18-February-2026
Palace Of Fine Arts
San Francisco, USA

Tonight's show was the best of the first three. A somewhat abbreviated Little Village made it into the set near the end, so the band is ready to do some of Van's back catalog, apart from Help Me and Gloria. Less directing/correcting from Van tonight, more energy and cohesiveness, with big rolling grooves arriving in some of the new material. Ain't That A Shame (Van mentioned this was Bill Medley's arrangement) still a standout. 

-Art Siegel 

Setlist (Thanks Art) 
Kidney Stew Blues 
Snatch It Back and Hold It 
(Go to the) High Place in Your Mind 

Ain't That a Shame

Social Climbing Scene

King For A Day Blues (Band Intros)

Can't Help Myself

Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge 

When It's Love Time (w/Elvin Bishop)

You're The One (w/Elvin Bishop)

Deep Blue Sea (w/Elvin Bishop)

Loving Memories (w/Elvin Bishop)

Play the Honky Tonks (w/Elvin Bishop)  

Madame Butterfly Blues (w/Elvin Bishop) 

Rock Me Baby/Hollywood Bed (w/Elvin Bishop)
Little Village (w/Elvin Bishop)
Help Me (w/Elvin Bishop)
Gloria (w/Elvin Bishop)

 

Big Hand For The Band!
Anthony Paule (Guitar)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
David Hayes (Bass)
John Allair (Organ)
Mitch Woods (Electric Piano)
Omega Rae (Vocals)
Larry Batiste (Vocals)

 

17-February-2026
Palace Of Fine Arts
San Francisco, USA

  

Tonight's show featured 16 songs from the new album, with several that he didn't get to yesterday. Van is turning Ain't That a Shame into something very special. Tonight he took it much further than yesterday and I suspect it's going to get better as the run continues, as will most of the songs. 

 

Van was doing a lot of explicit directing and to some extent rearranging songs on the fly. Several times he sang the instrumental or backup vocal parts that he wanted to hear repeatedly until the band picked up his instruction. 

 

Elvin Bishop came out to play guitar on You're the One and stayed on stage for the rest of the show. 

 

Things started to gel with Madame Butterfly, and continued from there. Again, Van needed to use large lyric sheets for his own compositions. That struck me as a little odd, but it's been a few years since he recorded these songs and he hasn't been playing them live. 

-Art Siegel 

 

Setlist (Thanks Art) 
Kidney Stew Blues 
Snatch It Back and Hold It 
Deep Blue Sea 
(Go to the) High Place in Your Mind 
Ain't That a Shame

Social Climbing Scene

King For A Day Blues (Band Intros)

On A Monday

Monte Carlo Blues

Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge 

You're The One (w/Elvin Bishop)

Deep Blue Sea (w/Elvin Bishop)

Loving Memories (w/Elvin Bishop)

Play the Honky Tonks (w/Elvin Bishop)  

Madame Butterfly Blues (w/Elvin Bishop) 
Rock Me Baby/Hollywood Bed (w/Elvin Bishop)
Help Me (w/Elvin Bishop)
Gloria (w/Elvin Bishop)

 

Big Hand For The Band!
Anthony Paule (Guitar)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
David Hayes (Bass)
John Allair (Organ)
Mitch Woods (Electric Piano)
Omega Rae (Vocals)
Larry Batiste (Vocals)

 

16-February-2026
The Chapel
San Francisco, USA

Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge record launch
Excellent show, close up and personal with 350 others at The Chapel. Van in good spirits and voice. Song selection entirely from the new album (except Help Me/Gloria). All U.S. musicians, from the group that played on the new album. None of the guest stars except Mitch Woods. Highlights for me were Ain't That A Shame, with a real gospel flair this time, and Rock Me Baby, with some Big Joe Turner verses mixed in. Van needed to read lyrics for his recent material, so off came the sunglasses for a while. 
-Art Siegel

 

Setlist (Thanks Art) 
Kidney Stew Blues 
Snatch It Back and Hold It 
Deep Blue Sea 
(Go to the) High Place in Your Mind 
Ain't That a Shame 
Play the Honky Tonks 
Madame Butterfly Blues (band intro) 
When it's Love Time 
Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge 
Social Climbing Scene 
I'm Ready 

Can't Help Myself 
You're The One 
Rock Me Baby/Cherry Red 
Help Me 
Gloria

 

Big Hand For The Band!
Anthony Paule (Guitar)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
David Hayes (Bass)
John Allair (Organ)
Mitch Woods (Electric Piano)
Omega Rae (Vocals)
Larry Batiste (Vocals)

 

07-February-2026
Market Place Theatre
Armagh, Northern Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Pablo)
Into The Mystic 
Baby Please Don't Go 
Snach It Back & Hold It
Madame Butterfly Blues 
Ain't That A Shame 
Little Village 
Ain't Gonna Moan No More 
Crazy Jane On God 
Enlightenment 
Foreign Window 
Back To Writing Love Songs 
Once In A Lifetime Feelings
Only Love I Ever Needed Is Yous
Precious Time
Days Like This 
Green Rocky Road 
Early In The Morning 
Think Twice Before You Go 
Wild Night 
Help Me 
Gloria

 

Big Hand For The Band!

