Most people would probably consider two nights of Van Morrison in Belfast enough.
Apparently, I am not most people.
Emma and I had already travelled over to Belfast a couple of months earlier to see my favourite artist perform two memorable concerts. It was a fantastic trip and I returned home feeling thoroughly satisfied with my Van Morrison quota for the year.
Then he announced another Belfast show.
Not just another show, but a blues-oriented evening featuring Chris Farlowe and Paul Jones.
That was all the persuasion I needed.
Before long, tickets were purchased and we found ourselves heading back across the Irish Sea. This time the concert was taking place in Mandela Hall, conveniently situated just across the road from Whitla Hall, where we had seen Van on the previous visit.
Clearly Belfast was becoming something of a second home.
Having learned from experience, we arrived early with a very specific goal in mind: front-row seats.
Unlike many venues, there wasn’t an organised queue forming outside, which initially seemed like good news. Unfortunately, when the doors were about to open, the lack of a proper system created a brief outbreak of organised chaos as everyone suddenly decided they wanted to be first.
For a few moments it looked as though our early arrival might count for nothing.
Thankfully, several people nearby had seen us waiting from the beginning and spoke up on our behalf. Thanks to their honesty and good nature, we were allowed through first and secured exactly what we had hoped for: seats right at the front and directly in the centre.
Remarkably, we’d managed the same feat on the second night of our previous Belfast trip.
Sometimes the concert gods smile upon you.
And when the artist is Van Morrison, being in the front row makes a tremendous difference.
From that position you don’t simply hear the music — you experience every detail of it. You can watch the communication between the musicians, see the subtle cues passed around the stage and appreciate just how extraordinary the band really are.
Van himself was in tremendous form.
One of the reasons I never tire of seeing him live is that he constantly reinvents the experience. Having already attended two Belfast concerts a couple of months earlier, I could easily have worried about hearing largely the same material again.
I needn’t have.
The setlist was almost entirely different.
That willingness to change things up is one of the qualities that separates Van from many of his contemporaries. Rather than treating each performance as a repetition of the last, he approaches every show as a unique event.
The blues focus of the evening gave the concert its own distinct character.
Chris Farlowe’s presence added another layer of authenticity and musical history to proceedings, while Paul Jones contributed some magnificent harmonica playing that perfectly complemented the mood of the night. Hearing those blues influences explored in such depth felt like witnessing another side of Van’s musical personality.
And from the front row, every note landed with even greater impact.
Looking back, this wasn’t simply another Van Morrison concert. It felt like a special gathering of musicians celebrating a shared love of the blues, led by one of the greatest artists Belfast has ever produced.
The fact that Emma and I managed to secure front-row seats made the whole experience even more memorable.
After all, there are worse ways to spend an evening than sitting a few feet away from Van Morrison and one of the finest bands in the business.
The videos and photographs below capture some of the occasion, but they can only hint at what it felt like to be front and centre for such a remarkable night of music.
Sometimes it’s worth making a second trip to Belfast.
The Photos
Cheers!
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