Our Trip To See Van Morrison in Dublin 2003.

Me, Kim, & James Joyce.

The only time we saw Van in Ireland was 2003 when we saw him in Dublin. When we set out on that fateful journey little did we realise what lay ahead. In Bristol the train broke down for an hour and when we changed trains at Newport, I realised that we had missed our connection for Fishguard. When the ticket collector came along, he said.,

Kim On Ferry.

"Well, I am afraid that you are not going to Fishguard today".

"We are going to Fishguard today", I angrily replied, "I have two tickets here that say we are, we have a ferry to catch, and it wasn't our fault we were delayed, so you just go and sort it out".

A few minutes later he returned and sat down next to me.

“You are sitting on my hat!”.

Kim had bought me a new hat in Kevin's Menswear £39 and this railway person was sitting on it.

"Oh Sorry, well I have had a word with my superiors and if you get out at Carmarthen there will be a taxi waiting to take you to Fishguard".

"Thank you very much”, I replied, knocking my hat back into shape.

The rest of the journey past without incident and we caught the ferry on time. Although it was only late March it was a beautiful calm sunny day and we spent most of the time on deck as the boat sped us towards Ireland. It's always a thrill to see Ireland appearing in the distance, and when we got off the boat at Rosslare it felt great to be back in the land of saints and scholars. We spent the night in The Rosslare Hotel. This is the hotel where Eamon De Valera spent a night before escaping to France under the noses of the British disguised as a priest. There is a photo of him in the bar. 

Dev In Rosslare.

The next day we went to Waterford. In a cafe I asked the waitress if she knew of any good B and B's we could stay at.

"I'll give my Auntie Josie a ring and she will come and pick you up".

A few minutes later Josie arrived and ushered us to her car, we had no say in the matter. We were staying with Josie whether we liked it or not.

"Have you been to Ireland before?", asked Josie.

"Oh yes, my family come from County Mayo".

"Oh Mayo, god help us", said Josie, crossing herself. I think this goes back to the famine when Mayo had it worse than anywhere and people felt sorry for them. That night we went out on the town and didn't get home till gone midnight and Josie was waiting up for us. When we got in, she started pouring us glasses of sherry and wanted a chat. Above her fireplace was a large painting of a racehorse from the days before George Stubbs learned how to paint horses correctly. "Sure didn't they have some queer looking horses in those days", said Josie. Next morning, she cooked us breakfast. The best in the world. The bacon and sausages were superb, and the bread was great. A good Irish breakfast will keep you going all day. Before we left, Josie took our photo which she did with all her visitors and drove us to the station. She was the best B and B lady I have ever met. The train ride up to Dublin is a beautiful journey. As we crossed the bridge at Arklow I spotted a cormorant preening its wings in the sunshine and the town looked really nice with all the buildings painted in bright colours. Van visited here back in 73 on his holiday which inspired one of his greatest albums Veedon Fleece. I would have loved to have stopped and wandered the Streets Of Arklow but that will have to be another time, When we got to Dublin I asked a man where the taxi rank was.

Street Of Arklow.

"Go left and you'll be right", he replied, the Dubliners are wizards with words, it is no wonder they are such great writers. We arrived at our hotel Cassady's in Upper O'Connell St. I chose this hotel because I like the name Cassady. It reminds me of Jack Kerouac books. At the Gate Theatre opposite they were putting on a Tennessee Williams play which I thought was a good omen for the concert the following night. Then we set out to explore Dublin. In O'Connell St Kim took my photo with the statue of James Joyce. All the statues in Dublin have nicknames. James Joyce is known as 'The Prick With The Stick', Molly Malone is 'The Tart With The Cart' and a statue of a goddess in a fountain is 'The Floosie In The Jacuzzi' or 'The Hoo'er In The Sewer'.

Military Manouvres.

We visited The National Gallery in Merrion Square to have a look at the pictures. Although Ireland is world famous for the richness of its literary tradition, its artists are not so well known except for Jack B Yeats and a few others. In the gallery I was pleasantly surprised to see the wealth of fine paintings on display, particularly of the Irish impressionists. One painting that caught my eye was this one called Military Manouvres by Richard Thomas Moynan. I felt that it was speaking to me and telling me a story. The people in the painting were not mere images but real people. The painting is set in a small Irish town and the barefoot children are playing a game of being a marching band. There is an English officer walking along the pavement with his wife and trying to ignore the children who are taking the Mickey out of him. All apart from one at the front who is obviously their leader. This is obviously no game to him; this is deadly serious. He is looking directly at the officer with a look that seems to say. "Get out of my country," The girl in the forefront carrying the basket completes the triangle. She is looking at the kid’s leader as if she knows that one day he will get in a lot of trouble if he isn't careful. I was so taken with this picture that in the gallery shop I bought a print of it. Now it has pride of place in my living room. When we left the gallery, I found that all that culture had given me a thirst, so we went in O’Donoghue’s pub. On the way back to the hotel we walked past the Shelbourne Hotel and Kim said,

In O'Donoghue's

"I want to go in there",

"Why?"

"Glass of champagne, come on, Van might be in there".

We sat in these huge comfortable leather armchairs in the bar sipping champagne and pretending to be rich. I said to the barman that the chairs were so comfortable I could fall asleep, and he said that the Brazilian ambassador did fall asleep in my chair the day before. The Van concert the following night was mainly memorable for a Canadian guy demanding Listen To The Lion and Van singing it. The Helix in Dublin is a beautiful concert venue. It was also great to hear Raglan Road performed in it's hometown of Dublin.  This is the full setlist. All Blues (Miles Davis cover), Only a Dream, Meet Me in the Indian Summer, Sack O' Woe, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Bright Lights, Big City, In the Midnight, Cleaning Windows / Be-Bop-A-Lula, Allow Me, All Work and No Play, Raglan Road, Moondance, Have I Told You Lately, In the Afternoon / Raincheck, Listen to the Lion, Precious Time, It's All in the Game, Did Ye Get Healed? / Yeh Yeh.

The Helix.

I was glad we made the effort to see Van in Ireland. A couple of days later we were sailing away from Rosslare again after our too brief trip. The journey home was uneventful until we changed trains at Cardiff, and I left my ill-fated hat on the luggage rack of the train. When we arrived home at Westbury my hat was probably just pulling in at Paddington, and I never saw it again.