26-January-2015
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
 Glasgow, Scotland

Brendan sent in his thoughts on gig
From the opening Celtic Swing when a fine bass solo from Paul Moore was met with an approving "Yeh!"from Van my instinct told me he was really up for the show tonight and so it proved.Having moved smoothly through Close Enough For Jazz and Magic Time(which Van clearly loves as he nearly always includes it) a blistering Baby Please Don't Go really brought the crowd to life and featured some great harmonica from Van. Dana Masters was great on backing/shared vocals during I Believe To My Soul which was a real powerhouse performance from Van and the band. Following a well received Moondance Van delved into his celtic mysticism songbook in keeping with this show being part of Celtic Connections festival and delivered a wonderful Raglan Road which featured beautiful organ playing by Paul Moran and Van hopping up and down on the spot as the sheer beauty of the music seemed to flow through his veins.Irish Heartbeat duly followed to keep the mood going before I Can't Stop Loving You moved us briefly into country territory. Following Sometimes We Cry and Whenever God Shines His Light which were both powerfully delivered and featured Dana prominently on vocals another surprise followed with the return of In The Afternoon. This was the centrepoint of many concerts some years back and the good news is that Van safely negotiated us all onto the ancient highway one more time briefly stopping by A Town Called Paradise along the way. Van allowed Dana the latitude to unleash her soulful tones on a couple of verses and she really delivered brilliantly. Enlightenment, Days Like This and Precious Time followed in swift succession before a really strong In The Midnight which featured another great organ solo from Paul Moran and Dave Keary bringing a smile to Van's face with his seemingly impossible high pitched vocal which Van made him repeat one more time. The opening notes of In The Garden confirmed that this was no ordinary show and Dana again got to sing solo and quite angelically on this. Dave Keary's beautiful Spanish guitar solo was of such quality that even Van seemed overcome as he shouted "woah!"when it finished. The song finished somewhat abruptly just when Van had taken it down to a whisper but it was fantastic while it lasted. We were now nearing the finish line and what better way to finish than with fine versions of Celtic Excavation/Into The Mystic and then Ballerina for the encore to the great delight of the highly appreciative audience.

The show ran for I hour 43 mins.and featured Van in great voice, really animated and into the music while urging and cajoling the band to greater heights all the time. The sound system was incredibly good and undoubtedly enhanced the overall performance.
-Brendan Hynes

The Scotland Herald
With a packed house and folk standing at the back upstairs, the appropriate support provided for Van Morrison in gospel quartet The McCrary Sisters should have made a few friends prepared to turn out for their own gig tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Old Fruitmarket. Between them Regina, Ann, Alfreda and Deborah have worked with some of the top names in music (and have Dylan's personal approval to cover Blowin' in the Wind), and together - and accompanied by an all-Scottish quartet of instrumentalists - they make fine contemporary praise indeed.

There was a slice of gospel in Morrison's set too, in Shine A Light from the Avalon Sunset album, but then there was a little bit of everything in it, including a nod to country in I Can't Stop Loving You, and some fine jazz trumpet and flugel horn doubling from his MD behind the keys, as well as the vocal improvisation of the man himself. His sax playing is not his strongest suit, and he did blow his alto a lot, but that was a small price to pay for a good-humoured Van the Man, whose thick, chewy voice was in top form, and who added some mean blues harp. Accompanied by a similarly compact combo, with the addition of female backing singer, this was a lean approximation of a Too Late To Stop Know set, that ranged right back to Them's Baby Please Don't Go, and included Moondance, Into the Mystic, and even an encore of Ballerina from Astral Weeks. Directing the band with a waving right fist, when he is channelling Big Joe Turner, you can forgive Morrison that he can't do Cannonball Adderley as well.
-Keith Bruce

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Magic Time
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
I Believe To My Soul
Moondance
Raglan Road
Irish Heartbeat
I Can't Stop Loving you
Sometimes We Cry
Whenever God Shines His Light
In The Afternoon
Enlightenment
Days Like This
Precious Time
In The Midnight
In The Garden
Into The Mystic
Ballerina

