22-August-2016
Slieve Donard Hotel
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Brendan Hynes sent in his thoughts on gig
It was clear from the outset that Van Morrison’s set tonight was going to be a high powered one as he immediately launched into rip roaring versions of Wavelength and Wild Night, both of which featured great guitar and organ throughout from Dave Keary and Paul Moran respectively. A nice delivery of Magic Time was notable for a fine trumpet solo from Paul Moran and some saxophone from Van to finish.Baby Please Don’t Go went down a storm as usual and went straight into Don’t Start Crying Now thus bypassing Parchman Farm on this occasion. Here Comes The Night provided some nostalgia and was quickly followed by Precious Time before Dana Masters was afforded the opportunity to shine on vocals during Sometimes We Cry and Whenever God Shines His Light. Talk Is Cheap was strongly delivered by Van before two new songs off the forthcoming album got an airing in the form of Keep Me Singing which was pretty strong and Too Late. The latter has been released as a single presumably because of its up tempo beat but I can’t quite see it topping the charts. In The Afternoon which followed was (not for the first time) the highlight of the night as Van brought proceedings down to a whisper before repeatedly uttering the phrases “stretching out for miles and miles” and “it won’t be long child before we are sitting pretty” to a mesmerised and captive audience which almost unanimously gave Van a long standing ovation at the song’s conclusion. The rarely played Dylan cover It’s All Over Now Baby Blue was greeted ecstatically by the audience but suffered from some initial turbulence as Van barked “D” followed by “A ” at guitarist Dave Keary and bassist Paul Moore who both seemed convinced they were playing it correctly. Real Real Gone lifted the tempo again and featured Dana on extended vocals including a snatch of You Send Me. Think Twice Before You Go saw the band in full flow before we were brought back down to earth with Brown Eyed Girl. Jackie Wilson Said saw Van and Paul Moran duet on saxaphone and trumpet respectively before a welcome rendition of Did Ye Get Healed. In The Garden featured some beautiful acoustic guitar from Dave Keary but Van didn’t really get as immersed in the song as one would have hoped which was probably down to some noisy over inebriated individuals in the audience. Van departed at this stage but as the 90 minute curfew had not yet been reached he quickly returned for strong renditions of Help Me and Gloria to send the fans home happy. The latter saw the usual extended band solos when Van had departed with Paul Moore on bass getting a somewhat frenetic response to his solo as he happily took the limelight and interacted at some length with his worshipers in the audience much to the amusement of the rest of the band.

Set time was 1h 36m.

-Brendan Hynes

Set List
Wavelength
Wild Night
Magic Time
Baby Please Don’t Go/Don’t Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Precious Time
Sometimes We Cry
Whenever God Shines His Light
Talk Is Cheap
Keep Me Singing
Too Late
In The Afternoon
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
Real Real Gone/You Send Me
Think Twice Before You Go
Brown Eyed Girl
Jackie Wilson Said
Did Ye Get Healed
In The Garden
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

29-July-2016
Storsjöyran
Ostersund, Sweden

Setlist (Thanks Per H.)
Mondance/My funny Valentine
The Way Young Lovers Do
By His Grace
Someone Like You
Precious Time
Wild Night
Sometimes We Cry
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Playhouse
Cleaning Windows
Think Twice Before you Go
Whenever God Shines His Light
Have I Told You Lately
Jackie Wilson Said
Bright Side Of The Road
Brown Eyed Girl
Carrying A Torch
Wavelength
Help Me
In The Garden

Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)

15-June-2016
Nells Jazz And Blues
 London, England
Late Show

Setlist (Tentative - Thanks Geoff P.)
Centrepiece/Corrina Corrina
The New Symphony Sid
Goin' Home
Think Twice Before You Go
Whenever God Shines His Light
Every Time I See A River' (New Song)
*Unknown New Song
Too Late (New Song)
Carrying A Torch
Sometimes We Cry
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
In the Midnight
In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Burn Baby Burn/Raincheck Burn/Raincheck

