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)