular also got a huge response to her percussion acrobatics. It was notable that the response from the audience was more audible tonight which probably reflected the higher level of performance compared to the first night.
-Brendan Hynes 

Setlist (Thanks Brendan Hynes) 

Caledonia Swing 

Latest Record Project 

Double Agent 

Days Like This 

Have I Told You Lately 

Hey Mr. DJ (w/Chris Farlowe) 

Stormy Monday/Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket (w/Chris Farlowe) 

Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Got My Mojo Working 

I Can Tell 

Cleaning Windows 

And It Stoned Me 

These Dreams Of You 

Symphony Sid 

Ain't Gonna Moan No More 

Broken Record 

Sometimes We Cry 

Laughin' and Clownin' 

In The Afternoon 

Precious Time 

Down To Joy 

Help Me 

Gloria (w/Chris Farlowe)

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Richard Dunn (Keyboards)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)
Colin Griffin (Drums)
Elle Cato (Vocals)

04-April-2022
 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

London, England

Brendan was at gig & sent in his thoughts 

Night One 

Chris Farlowe got proceedings under way with a short set backed by Van's full band and the set included covers of songs by Bobby Bland and Solomon Burke before finishing with what Chris emphasised was the original version of Handbags and Gladrags as recorded by him. 

Van's set commenced with the instrumental Caledonia Swing (no doubt inspired by its inclusion on the Belfast film soundtrack) before being followed as has become the norm by three songs from Latest Record Project including the title track. Days Like This was followed by the first real highlight in Someone Like You and while the speeded up jazzy 'Las Vegas' style version did few favours to the song, Elle Cato's magnificent vocals certainly did with her voice complementing Van's superbly. I Forgot That Love Existed was a welcome inclusion after which Chris Farlowe joined Van for a quick fire trio of songs namely Hey Mr.DJ, Stormy Monday (featuring an excellent Dave Keary guitar solo) and Born to Sing. It was good to hear And It Stoned Me and These Dreams of You which have recently been included in set lists. Carrying a Torch was a standout song which once more featured Elle Cato to great effect. Following the ending of Dead Or Alive, which Van seemed unhappy with, he shouted 'Healing Game' to the band in response to an earlier audience request for the song but he sadly abandoned it following the intro without singing a word while informing the audience that the band didn't know how to play it. This caused much disappointment among attendees who were elated at the opportunity of hearing this classic song in concert only to have it removed so abruptly. Maybe next time? The show then ended rather predictably with Down To Joy, Help Me and the encore of Brown Eyed Girl and Gloria bringing it to a conclusion.
-Brendan Hynes 

Setlist (Thanks Brendan Hynes) 

Caledonia Swing 

Latest Record Project 

Up County Down 

Double Agent 

Days Like This 

Someone Like You 

I Forgot That Love Existed 

Hey Mr. DJ (with Chris Farlowe) 

Stormy Monday (with Chris Farlowe) 

Born To Sing (with Chris Farlowe) 

And It Stoned Me 

These Dreams Of You 

Ain't Gonna Moan No More 

Magic Time 

Carrying A Torch 

Precious Time 

Enlightenment 

Dead Or Alive 

The Healing Game (abandoned after intro) 

Down To Joy 

Help Me 

Brown Eyed Girl 

Gloria (with Chris Farlowe)

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Richard Dunn (Keyboards)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)
Colin Griffin (Drums)
Elle Cato (Vocals)

31-March-2022
 Coliseum A Coruña

A Coruña, Spain

El Ideal Gallego (Source) 

Van Morrison delights nostalgics with a recital without buts at the Coliseum British musician Van Morrison arrived at the Coliseum yesterday to give an expected concert that had to be postponed last December for reasons of the artist's health. The Lion of Belfast, who had not visited the city for 22 years, reviewed his repertoire of classic songs and also some more recent ones. 

Arriving from the Wizink Center in Madrid, the musician went on stage at 8:28 p.m. - many had not yet had time to take their seats - and began the sax recital with the instrumental "Caledonia swing" to continue with "Latest record project" and “Up county down”. 

Accompanied by a six-piece jazz club band and a backing vocalist, Morrison did not He left no time for chatting or jokes and went about his business, practically without a pause between songs. 

There were hardly any interactions with the public, although he was cheered on numerous times, one of them when his first big hit came, "Days like this", where the artist scored one of his solos. 

Vocal brilliance

With "Someone like you" the public cheered with the palms. Van Morrison, who also excelled in ballads like “Sometimes we cry” -after which he delivered a single “thank you”-, stood out with a great crooner's voice over music that gave him all the prominence. 

“Baby, please don't go” made him take out the harmonica and with two other of his greatest hits, “Brown eyed girl” and “Gloria”, the Coliseum danced and sang at the end of the party, with a Morrison who, educated , he said goodbye with another “thank you”. Genius, figure and a delight for nostalgics. 

Setlist 

Caledonia Swing 

Latest Record Project 

Up County Down 

Double Agent 

Days Like This 

Someone Like You

I Forgot That Love Existed 

And It Stoned Me 

These Dreams of You 

Sometimes We Cry 

The New Symphony Sid 

Precious Time 

Dead or Alive 

Baby, Please Don't Go / Don't Start Crying Now / Got My Mojo Working 

I Can Tell  

Carrying a Torch 

Wild Night 

My Time After a While 

Laughin' and Clownin' 

Down to Joy 

Help Me

Brown Eyed Girl 

Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!

Chris White (Saxophone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Richard Dunn (Keyboards)
Teena Lyle (Percussion)
Colin Griffin (Drums)
Elle Cato (Vocals)