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Chris Barber (Trombone)

14-June-2016
Hampton Court
East Molesey, England

via Mathew Jeffrey

Brendan Hynes sends in this review
Van Morrison made a welcome return tonight to Hampton Court Palace which has regularly inspired him to deliver outstanding performances at the venue over recent years. The show opened unsurprisingly with Celtic Swing and Close Enough For Jazz before Van announced that we were going to have some trombone tonight at which point jazz legend Chris Barber took to the stage and he was immediately involved to great effect in a cover called I'm Going Home. Magic Time which followed saw Van in great voice on a particularly strong version. When this was followed by a magical rendition of Did Ye Get Healed it was clear that Van was up for the concert tonight as he brought the music up and down and back up again to great effect. St James Infirmary got a relatively rare outing with Van prominent on saxophone. Van then raised the tempo with a powerful Wavelength which featured a great guitar solo from Dave Keary and Van playing tambourine with rare enthusiasm.Wild Night kept up the high tempo before Carrying A Torch was delivered to great acclaim.Whenever God Shines His Light featured great guitar and trombone solos and was one of the best versions I have heard. I Believe To My Soul brought us back to 'Its Too Late To Stop Now' territory and saw both Van and Dana Masters in great voice throughout.Enlightenment was notable for a nice trombone solo from Chris Barber and was followed by In The Afternoon which saw Van repeat the phrase "keep on rockin' if it feels good" over and over after he had safely negotiated the ancient highway. Baby Please Don't Go /Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now featured some great improvised trombone playing by Chris Barber which enhanced delivery no end. Moondance and Brown Eyed Girl were enthusiastically received by the more boisterous audience members and were followed by a song I didn't recognise which may be titled Its Too Late. Help Me saw Van enter the finishing straight in a high powered version which featured a great trombone solo from Chris Barber and saw Paul Moran excel on organ throughout. After a quick departure Van returned one last time for Gloria to greatly please the enthusiastic audience who were now on their feet and indeed many had rushed towards the front of the stage.When Van had finally departed the stage the band cut loose with extended solos from each band member with Paul Moran on organ,Paul Moore on funky bass, Chris Barber on trombone, Dave Keary on guitar and Dana Masters on vocals all delivering their party pieces before this week's drummer Mez Clough delivered a fine drum solo to considerable acclaim from the excited audience.

While this show didn't reach the transcendental heights of previous shows at the venue it did see Van in fine voice and giving a committed performance throughout. Set time was 1h 42m.
-Brendan Hynes

Get Surrey
The king of the troubadours brought a sell-out crowd at Hampton Court Palace to its feet with a storming version of Gloria to finish a polished performance earlier this week.

Typically, rather than milking the applause, Morrison exited the stage mid-song to leave the rest of the band to finish the concert.

It was a fitting climax to a masterclass where Morrison effortlessly eased through a set of more than 20 tracks from his extensive back catalogue, with the addition of a cover of St James Infirmary, presumably added to demonstrate the talents of the octogenarian trombonist Chris Barber.

Older readers will remember Barber as a band leader, and he surprisingly played the whole show.

The rest of the band comprised drums, bass, guitar, backing singer and a keyboardist who doubled as trumpeter.

With a jazzy feel throughout, Morrison kicked off his set with the instrumental Celtic Swing, moving seamlessly into Close Enough For Jazz and then one classic track after another, including a sensational version of Moondance.

Others included Brown Eyed Girl, Carrying A Torch, Whenever God Shines His Light On Me, Baby Please Don’t Go and Magic Time.

Contrary to his reputation as a moody performer, the Blues Brother look-alike certainly appeared to enjoy himself throughout the show, while directing his ensemble with a military precision and having a stage hand on constant duty to receive instructions.

