05-January-2015
Lyric Theatre
 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Brendan sent in his thoughts on performance
This was the third in the series of Lit Up Inside shows by Van Morrison in conjunction with the launch of the book of his lyrics by the same name.It was also the first of four consecutive Monday night shows by Van in January which indicates that unlike the lyrics written by fellow Irishman Bob Geldof all those years ago Van does like Mondays.There was quite a substantial gathering of the more dedicated Van fans from far and wide all of whom were eagerly awaiting what was to follow.

The show followed the same format as before with film footage of Van and Bob Dylan singing Foreign Window being followed by Van being interviewed by author Ian Rankin and then readings by Michael Longley of Coney Island and Into the Mystic.The interview itself covered much of the same ground as before and has become somewhat repetitive which is not too surprising.There were however some further insights on the night with Van revealing that the songs which are really personal to him and fact based are ones such as Too Many Myths, I Was Educated By The School of Hard Knocks and others of that ilk.Van indicated that Wonderful Remark should have been in the book and it seems it was inadvertently omitted but there was a strong suggestion of at least one further volume to come in which it can be included.Van’s interview with Spike Milligan again got a mention with Van revealing that Spike was nothing like his stage character in person and was not in a good mood when they met.Ian Rankin suggested that is not something Van would know much about which greatly amused the audience.When asked if he had enjoyed being a window cleaner Van was quite enthusiastic and said he had as it gave him the freedom to control his own working time and tie it in with his music commitments.Given his tendency to send Van up when given an opening I thought Ian Rankin might have asked Van if he used to lose his rag at all and whether he found there were a lot of ups and downs in the window cleaning business but sadly he didn’t take the opportunity to explore such important issues.

After a short interval the music section commenced as before with Alan Watts Blues before another thunderous version of Why Must I Always Explain with Van again featuring prominently on electric guitar.Wonderful Remark and Tore Down A La Rimbaud were followed by The Street Only Knew Your Name which had not featured at the two previous Lit Up Inside shows and was quite brilliant.Coney Island,Magic Time and Moondance were followed by the highlight of the night(as was the case at the other two shows) in Celtic Excavation/Into The Mystic.Van became totally immersed in the music and brought proceedings down to such a whisper that at one stage he sang briefly without using the microphone.Van departed the stage during this song but continued to sing on in the wings for what seemed like an age as he issued utterences such as ‘not breaking down’ and ‘you’ve got to pull yourself together’over and over as the audience sat mesmerised.Finally the booming voice of drummer Bobby Ruggiero shouting VAN MORRISON broke the spell and the audience roared for more.Van returned one more time to deliver On Hyndford Street for the hometown audience who clearly appreciated the Belfast namechecks liberally dispersed throughout.
Overall I felt that the music performance segment of this concert fell somewhat short of the quality of the two previous ones largely due to the omission of Madame George and Foreign Window from the set.I considered both songs to be in the top three performed each night at the London and Dublin shows and their absence diluted the quality somewhat.Nevertheless it was still another outstanding evening of words and music which was thoroughly enjoyed by those lucky enough to be present.
-Brendan Hynes

Ian Rankin, Eamonn Hughes & Van Discussion
Michael Longley reads Coney Island & Into The Mystic

Setlist
Alan Watts Blues
Why Must I Always Explain
Wonderful Remark
Tore Down A La Rimbaud
Coney Island
Magic Time
Street Only knew your Name
Moondance
Into The Mystic
On Hyndford Street

Big Hand for The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Jeremy Brown (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters(Vocals)

10-December-2014
Olympia Theatre
 Dublin, Ireland

via Pablo G.

Brendan sent in his thoughts on the show
The question I pondered in the build up to this show was whether the magic of the inaugural Lit Up Inside show in The Lyric Theatre in London the previous month could be repeated. The resounding answer delivered at the Olympia was that it most certainly could and this was another marvelous night for dedicated Van Morrison fans in particular.

via Pablo G.

The format was similar to the London show with Eamon Hughes, editor of Van’s Lit Up Inside book, doing the introductions before some footage from an old BBC Arena programme was shown of Van and Bob Dylan singing Foreign Window in Greece. Van was then introduced for a question and answer session largely conducted by author Ian Rankin but with some input also from Eamon Hughes.If anything, Van was even more relaxed this time round and really warmed to the process as it developed. Interestingly, the questions explored differed significantly from the London show and Van somehow got drawn into areas one might not have anticipated including a reference to a book written by Morrissey which Van was clearly very impressed by as he really enthused about its brilliance. At this point Ian Rankin somewhat mischievously interjected to say that Morrissey is not like Van at all because Morrissey is grumpy. This seemed to go over Van’s head despite Ian repeating the comment but it was not lost on the audience who laughed heartily. Van also got quite animated talking about Spike Milligan and a performance he had given where a cat ran on to the stage and according to Van the cat did a 30 minute performance. This all went down great with the audience who would not normally encounter Van’s humour and wit to such a degree.

Van with Edna O'Brien

Following the interview there was a short film of Van in discussion with poet Michael Longley followed by readings of some of Van’s lyrics by Michael Longley (Coney Island and Into The Mystic) and by Irish broadcaster Marty Whelan (Tore Down A La Rimbaud and Madame George).The latter, who was hugely enthusiastic about Van’s work, was unable in my view to match Edna O’Brien’s mesmeric readings of both songs at the London show, particularly Madame George.

After a short interval the concert performance commenced with the rarely played Alan Watts Blues in a really nice arrangement followed by stirring performances of Tore Down A La Rimbaud and Wonderful Remark. The beautiful Foreign Window followed and while it was great the brilliant acoustic guitar work of Dave Keary which was so prominent at the London show was somewhat drowned out by Van’s electric guitar on this occasion which was a pity. Coney Island conjured up lovely images in our minds and was followed by Magic Time which was one of two additions to the London set list (the other one being Moondance as the penultimate number).In introducing Why Must I Always Explain, Van informed us this was a re-write of Tupelo Honey and this version featured Van on electric guitar with the legs pumping as he sang over his solo in that inimitable style of his. Incredibly when the song had just finished an audience member shouted out looking for Tupelo Honey to which Van replied like a shot “we just played it!”.Van then brought us through Celtic Excavation with nice saxophone playing from him and on Into the Mystic. This was quite incredible and Van brought things down to a whisper as he stepped away from the microphone and then back and then away again gently whispering the lyrics to a totally silent Olympia. It was hard to follow that but Madame George wasn’t far behind and it is great to be treated to such a classic from the vaults again. Moondance brought proceedings to a halt as Van thanked the band while the audience clapped along enthusiastically with their closing instrumental workout. This was not quite the end however as Van returned one more time to deliver On Hyndford Street to leave the audience truly healed having enjoyed a really magic time in the presence of the undisputed musical genius that is Van Morrison.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Alan Watts Blues
Tore Down at La Rimbaud
Wonderful Remark
Foreign Window
Coney Island
Magic Time
Why Must I Always Explain
Celtic Excavation/Into the Mystic
Madame George
Moondance
On Hyndford Street

Big Hand for The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Jeremy Brown (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)