Bob Dylan and Van Morrison go way back. The two legendary contemporaries have covered one another tons of times over the years. They’ve performed together on multiple occasions — including, as Rolling Stone points out, a 1988 co-headlining tour. They were both in The Last Waltz. Dylan has played his own versions of Van Morrison’s classics many times; he just did “Into The Mystic” in Spain a couple of years ago. And at a show in Morrison’s hometown in Thursday night, Dylan gave the ultimate sign of perverse respect: He covered a recent Van Morrison song, one that nobody knows.
Last night, Bob Dylan and his band played the second of two shows at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, the same venue that hosted a recent 80th-birthday celebration for Morrison. Dylan ended his set with a truly unexpected choice, taking on “Going Down To Bangor,” a deep cut from the 2016 Van Morrison album Keep Me Singing. As Rolling Stone notes, Morrison himself has only performed that song a handful of times. I wonder if he even remembers making it.
Did anyone in Waterfront Hall recognize “Going Down To Bangor” when Dylan played it? Also, is it the only banger about Bangor? (It’s not really a banger. I just wanted to force that pun.) Phones are prohibited at Dylan shows, but someone took an audio recording of the cover anyway. You can hear that recording and the Van Morrison original below.
Sadly, Daily Dylan won’t be posting this.
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