Irish rock legend Van Morrison follows acclaimed Belfast residency with new run of UK live shows, including Edinburgh date...

Irish rock legend Van Morrison is set to play Edinburgh Usher Hall on Monday March 31 in support of his forthcoming new album ‘Remembering Now’ (out 13th March). The new long-player includes ‘Down To Joy’ – Van Morrison’s long-awaited theme to Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar & Bafta winning movie ‘Belfast.’

Having just completed an acclaimed three-night run at Whitla Hall in Belfast, Van Morrison is set to play a new run of UK live shows this month.

Full list of dates:

March 18 – Nottingham Royal Concert Hall

March 19 – Birmingham Symphony Hall

March 23 – Oxford New Theatre

March 24 – Stroud Sub Rooms

March 30 – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

March 31 – Edinburgh Usher Hall.

With his new album ‘Remembering Now’ (out March 13 via Exile Productions/Virgin Music), Van Morrison returns to the transcendent, uncategorisable rhapsodies that make him unique. Soul, jazz, blues, folk, country – this is music in conversation with all of them but limited by none. It’s rich with hallmarks of classic Van Morrison, from dominant themes of love in spirit with the great ‘Someone Like You’ (the escapist romance of ‘Once In A Lifetime Feelings’, the self-deprecating candour of ‘The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours’) to specific references to locations from his youth in the title track and ‘Stomping Ground’. The title of another song, ‘When the Rains Came’, echoes a lyric from his classic ‘Brown Eyed Girl’.

From the radiant opener, ‘Down to Joy’, to the joyously resilient ‘Haven’t Lost My Sense of Wonder’, Van Morrison’s voice, guitar and saxophone continue to mesmerise and he is surrounded, as always, by a fabulous band – Richard Dunn (Hammond organ), Stuart McIlroy (piano), Pete Hurley (bass) and Colin Griffin (drums and percussion) – who have worked with him since ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ in 2019.

The single ‘Down To Joy’ feels like he has gone back to his soul and gospel roots, its strong emphasis on an uplifting big band arrangement with evocative strings providing fans with a taste of timeless sounds which represents the rest of the album.

Beyond his key band members, ‘Remembering Now’ features an array of accomplished collaborators. Its strings were arranged and directed by Fiachra Trench (Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello), whose association with Van Morrison goes back to ‘Avalon Sunset’ in 1989. Those strings were performed by the Fews Ensemble led by Joanne Quigley.

Other contributions come from Michael Beckwith, the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, the renowned lyricist Don Black (Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Quincy Jones) and the acclaimed folk artist Seth Lakeman.