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

16-June-2014
Hampton Court Palace
 Surrey, England

Petra sent in her thoughts on the gig
The scenery could not have been more stunning: the courtyard of a medieval palace in Tudor style, formerly owned by King Henry VIII in the 16th century. Auditorium and stage of the open air gig surrounded by ancient brick walls with ancestral crests, moats, towers and chimneys, all effectfully illuminated. Prior to the concert, the beautiful palace gardens were opened to the public for picnics and strolling around. It was a cool summer night, with chilly gusts of wind, the sky overcast but luckily no rain.

At 8:15 pm Shana and Van’s band stepped on the stage: Paul Moran on keyboards and trumpet, Dave Keary on guitars, Chris White on saxophones and clarinet, Alistair White on trombone, Paul Moore on bass and Bobby Ruggiero on percussions. No Jeff Lardner tonight.

Shana did three solo songs before Van joined the musicians. She started with a lovely version of Van’s ‚Astral Weeks‘ classic, ‚Sweet Thing‘, followed by two of her own songs.

Then Van was there – pinstripe suit, trilby, ascot and a paisley pattern shirt. But he was wearing kind of a Barbour country-style jacket over it, olive colour with big pockets, what diminished his elegant attire a bit, but made sense, considering the ugly wind chill. Shuddering ourselves, we pitied the musicians on stage exposed to the cold wind.

Van began with the instrumental ‚Celtic Swing‘ on saxophone, followed by ‚Open The Door (To Your Heart)‘. Nothing special, so far ... But then the first surprise: ‚Higher Than The World‘ – one of the rare gems we like to hear. Next was ‚Rough God Goes Riding‘ with Shana joining him. Van changing the lyrics to ‚.. she gave me that toll-free number to call ..‘ made me smile.

Then I did not trust my ears – Van setting up „So Quiet In Here“ – one of my favorite songs I always longed to hear live ... A lovely version with Van singing: ‚... maybe maybe Baby – we can dream on, dream on ...‘

Before we could recover from this treat I thought all my dreams came true tonight: „Queen Of The Slipstream“, with a nice e-guitar solo by Dave and Van playing harp.

Now the dream faded for a while – Van took his cute little ukulele and went into joking mode: He mumbled: „Billy Connolly (a Scottish comedian) once said: ‚Van is very funny. Can you imagine this? Van is funny ...“ This brought a good laugh to the audience at Hampton Court.
Playing the ukulele, Van sang „Keep it Simple“. Not one of my favorites, but together with the relaxed mood a nice side trip. On it went with „Back On Top“ and „Magic Time“, not on my dream set list either, but decent versions with great sax and trombone solos by Chris, Alistair and Van himself.

„Sometimes We Cry“ was next by Van with Shana and Chris on the baritone sax.

„Whenever God Shines His Light“ is a song I am normally not particularly fond of. But tonight it was one of the highlights – it emitted great energy. Shana sang with Van, and Dave Keary played an absolutely stunning fade-out on the electric guitar. I could do with some more guitar solos in Van’s band ...

Now the „workshop“: „All In The Game“ passed into „You Know What They Are Writing About“. Great solos by the horn section – trumpet, trombone and baritone sax. Ending with „... make it real ... No plan B ... No safety net ... This is it ..“ So far familiar from previous gigs, but then Van mumbled „... right where you are, right where you are ..“, over and over again.

Back to well-known ground then: „Moondance“ ending with some notes of „My Funny Valentine“. A bit dreaded by most Van fans as heard a bit too often, but still a great version tonight with a beautiful upright bass solo. It seemed to me - maybe I was just in this mood because of the magic setting surrounding us – that each instrumental solo tonight sounded like new - sparkling and sophisticated.

„Enlightenment“ followed with Van on harp, lovely version.

