Two Nights At Bath Forum With Van Morrison.

It is now Thursday afternoon, and I’m Remembering Now the events of the past two nights in the beautiful city of Bath with Van Morrison, his band, and the street choir of Van fan friends from all over the world  that I encountered. This is what happened.  It was a sunny Springtime early evening when I got on the train for the short 20-minute journey to Bath. The green and lush countryside around Bath looks wonderful at this time of the year. I met my sister Margaret and we headed to The Cork pub on Westgate Street. There we found Theo & Dianeke, Lut, and Bart, all from Belgium. I hadn’t seen them all since Van played at Cyprus Avenue and Llangollen. It was also nice to meet Masa who had come all the way from Japan, also Mary from Devon. We sat around chatting and taking pics. Precious time was slipping away, so we all headed for The Forum. I bumped into some people I knew from Westbury and Warminster. It was also great to see John from Weston-Super-Mare who I am always seeing at local gigs. It was wonderful to meet Treve and his wife from Luton who I last saw at Westonbirt Arboretum in 2024. It was five minutes to showtime, so I told Margaret to take her seat while I nipped to the loo. While I was in there, I suddenly heard Van singing Into The Mystic. “Oh no, he has started early”, I thought to myself, and hurried to my seat in Row B.

Dianeke, Bart, Mary, Lut, Theo,Masa. 

Into The Mystic is one of the best songs ever written by anyone. What a great start to the show. The 8-piece band Van had assembled was packed with great musicians. David Hayes on bass has played with Van on and off for about 55 years. Another American Bobby Ruggerio had also returned on drums. Matt Holland on trumpet and saxophone maestro Leo Green were also making a welcome return. Regular band members Dave Keary on guitar, John McCullough on piano & keys, Sumudu Jayatilaka and Jolene O’Hara backing vocals made up this talented ensemble. Sumudu in particular impressed me tonight. She is emerging as one of Van’s best backing singers since the days of Katie Kissoon. I am not all that enamoured with the next three songs which are from Van’s recent blues album Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge. They are Snatch It Back And Hold It, Play The Honky Tonks, and Madame Butterfly Blues a song which Van is keen to tell us was written by Dave Lewis from Belfast. Even if they aren’t my favourite songs, I can’t deny that they were expertly performed, Dave Keary was great as ever on guitar. Van at 80 not out still has a great voice, and he is in good humour these days, no hint of grumpiness at all, laughing and clowning with the band, and by his standards quite chatty with the audience. The next song I loved, and when the lyrics are written by WB Yeats you can’t go wrong. It is Crazy Jane On God. Van blew some mean harp on that one. 

Precious Time was next up. Some people don’t like this song, but I do. It happily bops along as Van reminds us that we’re all going to die someday. Van has recently cheered the lyrics up a bit by changing them to ‘Precious Time is holding sway’. Dave switched to pedal steel guitar on this song. Back To Writing Love Songs, The Only Love I Need Is Yours, and Once In A Lifetime Feelings are all from Van’s Remembering Now album which I consider his best album this century. However, I don’t think these are among the best songs on the album, not by a country mile. The Only Love I need Is Yours with Dave on acoustic guitar is a nice love song and the best of the three. I find some of Don Black’s lyrics quite cringeworthy. You feel sorry for the backing singers having to repeat lyrics about ice cream stands. Spare me please. Van is fifty times better as a songwriter than Don Black could ever hope to be. An extended Ain’t Gonna Moan No More was excellent, Leo on sax nearly blowing the roof off the building. This was followed by a highlight for me, a tribute to Sam Cooke and Ray Charles which was Laughing & Clowning and The Nighttime Is The Right Time. 

Sumudu.

When Sumudu joined in duetting with Van she was astoundingly great. Her contribution brought huge spontaneous warm applause from the Bath audience. These Dreams Of You from the Moondance album was a welcome addition to the setlist which I furtively managed to film, successfully dodging the eagle-eyed security people. Down To Joy from the Belfast film was great as ever. Real Real Gone was another highlight which Van took to the bridge by segueing into You Send Me, and I am sure I heard a snippet of Wonderful World in there as well. Van then slung on his electric guitar for a modern Van classic which is Green Rocky Road from his Moving On Skiffle album. It was great with Van adding new words at the end with ‘Spinning & turning, living & learning’. The audience loved Moondance, but I’ve heard it too often. I knew the show was coming to an end when Van sang the predictable Help Me. The whole audience were on their feet for Gloria. Van left the stage to make a sharp exit from the building as the band played on. By the time they stopped playing I was already outside on the pavement. When all our friends emerged we agreed it had been a very enjoyable concert with Leo and Sumudu the best of the band. Me, Margaret, John, and Mary had a quick last drink in the Royal Hotel bar and then Margaret and me caught the 10.40 train home. What a great night it had been.

