The ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ author is set to play some intimate shows in venues all over the UK, kicking off on March 18 at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. Tickets are set to go on sale at 9am GMT on Friday 7 via TicketMaster.

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The 79-year-old Blues Rock legend will be going on tour in support of one of his 2024 album ‘New Arrangements And Duets’ which is an album made out of songs from Morrison’s archive. Morrison’s album contains duets of all sorts with names such as Joss Stone, Curtis Stigers and Kurt Elling. One name Van was the most thrilled about was Willie Nelson, 91-year-old Folk legend, with whom he shares the two songs ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture?’ and ‘Steal My Heart Away’.

In a talk with The Sun, the artist shared: “It had been on my mind to do a duet with Willie Nelson for a long, long time but I didn’t get the opportunity. It was absolutely fantastic. Very relaxing and very professional. Willie came in and delivered. I played those songs for him and he was into them. There’s not a lot of pondering with this stuff. The less back and forth the better. Willie covers all the bases and, to me, he’s very similar to Ray Charles. I like his work and I heard he liked mine.”

‘New Arrangements And Duets’ broadcasts a small percentage of the huge amount of unreleased music Morrison still has under his belt. Working alongside Paul Moran and Chris White on the songs that needed big band arrangements, leading an array of vocalists and paying tributes to places like Belfast, the Harland and Wolff shipyard as well as people like his father and the love the latter had for jazz music. The solo artist played a sold-out show at the Royal Albert Hall in late 2024 which received a four-star review from The Independent.

Set to play in his hometown of Belfast at the Whitla Hall venue at the end of the month, the singer added an extra date due to the high demand.  

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Van Morrison’s March UK tour dates are:

18/03/25 – Royal Concert Hall – Nottingham

19/03 – Symphony Hall – Birmingham

23/03 – New Theatre Oxford – Oxford

24/03 – The Subscription Rooms – Stroud

The tour will end at the Adelphi Theatre in London on September 30.

The band formed in 1963 and have 2 number 1 hits in the UK. The group split in 1969 and then reformed in the mid 70’s and again in 2006 when they returned for an international tour. Along with other sixties popular bands, they had helped to popularise blues and RnB in the UK. Their hits included, ‘Gimmie some lovin,’ ‘Keep on helping,’ ‘Somebody Help Me’ and ‘I’m a Man.’

His Friend, Bob Birk who was a musician friend for more than 30 years told BBC News, “He was a very good friend. He was a highly ethical, very talented, good-hearted, extremely intelligent, generous man. He will be missed.” 

At the age of just 6, Davis learnt to play the harmonica and the accordion. After taking up the guitar, he formed his first band, ‘The Saints’ with Bill Wyman who later joined ‘The Rolling Stones.’ He moved to Birmingham for university and played America folk and Blues in bands. This led to the formation of the ‘Spencer Davies Group’ a rhythm and blues quartet with drummer Spencer Davies.

Their first chart toping hit, ‘Keep on Running’ was a cover song by Jack Edwards. It topped the charts in 1966, when it knocked the Beatles A sided single, ‘We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper,’ off the top chart spot. A telegram from The Beatles congratulated them from The BBC, “Congratulations on reaching number one – The Beatles.”

Some of their later chart hits including, ‘I’m a man’ and ‘Gimmie Some Lovin’ were covered by the Blues Brothers. The band also recorded the theme song for the children’s tv show, ‘Magpie’ under the pseudonym ‘The Murgatroyd Band.’ The Spencer Davies Group last hit, ‘I’m a Man’ reached the top 10 in the US and the UK in 1967.

The Spencer Davies Groups’ music is still popular today and is played frequently. Officialcharts.com have reported that they spent 3 weeks at number 1 with, ‘Keep On Running’ ‘Somebody Help Me’ and ‘March’ with 19 weeks in the top 10 and 55 weeks in the top 40.

Jim Simpson from Birmingham’s International Jazz Festival said on his passing, “I took Pete’s call half an hour ago and thought: What a shame.  Spencer was a lovely man – always very courteous and a purist about music. The Spencer Davis Group stuck more to the blues and never became a fully-fledged rock band. They had a residency at the sadly now demolished Golden Eagle on Hill Street and were originally called The Rhythm and Blues Quartet – a terrible name!” – Birmingham Live

1970,’s Spandau Ballet singer Gary Kemp paid tribute to the Davis tweeting, “He lead a magnificent band, one of the greats of the 60s, along with Muff and Steve Winwood. Keep in [sic] Running and Gimme Some Lovin’ were R&B classics. He drove soul into the white rock sound of the time.”

RIP Spencer Davis. He lead a magnificent band, one of the greats of the 60s, along with Muff and Steve Winwood. Keep in Running and Gimme Some Lovin’ we’re r&b classics. He drove soul into the white rock sound of the time. #SpencerDavis pic.twitter.com/LmAM9xXYKv

— Gary Kemp (@garyjkemp) October 20, 2020

 

The young rockers have already become notorious for their live shows and covers packed set lists. The full track listing for the band’s debut studio album has yet to be announced.

The group, from Cavan, Ireland, have been tipped by many of our nations’ most loved pop and rock royalty, including Elton John. The Rocket Man singer claimed earlier this year that the teenage band are ‘a breath of fresh air’.

After playing their biggest festival show to date on The John Peel stage at this year’s Glastonbury festival, the Irish teens are embarking on a tour with the Arctic Monkeys this October and November.

After announcing they are working with esteemed producer Chris Thomas, who has worked with the likes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols, expectations could not be higher.

The Irish four-piece released their debut single Blue Collar Jane this March to critical acclaim, which was supported by a number of Radio 1 DJs.

The Strypes debut album Snapshot is out this September.