Then another dream version: „In The Garden“. Nice solos from Dave on his acoustic guitar, Alistair on the trombone, Paul piano and Chris played the clarinet. An incredible ending from Van: He went into singing ‚... and your holy guardian angel, in the midnight hour ... and I pray to my guardian angel ... help me angel ... in the midnight hour ... in the WITCHING hour ... angel ... angel ...‘ Again and again, leaving us breathless and wanting a break. But no mercy – it went on:

The best „Ballerina“ version ever. OK, up to now, I thought the best version had been the one in Montreux 1980 with John Platania and Pee Wee Ellis ... And now this one. Van’s vocals were unusually intense tonight, followed by an unheard trombone solo by Alistair and likewise unusal sax solo by Chris. Lately, when Van was singing „Ballerina“ he moved into an uptempo mode, which matched the song but was miles away from the initial dreamy version. Tonight, Van found a completely new ending: he sang ‚... living on a lonely, lonely, lonely 22 storey block ...‘, over and over again. But then he went like, ‚... it’s so lonely up here, lonely at the top, in New York City ...‘ . ‚... you better buy your ticket and pay the price if you wanna come up ...‘ After a short break he adds: ‚... and see me sometimes‘. And everybody has a good laugh, understanding he means us now, the audience ... And suddenly I realize that it’s no longer the melody of „Ballerina“ but has become „Lonely At The Top“, one of bonus tracks of the remastered „No Guru No Method No Teacher“ album, a definitely lesser known title. But what an ingenious idea to combine it with Ballerina and the loneliness described there ...

Before we can recover from this tour de force, we hear the first notes of „Help Me“ and we sense, it’s all over soon ...

No „Gloria“, no „Brown Eyed Girl“, but some rare gems and absolute favorites of mine, and even the well-known ‚standards‘ sound great tonight.

After the show we met up with Nosey and Pat and compared our notes and impressions. Surprisingly, our notes were mostly identical and all of us thought that it was an absolutely brilliant concert, in my opinion the best we ever went to – big thanks to Van, Shana and the band !
-Petra Söllner

Setlist (Thanks Petra)
Celtic Swing
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
Higher Than The World
Rough God Goes Riding
So Quiet In Here
Queen Of The Slipstream
Keep It Simple
Back On Top
Magic Time
Sometimes We Cry
Whenever God Shines His Light
All In The Game  >  You Know What They Are Writing About  > 
Make It Real  >  No Plan B  > Right Where You Are
Moondance
Enlightenment
In The Garden
Ballerina > Lonely At The Top
Help Me

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

25-May-2014
Town Hall
 Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland

Setlist Early Show (Thanks Pablo)
Celtic Swing
Talk Is Cheap
Roving Rambler
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
Keep Mediocrity At Bay
Choppin' Wood
St. James Infirmary
Playhouse
Foggy Mountain Top
I Can't Stop Loving You
Into The Mystic
That's Life
Baby Please Don't Go
Ballerina
Help Me


Setlist Late Show
Celtic Swing
Talk Is Cheap
Back On Top
Choppin' Wood
Keep It Simple
Keep Mediocrity At Bay
Who Can I Turn Yo
So Quiet In Here
Magic Time
Baby Please Don't Go
All In The Game/Burning Ground/No Plan B
Georgia
Ballerina
Help Me

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)

26-November-2013
Beacon Theatre
New York, USA

via Brian H.

Dan shares his thoughts on Beacon gig
Night 2 at the Beacon was a masterpiece and one of the most sustained examples of high-level singing I have heard from Morrison.

There was no letup, and when that leg got going with the first vocal of the night in Ballerina you knew you were in for it.

The scat-jazz trio was integrated into this show much better, and made a nice change of pace.

In addition to Ballerina, Morrison brought out three songs he hadn't done yet in these US shows: A powerful Tupelo/Explain, a roiling The Way that Young Lovers Do, and a real treat in Glad Tidings, which allowed Van to get a roar from the crowd when he referenced New York.