Dave Keary (Guitar)

Nicky Scott (Bass)

John McCullough (Keyboards)

Brendan Doherty (Drums)

Dana Masters (Vocals)

Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)

06-February-2026
3Arena 
 Dublin, Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Brendan) 
Into The Mystic 
Crazy Jane On God 
Help Me/ Green Onions 
Gloria  

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Nicky Scott (Bass)
John McCullough (Keyboards)
Brendan Doherty (Drums)
Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)

05-February-2026
Studio At Waterfront 
 Belfast, Northern Ireland  

Brendan sends in his thoughts on gig 
Van Morrison at Waterfront Studio, Belfast, 5th February 2026.
This show in the intimate surrounds of the Waterfront Studio served to showcase some songs from Van Morrison's new blues album along with a range of songs from across his career. After opening with the inimitable Into The Mystic Van then hurtled headlong into Snatch It Back and Hold It from the new album. This is a real belter of a song which Van sang with great gusto and which featured great solos from Dave Keary on guitar and John McCullough on organ allied to some fine harmonica playing by Van. Little Village was a nice set inclusion but suffered somewhat in my view from the absence of the brass section tonight, particularly as Van's saxophone sounded very much out of tune.

 

Ain't Gonna Moan No More featured a fine guitar solo from Dave Keary which was reminiscent of George Benson at his best while Van finished the song with some incredible scatting which must have gone on for a couple of minutes and which unsurprisingly brought the house down. Other particular highlights included Foreign Window and Tore Down A La Rimbaud while All In The Game made a welcome return to the set list. When introducing the song Van said they would do a workshop and while the song was great while it lasted it was cut short somewhat prematurely by Van. Northern Muse was a nice set inclusion and featured Van playing piano. 

 

Help Me was performed with great energy by Van and saw him pounding from one side of the stage to the other while adding in some additional lyrics of his own such as "Sing When I Sing", "Dance When I Dance", "Go Out when I Go Out" while the band thundered along forcefully aided by superb backing vocals by Dana Masters and Jolene O' Hara to complement Van's own vocals. The song moved onto Green Onions after Van asked Dave Keary to play some Steve Cropper guitar in tribute obviously to the recently departed guitar legend. Finally, Gloria brought proceedings to a close after a very satisfying performance. 

-Brendan Hynes  

 

Setlist (Thanks Pablo) 
Into The Mystic 
Baby Please Don’t Go 
Snatch It Back & Hold It
Madame Butterfly Blues 
Little Village 
Moondance 
Ain’t Gonna Moan No More 
If I Ever Needed Someone 
Play Honky Tonks 
Foreign Window (Van on Guitar) 
Tore Down A La Rimbaud 
All In The Game
Laughing & Clowning 
No Other Baby 
Back To Writing Love Songs 
Once In A Lifetime Feeling 
Northern Muse (Solid Ground) (Van on piano) 
Help Me 
Gloria 

Set Length 1h 46m  

Big Hand For The Band!

Dave Keary (Guitar)

Nicky Scott (Bass)

John McCullough (Keyboards)

Brendan Doherty (Drums)

Dana Masters (Vocals)

Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)

04-February-2026
Studio At Waterfront 
 Belfast, Northern Ireland  

Setlist (Thanks Pablo) 
Into The Mystic 
Snach It Back & Hold It 
Madame Butterfly Blues 
Little Village 
Ain't That A Shame 
Enlightenment 
In The Afternoon 
Wavelength 
Wild Night 
Crazy Jane On God 
Back To Writing Love Songs 
Once In A Lifetime Feelings 
Only Love I Need Is Yours 
Tore Down A La Rimbaud 
Foreign Window 
Early In The Morning 
Laughing & Clowning 
Help me 
Gloria 

Big Hand For The Band!

Dave Keary (Guitar)

Nicky Scott (Bass)

John McCullough (Keyboards)

Brendan Doherty (Drums)

Dana Masters (Vocals)

Jolene O'Hara (Vocals)