I was at this concert, or at least the first of the two nights from which this album is culled. It was the second time I saw Van in Belfast that year. The first was an open air event at the Botanic Gardens, a stop of the Bob Dylan/Van Morrison double-bill tour of 1998. Except that everyone in Belfast just called it the "Van concert". Bob went on first, still in daylight, and played a very poor set, like he just couldn't care, and ensured that he took nothing away from Van's homecoming. I saw them both in Sheffield the following week, where they switched roles: Van never out of second gear; Bob playing a blinder. Both of them played completely different sets, with only four or five songs in common between the two performances four nights apart.
But back to the case at hand. This gig was in the Whitla Hall at Queen's University, where they hold their graduation ceremonies and suchlike. That, combined with the billing of Donegan and Barber, meant that many of the audience for this gig could have been the parents of the audience for the summer gig. It was all rather formal: M bumped into her Head of Department and shook hands with his wife etc.
Little of that atmosphere comes across on the recording, and it's all the better for it. Whereas the event itself was rather too polite, the CD blows and hollers and sweats in all the right places. Incredibly tight performances from all concerned, sounding like they've been playing these songs together for decades, but still have a desire to impress. Really, they don't put a foot wrong.
Another thing that doesn't come across that clearly from the recording is how much Lonnie Donegan upstaged Van on the night. Not in a bad way. But you know how Van is: always the truculence is oozing from every pore as though he'd rather be somewhere else. But for Donegan, the stage was his home and he clearly loved being there, and loved the interaction with the audience. (There's a bit at the end of Midnight Special where you hear whistles from the audience, followed by Lonnie's rejoinder, "Sit down, you fools, you couldn't afford me" — he'd just taken off his leather jacket with a striptease flourish.)
Donegan was a revelation for me that night. I knew his name from John Peel mentioning how Donegan had been his first hero, the man that ignited Peel's passion for records. But I'd heard few of his records and had missed their appeal. On stage he had such infectious energy, befitting of someone half a century younger than his 67 years, and you can hear the quality of his performance. His career enjoyed an Indian Summer after the release of this album, and deservedly so.
All of this is not to say that Van is below par at all. No, he's on good form, inspired by the rest of the players, and he deserves plenty of credit for having the imagination to put together this ensemble and these shows. As with his championing of Mose Allison, it might have taken me many more years to discover these older performers without his intervention.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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