The next afternoon it was sunny, but very windy. I thought it was going to blow my hat off. I was tired as well and didn’t fancy the 20 minutes’ walk to the train station. Luckily a bus came along and I hopped on it. I was in Bath by 5.00 and met Fumiko in Café Nero, and then we walked to The Cork. Theo, Dianeke, and Lut were already there, and It was nice to see Peter and Kathryn and their family. Then Jane from Oxford strolled in. It’s always a pleasure to see Jane. Finally, Miquel from sunny Spain arrived with a friend of his. I think I hadn’t seen Miquel since Van played at the Eden Project quite a few years ago. Time hurried on and we made our way to The Forum. In the queue I met an American lady called Hadley who gave me a nice message from Stu & Michelle in San Diego. Jane took my picture by the Van poster in the window. I tried to take one of her, but it never came out, sorry Jane. Inside the Forum it was great to see Gaynor and her friend from Cardiff. I hadn’t seen them since I met them by chance in Cyprus Avenue 11 years ago. I made sure I was in my seat in Row A before 8.00 tonight. 

Dianeke, Lut, Jane.

I can’t be bothered to tell you all the songs from night 2, because it was pretty much the same songs as before, but in a different order.  I’ll just tell you about the three different songs in the setlist. The opening song was Dweller On The Threshold from 1982’s Beautiful Vision. Matt deserves a mention for his trumpet playing on this song. Little Village was a highlight of night 2. It’s a song that was underrated when first released, but in live performance is epic with Van adlibbing about coming from the island of saints, and the church of Saul. It was almost impossible to take photos or film on night 2. The security were telling lots of people to put their cameras away, so towards the end of the show I moved to the back of the hall to try and get some pics. I filmed about a minute of Into The Mystic, but it wasn’t very good. Early In The Morning was another change to the night before. It’s not a favourite song, but live it gives the band a chance to show their skills. After the show I think we all agreed that Van and the band performed brilliantly, but it didn’t quite reach the heights of night 1 because Sumudu didn’t get the chance to exercise her tonsils as much as the night before. Anyway, we all said goodbye and went our separate ways. I hope we meet up again before too long. After a well-deserved last pint of cider, I caught the 10.40 train and that was that. Thank you Van for two great nights in Bath, and don't leave it so long before returning!. 

THE END.

The Beautiful City Of Bath.

Van Morrison: These Dreams Of You, Bath Forum 28/4/2026

 Van & his band were on great form in Bath last night. I'll write a full report tomorrow after night 2.

 

Remembering Sandy Denny.

Britain's greatest folk-rock singer Sandy Denny died on this day April 21st in 1978 aged only 31. Her daughter Georgia Rose Lucas has just made this wonderful film of Sandy's haunting and ethereal  song about Mary Queen of Scots called  Fotheringay. It originally appeared on Fairport Convention's 1968 album What We Did On Our Holidays.

In The Garden, Part 3.

Potentilla

I have been busy in the garden every fine day since I wrote In The Garden Part 2. The major project undertaken in the last few days is that I demolished my little shed. It was beginning to fall apart anyway, and quite frankly I was ashamed of it. The floor had rotted away years ago and I didn’t really need it for the few tools I possess. It never was much of a shed, not much bigger than a sentry box.  I used to call it ‘The world’s smallest shed’. When I started taking it apart, I discovered it had become a home for all manner of small creatures especially spiders, snails, and daddy long legs. “Right lads”, I thought to myself, “It’s about time you found yourselves some new digs!”. To dispose of all the wood, I have been breaking it up into small pieces and taking it round to a nearby mate to burn in his wood burning stove. My little yard looks a bit bigger now. 

Geum

Once I have given the yard walls a fresh coat of masonry paint and stained the fence I’ll show you a photo. It looks a bit like a builder’s yard out there at the moment, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. I still need a couple of new fence panels, but I think I’ll save that project for another time. I’ll just give the old panels a coat of preservative to make them look a bit more presentable. On the growing front, the seeds I have been propagating on my windowsills are coming along nicely. The sunflowers are especially shooting skywards. Outside Lidl they were selling trays of verbena, petunia, and calibrachoa, so I bought some and made up four hanging baskets which I’ll add to when my own plants are bigger. It’s still a bit early for hanging baskets, but I’m impatient, so I hope we don’t get anymore frost. My yard is quite sheltered, so hopefully I’ll be ok. 

Ladybird.

Finally, me and a friend went for lunch at the café in the garden centre in Trowbridge on Tuesday and I bought myself a Potentilla which should grow into a nice three-foot-high shrub with red flowers. I must say I have enjoyed being outside, keeping busy, and getting some much-needed exercise. One last thought, I think this year we might see a lot of ladybirds. I don’t think I saw any last year but have already spotted quite a few recently. I’ll write another garden update before too long. Cheers.

