30-October-2016
Bluesfest - O2
 London, England

Brendan Hynes review of gig
Van Morrison made what has become by now his annual appearance at this festival but as this large venue was only filled to about half capacity, saturation point appears to have been reached. Van had a hard act to follow in Jeff Beck who turned in a guitar virtuoso performance in opening the show but Van proved well up to the task. Too Late from the new album opened Van's set in lively fashion followed by an up tempo version of Have I Told You Lately which in my view detracts from the song's quality. A nice delivery of Magic Time was followed by a lively version of Wavelength. Van then announced his new single off the album as Every Time I See A River and this sounded great live and even better than on the album featuring a lovely guitar solo from Dave Keary and nice backing vocals from Dana Masters.Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now raised the tempo and was followed by Here Comes The Night.Cleaning Windows was enjoyable but continues to suffer from the absence of a brass section which is such an integral part of the song in its original incarnation.

When Van announced a blues medley featuring Chris Farlowe and Jeff Beck few could have imagined what was to follow as we were taken through Stormy Monday/Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket/Lonely Avenue with Van and Chris trading vocals interspersed with searing guitar solos from Jeff.Van went into John Lee Hooker style mode during Lonely Avenue with terrific vocals answered magnificently by Jeff on guitar. This was incredible! Chris stayed onstage to trade vocals with Van on Sometimes We Cry and as usual improved Van's humour no end.Moondance was merged with Way Beyond The Hill from the new album to good effect before we reached another major highlight with In The Afternoon which again got the full treatment from Van and included a superb trumpet solo from Paul Moran and nice backing vocals from Dana.Help Me signalled that the end was nigh but Van returned for two encores in Ballerina which featured lovely acoustic guitar from Dave Keary and then Gloria which saw the band cut loose once Van had departed with Dana on vocals and Paul Moore on bass being particularly impressive.

All in all this was a fine and fitting show to conclude Bluesfest 2016.
-Brendan Hynes

Setlist
Too Late
Have I Told You Lately
Magic Time
Wavelength
Every Time I See A River
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
Here Comes The Night
Cleaning Windows
Stormy Monday/Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket/Lonely Avenue (w/Chris Farlowe & Jeff Beck)
Sometimes We Cry (w/Chris Farlowe)
Moondance/Look Beyond The Hill
In The Afternoon
Help Me
Ballerina
Gloria

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

Set Time 1H 29M

08-November-2015
The O2
 London, England

Photo via Alan L.

Brendan Hynes sent in this review

Van Morrison and Tom Jones at O2 Arena, London 8th November 2015.

This was a much anticipated concert which brought together two septuagenarian music legends still performing great music so late in their careers.

First onstage was Van Morrison who started rather tamely with Celtic Swing and Close Enough For Jazz before a wonderful Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child got the show properly under way. A powerful Early In The Morning/Rock Me Baby went down a storm with the blues festival audience and featured a great organ solo by Paul Moran. In the Afternoon which followed was a great extended version the early part of which was marred for me by the now almost obligatory group of ignorant people talking loudly until I asked them to desist in no uncertain terms which mercifully had the desired effect. Playhouse fairly moved at pace and included nice guitar from Dave Keary and piano by Paul Moran. Days Like This and Precious Time brought somewhat of a lull to proceedings for me but were well received. Baby Please Don't Go/ Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now went down a storm as usual and featured Van singing the first two songs in the medley almost entirely through cupped hands and harmonica. I Can't Stop Loving You and Magic Time were well delivered but nothing exceptional but that cannot be said of All In The Game which followed and it was once again magnificent. This version saw Van return to the mantra of No Plan B/No Safety Net/This Is It before telling us over and over that Time Is Running Out. Van shuffled off stage still singing in the wings only to return for an encore and telling us he wanted to bring on his old friend Tom Jones. While waiting for Tom's arrival on stage Van informed us that for this show he had given us a mixture of the club sets and the bigger concert sets which pay the bills. Former band member Leo Green also joined proceedings on stage to play some great saxophone which certainly enhanced the band's sound. The first duet with Tom was a really strong slow blues number Sticks and Stones(I've Been Abused) which was followed by That Lonesome Road which saw Van become very amused by the depth of Tom's vocals. Finally we got a terrific performance of Not Feeling It Anymore which of course Tom also recorded back in the 1990s.As the song came to it's conclusion Van and Tom departed to great acclaim leaving the band to finish off aided in no small part by a blistering extended saxophone solo by Leo Green. I thought this song was the end of Van's involvement for the night but surprisingly this did not prove to be the case.

Tom Jones set opened with an incredible Burning Hell from his Praise and Blame album and his set drew heavily on material from that album and his Spirit In The Room and Long Lost Suitcase blues/soul/gospel albums . Tom's voice is simply phenomenal and at 75 really defies human logic. A cover of Leonard Cohen's Tower of Song was absolutely superb while Didn't It Rain brought the audience to their feet. Tom still managed to include a bluesy version of Sex Bomb while a calypso version of It's Not Unusual had the unfortunate effect of encouraging a troop of women to try to storm towards the stage only to be turned back by security staff who may have had worries on health and safety grounds about the possibility of injuries being caused by flying underwear.

When Tom returned for his encore he told us that Van was coming on to sing some more songs which was quite a surprise. The first duet performed was a fine version of the Chuck Willis number What Am I living For with both in fine voice as they traded vocals. The second number was the dreaded Goodnight Irene. This is a song I never desire to hear and whenever I do I hope it's the last time a singer will feel the need to say goodnight to Irene but alas.... Tom reminisced about first meeting Van in London in 1965 and attempted a number of times to engage Van in conversation but quite hilariously most of Van's responses were of the one word variety such as 'yes'and 'no'. Van kept asking after each song "what's next" and they were about to do the up tempo Strange Things from Tom's Praise and Blame album when the drummer intervened and said they had forgotten Sometimes We Cry. I for one am most grateful for his intervention because while I have heard Van sing this song with various singers over the years none come anywhere close to the sheer power with which Tom delivered his contribution. Van was suitably impressed too as he shouted "one more time" for a repeat chorus at the end. The aforementioned Strange Things brought the night's proceedings to a very lively end after almost 3 hours of top quality music leaving the audience very satisfied at the unique experience they had enjoyed which may never be repeated.

-Brendan Hynes

Setlist (Thanks Lynn C.)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough for Jazz
Motherless Child
Early In The Morning
In The Afternoon/Burn Baby Burn
Playhouse
Days Like This
Precious Time
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchment Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
I Can't Stop Loving You
Magic Time
All In The Game/No Plan B/The Waiting Game
Sticks And Stones w/Tom Jones
Lonesome Road w Tom Jones
I'm Not Feeling it Anymore w/Tom Jones

Tom Jones Set
What Am I Living For w/ Tom Jones
Goodnight Irene w/ Tom Jones
Sometimes We Cry w/ Tome Jones
Strange Things w/ Tom Jones

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