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)

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

Setlist (Thanks Al B.)
Moondance/Look Behind The Hill
Carrying A Torch
Magic Time
That's Life
Till We Get The Healing Done
Wild Night
Sometimes We Cry
Baby, Please Don't Go/Don't Start Crying
Here Comes The Night
Let It Rhyme
Too Late
Someone Like You
Precious Time
Out in The Cold Again
Going Down To Bangor
Whenever God Shines His Light
In The Afternoon
Help Me
Gloria

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

19-July-2015
Slieve Donard Hotel
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Setlist (Thanks Niall C.)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough for Jazz
By His Grace 
Carrying a Torch
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Stop Drinking Wine
I Believe to my Soul
Blue Money
Once A Day
Days Like This
Precious Time
In The Afternoon/Burn Baby Burn
Whenever God Shines His Light
Moondance
In The Midnight
Things Used to Do
And The Healing Has Begun 
Help Me
Ballerina

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

27-July-2014
Slieve Donard hotel & Spa
 Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Los Angeles Times

Van Morrison takes his music home with concert near Belfast

me 400,000 Garth Brooks fans may still be licking their wounds over his aborted concerts in Ireland, which were originally scheduled for this past weekend. But Irish musician Van Morrison gave about 400 of his most devoted followers something worth writing home about Sunday with a rare small-venue show virtually in his own back yard.

At one point, the celebrated singer, composer and lyricist grabbed, of all things, a ukulele, pulled a stool up in front of a microphone stand and sat his compact, stocky frame down, announcing to the audience at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa in Newcastle (not far from his hometown of Belfast), “It’s comedy time again.”

It was a rare ... moment of onstage levity, the kind of revealing drop of his guard that few outside an inner circle of close associates ever get to witness.
-
“This is called 'sit-down comedy' -- it was invented by Billy Connolly,” the 68-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said, a broad grin appearing briefly on his ruddy, round face. “Just so you know I’m legitimate, Billy Connolly says I’m very funny. I’m not going to argue with that.”

It was a rare -- for Morrison especially -- moment of onstage levity, the kind of revealing drop of his guard that few outside an inner circle of close associates ever get to witness.

This was why those looking on had forked over close to $400 a ticket to see Morrison in such an intimate setting. About a quarter of the fans crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S., while another sizable portion came from across Europe for the chance to see the artist sometimes referred to as the Belfast Cowboy virtually in his own back yard, said Howard Hastings, managing director of Hastings Hotels.

Hastings owns the resort and spa where Morrison performed in the first of two nights in the hotel’s swanky ballroom, which was outfitted for the shows with three dozen white linen-draped tables for 10. It's an elegant room that Hastings said normally hosts local tribute bands and other performers who entertain the seaside hotel’s guests.

But Morrison in recent years has adopted it as his home field performance space of choice, using it to prepare for other tour dates or just to comfortably play for local fans. “He likes it because it feels like the blues clubs he started out in,” Hastings said.

Morrison has long been one of pop music’s most cherished figures, an artist prized for decades by fans, critics and his fellow Rock Hall of Famers including -- but hardly limited to -- Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2.

Even then, you knew he's no copyist. There's a lot of people he likes, but there's nobody like him.
- Taj Mahal, musician

But he’s also long been one of pop’s most mercurial and, at times, hermetic figures, one who rarely grants interviews and during his concerts rarely chats with audiences, opting to let his music say whatever he is in the mood to express on any given night.

Dressed in a black fedora, shades and a dark gray suit, Morrison was accompanied on Sunday by his musician daughter Shana, who opened the evening with a three-song set of American country-inspired songs, and an accomplished six-piece band.

Like many of the musicians and writers who influenced him, Morrison has been deeply inspired by where he grew up, and over the decades has sung about the cobblestone streets, the undulating hills and the mystic mists of Ireland.

But like so many other European musicians, he’s also been powerfully drawn to American music and culture, which was reflected Sunday in a rendition of “Rough God Goes Riding,” a song about the loss of heroes. Morrison name-checked a string of Old West outlaws that extended from Jesse James and Billy the Kid through Clint Eastwood, which drew a laugh from fans.

Those fans, Hastings noted, are largely the kind who can spot a nugget such as “Green Mansions” when Morrison reaches deep into his vast songbook, or recognize the first time in years that he’s picked up a guitar to play instead of his more typical blues harmonica or alto sax.

As much as these lighter moments allowed Morrison to figuratively let down his hair, it was the songs in which he invoked the transcendent spirituality at the core of much of his music that was the big payoff.

It was anything but a perfunctory greatest-hits set, with Morrison offering up only a few of his cornerstone numbers near the end of the show. Instead, he opted for gems such as “Queen of the Slipstream,” “So Quiet in Here,” the instrumental “Celtic Swing” and “Whenever God Shines His Light.”

During “In the Garden,” he voiced lyrics that can stand alone as poetry on a par with countrymen such as William Butler Yeats, against a soulful arrangement that equaled the best of one of Morrison's heroes, Ray Charles:

The olden summer breeze was blowing against your face, alright
The light of God was shining on your countenance divine
And you were a violet color as you sat beside your father
And your mother in the garden

The song shifted into a mantra on the phrase “no guru, no method, no teacher,” one of several moments Morrison allowed the music to transport him, and his audience, to another place. At 68, his vocal tone and phrasing is as good or better than ever, and he drew a standing ovation in the 100-plus-year-old hotel.

“I first heard him in the ‘60s, at a show with Aretha Franklin and Dr. John, and I thought then, ‘Who IS this guy?’ ” said 72-year-old blues-folk great Taj Mahal, another Morrison fan who caught Sunday’s show after recently wrapping up his own European tour in Paris. “Even then, you knew he’s no copyist. There’s a lot of people he likes, but there’s nobody like him.”

Morrison historically has danced only to the tunes he calls, but he indulged at least one request Sunday: Hastings noted during his introduction of Morrison that one couple in the house were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary.

The wife’s name? Gloria.

Morrison closed the show with a roof-raising performance of his career-establishing 1964 hit with Them. Chalk up another win for the hometown fans.
-Randy Lewis

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Back on Top
So Quiet in Here
Rough God Goes Riding
Queen of the Slipstream
Keep it Simple
Too Many Myths
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Sometimes We Cry
Who Can I Turn To
In the Garden
Into the Mystic
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Ballerina
Gloria