Moya & Van.

Only four weeks after hearing the sad news of the passing of Dolores Keane I was very sorry yesterday to hear that another great Irish singer has gone. It is Moya Brennan who was the sister of Enya and a founder member, singer, and harpist with the great Irish folk rock group Clannad which she founded with other family members in 1970. Before Moya pursued a solo career Clannad had a huge international hit with the Theme From Harry's Game. The song I want to share with you today though is a Van Morrison song The Beauty Of The Days Gone By which Moya recorded to celebrate Van's 75th birthday. This is what Moya said about Van in Hot Press magazine at the time, 

'In 1967, tuning into an old transistor radio in Donegal to hear the latest pop/rock songs, I couldn’t believe my ears when the DJ introduced a new singer/songwriter from Belfast with an amazing song called ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. We were both from Ulster and I felt that connection, I was hooked. What was and is brilliant about Van is all the influences he used. It made a huge impact on me when he blended jazz and folk, Celtic rock and rhythm and blues and many more genres of music together. Van is special because of his poetry in music and his Celtic soul. Very few artists have recorded over 40 albums from 1967 to the present and still come out with gems of songs. He can still bring me on a spiritual journey. I’ve always felt a connection with Van – we’ve met lots of times and we’ve both wanted to do something together. I had the opportunity last August in The Met in Belfast, when poet Paul Muldoon was putting on one of his summer picnic shows. Van came along and sang two songs with myself, Cormac de Barra and Paul’s band. The two songs he chose were ‘Steal My Heart Away’ and ‘The Beauty Of The Days Gone By’ from Down The Road. Loved singing with him, loved the songs. So I thought it would be nice to do one of them on this special tribute'.

Brimful Of Asha.

I was listening to the Cerys Matthews show on BBC 6 Music yesterday and it was mentioned that Ashalata Bhosale had passed away at the age of 92. I was sorry to hear that news. I'm not Indian so I wasn’t at all familiar with her work, but I knew her name because she was the inspiration for one of my favourite pop songs of the 1990’s which was Brimful Of Asha by Cornershop. It became a huge international hit when remixed by Fatboy Slim. 

This is what I read about Asha on Wikipedia. Ashalata Ganpat Bhosale 8 September 1933 – 12 April 2026) was an Indian singer, actress, and television personality who predominantly worked in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she was described in the media as one of the greatest and most influential singers in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over eight decades, she recorded songs for films and albums in various Indian languages and won several accolades including two National Film Awards, four BFJA Awards, eighteen Maharashtra State Film Awards, nine Filmfare Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a record seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Singer, in addition to two Grammy nominations. In 2000, she was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. In 2008, she was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour of the country. The Guinness Book of World Records acknowledged her in 2011 as the most recorded artist in music history. I have shared Brimful Of Asha below if you would like to hear it.

In The Garden. (Part 2)

My New Fence.

I have been quite busy the last few days. On Saturday at mid-day B & Q delivered two more fence panels. If you have never heard of B & Q, they are Britain’s largest retailer of house and garden improvement supplies. The name comes from Block & Quayle who were the two partners who opened their first hardware store in Southampton in 1969. From those humble beginnings they now have stores all over Britain and even as far away as China. I have found their service excellent. Anyway, I set to work straight away. Sadly, I had to cut back the clematis right back to the base. It seemed a shame because it was still in flower, but it had to be done, and hopefully it will soon grow back again before too long. I fixed the panels to the posts with metal strips that had screw holes in them. 

I had bought a new power drill in Davies’s a couple of weeks ago, so the job went reasonably smoothly. I must admit I was exhausted by 5 o’clock, so retired to the pub for two pints of cider to revive myself. I think it looks a lot better now, but a bit bare until I get some more plants growing in front of it. I also have a mountain of debris from the old fence to depose of gradually in the wheelie bin. That is enough fence repairs for me for the time being. I am planning to get rid of my little shed at some point because it is becoming a bit of an eye-sore, but I might leave that until the autumn. Yesterday, I busied myself in potting out a few more seeds. I haven’t got a greenhouse, so my windowsills in the kitchen and bathroom now have pots and trays of sunflowers, black eyed Susie, Livingstone daisy, petunia, sweet peas, cosmos, ladybird poppies, and hollyhocks, so I’m looking forward to watching them bursting upwards over the next few weeks. 

I’ll buy a few more plants in the garden centre when I get the chance. It is a bit overcast and colder here today, but I might go out there and do a bit of tidying up. There is always something to do, even in a little garden, but it is very enjoyable just pottering around. Much better for your mental health than watching the news, that’s for sure. I’ll write another garden update before too long. Cheers. 

Now I wait.