Now into his seventies, his voice is as strong as ever and it is clear that Van is still "the man".
-Chaz Brooks

Setlist (Thanks Wim)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Going Home
Magic Time
Did Ye Get Healed?
St. James Infirmary
Wavelength
Wild Night
Carrying A Torch
Whenever God Shines His Light
I Believe To My Soul
Enlightenment
In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Burn Baby Burn/Raincheck
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
Moondance
Brown Eyed Girl
Too Late (New Song)
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Mez Clough (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Chris Barber (Trombone)

09-June-2016
Harrogate International Centre
Harrogate, England

Long time Van fan, James T., sent in this review:
It had been a while since I’d seen Van live. I have learnt over the 27 shows that I’ve seen since 1999, that it’s best not to have any expectations. Harrogate International Centre is by far the most infuriating venue to enter. A strange large spiral ramp led me to the bar area. I looked for the merchandise stall, nowhere to be seen. Back down the spiral staircase! I asked the front of House manager where was the stall . “The merchandise will be on sale after the show – it has been requested that we only sell after the show” – weird I thought! Was I actually in the right place, right town?

The auditorium itself is great – a plain large space with arena style raked seating, sweeping in a large semi-circle. Every seat has a great view and despite the fact that I had a “cheap” seat I was not at all disappointed. I settled down and waited for 8pm.
The band entered to a polite reception shortly followed by “Sir Van Morrison” launching into Celtic Swing. Van was blowing hard on the sax and I thought “this is it – we are in for a good one” Van leaned back, arching his back, forcing the sax to find the groove. Van was swinging the sax from side to side, he seemed quite animated, more animated that I had seen before. “Yes” I thought “we are going to get healed tonight”

Close Enough For Jazz and Centrepiece followed and it was remarkable how strong Vans voice is. It is quite phenomenal and certainly makes me feel immensely proud to be a fan. Van chose a very jazzy opening and I felt that this was not really a great start. It was very low – key and unfortunately it seemed as if it was going to be one of the nights where Van, band and audience were struggling to find the groove.

The night was not without its highlights though and Van certainly wasn’t phoning it in. He was trying in every song but something was not quite gelling. The band couldn’t be faulted, they were there for Van in every moment. A really strong group of musicians led excellently by Paul Moran. I felt sorry for Paul who seems to be getting hard time from Van at the moment. Van spoke to him several times throughout the gig and it seemed that Van was putting him through his paces. During one song Paul sat up and down 5 times to alternate between trumpet, cornet and keyboard. Dana Masters is wonderful and during her solos the audience around me gasped at the power of her singing. Dave Keary and Paul Moore on Guitar and Bass contributed many spirited solo. It was great to see Liam Bradley on drums, he’s fitted in very well.

Highlights for me were Wavelength, Magic Time, By his grace, The Beauty of days gone by, Did ye get healed? and Whenever god shines his light.

It seemed, at times, that Van was really rushing through the songs. In fact during Whenever God Shines his Light after the 1st chorus van launched straight in to the final “da dup, da dups” only to come back again to them later!
Did ye get healed was very welcome but the pinnacle had to be The Beauty of Days gone by. This was wonderful. When Van switches it’s on there is nothing better.

So overall I really enjoyed the night, the concert had its moment but it was definitely J-O-B rather than J-O-Y . A solid 7/10 in my opinion and we all know what a 10/10 is like!

I have to come back to that voice, trying hard to turn the lead into gold. Well, Van found a few nuggets in Harrogate and we have to keep remembering it’s been a very tough week. So I’m going to cut him a break and say a big thankyou to Van, the band and crew– see you further down the road!
-James Tennant

Setlist (John M.)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Magic Time
By His Grace
Someone Like You
Baby Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Wavelength
Sometimes We Cry
Wild Night
Crazy Love
Whenever God
Keep It Simple
Enlightenment
Think Twice Before You Go
Moondance
Real Real Gone
The Beauty of the Days Gone By
Brown Eyed Girl
Did Ye' Get Healed
Gloria

Time ~ 1h 45m

Big Hand For The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Liam Bradley (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)