Van Morrison

Van Morrison plays the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Monday 2 November, as part of his Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge tour. It's a return to the blues, and the set will be built around the new album.

Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge came out this year as a deluxe double LP, his first release on vinyl. It's a record of fresh takes on songs by B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Lead Belly, and the tour is built around that material. 2026 has been a big year for him: he picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jazz FM Awards alongside the album.

That blues focus goes back a long way. Born in post-war Belfast in 1945, Morrison grew up on his shipyard-worker father's collection of blues, country and gospel. He followed in the slipstream of Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson and Lead Belly, and was a travelling musician by 13, playing guitar and sax in several bands before forming Them in 1964. He's remained a game-changing artist through the 90s and into the 21st century, collecting a knighthood, a Brit, an OBE, an Ivor Novello, six Grammys, honorary doctorates from Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster, entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

The concert starts at 7:30pm at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3NY. Tickets are £96.70, £74.30 and £57.50, which include the booking fee and restoration fund.