During I Can't Stop Loving You, Van mentioned Country, Western, Lawrence Welk and Bert Kaempfert.

In the Garden closed out the proceedings, with another Jay Berliner solo that brought tears to my eyes and a yes, yes from Morrison. Van invited the audience to sing "no guru, no method, no teacher" with him, leaving shivers up spines.

As Van left the stage, the band revved up an ecstatic ending to Garden that was a joyous cherry on top of a great weekend. So great to see everybody. Never enough time. An amazing amount of over-stimulation! Thanks again.
-Dan M.

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Ballerina
The Way Young Lovers Do
Moondance
Tupelo Honey/Why Must I Always Explain
Centerpiece w/Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks & Kevin Burke
Whenever God Shines His Light
Ol' Black Magic w/Shana Morrison
Sometimes We Cry w/Shana Morrison
Early In The Morning
In The Midnight
I Can't Stop Loving You
Glad Tidings
Sack of Woe w/Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks & Kevin Burke
In The Garden

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Jeff Lardner (Drums)
Shana Morrison (Vocals)
Bobby Ruggiero (Percussion)
Jay Berliner (Guitar)

25-November-2013
The Theater at Madison Square Garden
New York, USA

Pete from NYC sent in this review
It was very different from other VM shows I’ve seen. For one thing, it didn’t immediately blow me away. While the sound was excellent right from the start (as it always is at this venue), the energy seemed a bit on the mellow side at times. There were parts that I thought seemed a bit phoned in, such as “Open the Door” and “Whenever God Shines His Light”. And I thought he was playing a lot of mellow songs overall. Well, I thought, maybe this would be kind of an uneventful show.

But something else was different about this show – right after “Moondance”, Van started talking to the audience. He said he had a special treat for us, three “masters of vocalese” – Jon Hendricks (who is 92 years old!), Aria Hendricks and Kevin Burke. I had actually heard of Jon Hendricks because of Joni Mitchell’s cover of “Twisted”, which was originally done by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. I’d never heard him talk to the audience before, and it seemed like he didn’t want to shut up. He had a laid-back, light-hearted vibe that was very different from anything I’d seen him do before. The vocalese trio were amazing, and I knew we were getting something special and unique to that evening’s show.

The set list seemed kind of heavy on 80s and 90s deep cuts, which was fine. “Enlightenment” was really nice, and at the end of the song he sang, “Enlightenment, don’t care what it is.” It was the most relaxed and least cantankerous version I’ve personally seen of VM, and his changing that line seemed aligned with that. I was really happy to hear “Days Like This” and at one point I shut my eyes and just listened, and that’s where the show started to become transcendent for me.

Van was saving the high energy stuff for the end of the show, with an extremely fun and entertaining stretch beginning with “Baby Please Don’t Go” all the way to the end. “Brown Eyed Girl” was the longest, jammiest version I’ve ever heard. For “It’s All in the Game”, he was unbelievably chatty and was cracking jokes left and right! This was a side of Van I’d never seen and I feel so blessed to have gotten to experience it. “Gloria”, of course, closed the show, with a balls-to-the-wall drum solo after Van left the stage. What a night! We left happy.
-Pete S.

Setlist (Thanks to Michael S.)
Celtic Swing
Moondance
Centerpiece w/Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks & Kevin Burke
Sack of Woe w/Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks & Kevin Burke
Open the Door (To Your Heart)
Sometimes We Cry w/Shana Morrison
Old Black Magic w/Shana Morrison
Enlightenment
Whenever God Shines His Light
Days Like This
In the Midnight
Baby Please Don't Don't Go (Dedicated to Bert Berns)
Here Comes the Night
Brown Eyed Girl
It's All in The Game/Time is Running Out/No Plan B
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Chris White (Saxophone)
Alistair White (Trombone)
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Jeff Lardner (Drums)
Shana Morrison (Vocals)
Bobby Ruggiero (Percussion)
Jay Berliner (Guitar)