Van up close: Europa Hotel, 16 March

Well, the gamble paid off.

It was certainly worth the trip to Belfast and a stonking ticket price and braving the washed-out St Patrick's Day weekend weather to take front row seats to see Van Morrison playing on his home patch to an audience of 250.

The Man was in mellow mood, clearly enjoying himself: teasing the band and treating us to a range of apercus - on subjects ranging from grumpy people who manage to avoid the criticism he gets (eg HM The Queen) to the equally regal Cliff Richard (substituting 'when Sir Cliff shines his light' in the lyrics when he revisited their one - award winningly unlikely - collaboration).

We travelled up in the lift afterwards with MD Paul Moran, who confirmed with a grin that a good time had been had by all.

It was a jazzy set, geared to the supper club ambience - as the setlist shows. Two songs from last year's album, some standards; the band trading solos fluently and Van contributing a fair amount of sax himself.

The highlights for me were an unexpected rearrangement of 'Wavelength' and a beautiful, luminous, reading of 'In The Garden' - real hairs on the back of the neck stuff.

The bluesey triptych at the end was great,too - muscular performances with Van blowing some fine harp. The audience got up and crowded to the front of the stage and suddenly it could have been some small club, way back when.

Daughter Shana Morrison opened the evening with three songs of her own and then sang backing vocals through the evening, which also seemed to suit the home town vibe.

It's great that Van has found a way of working that really suits him, but the growing sequence of Irish supper club gigs this year may test his fans' wallets and diaries. People seem to be flying in from all over - we were sitting next to a Dutch couple, there was a good sprinkling of Americans, apparently some from Australia - and I hope they continue to do so and he can carry on filling the venues.

I leave you with a man and his mouth organ...

...in his element.

Tunng: movement in the undergrowth

Excellent to hear that a new studio album from Tunng is on its way. They're probably my favourite discovery of recent years and their sabbatical through 2012 left a definite gap in my personal soundscape.

There was an attractive substitute in the shape of Mike Lindsay's Cheek Mountain Thief album, which I liked a lot, but it will be good to have the full band back in action.

The other Tunng-related release last year was Sam Genders' Diagrams release Black Light. It didn't immediately grab me: I felt at the time that it was a bit too poppy and the lyrics too deliberately zany. But 12 months later, I've got there and have really warmed to an upbeat and consistently inventive set of songs. And - while I don't particularly want to plug Amazon - I now find they have vinyl copies available for the knockdown price of £6.45... Grab while stocks last. Here's a taste.

Lucinda Williams for the Brighton Festival

It's that time of year when the Brighton Festival brochure lands on the doormat...

Not a programme that has immediately filled me with excitement this time (the one Brian Eno curated two years ago remains a high-water mark for me), but I was delighted to see that Lucinda Williams will be playing at the Dome on 15 May.

One of the classic voices in country music and a strong, strong songwriter: here's one of her very best love songs, so suffused with desire you can taste it, 'Right In Time'...

And,of course, she has a fine track on Oh Michael, Look What You've Done too. Have I mentioned the Michael Chapman compilation before?

The world's coolest watering hole?

You may recall a flurry of publicity a few weeks back when the Rough Guides included Margate as one of their ten must-see destinations around the globe in 2013. I'm sure most have you have already been consulting maps and timetables and planning your visit.

Should you need any further persuasion, one of the world's smallest theatres, the Tom Thumb, now has one of the world's coolest cocktail bars.

I can personally testify to the quality of their Manhattans, elegantly served at a gala opening night for an all-star charity performance of The Vagina Monologues. The likes of Rita Tushingham, Nancy Dell'Olio and Pauline McLynn helped raise thousands for charity with some brave and highly entertaining performances.

And here is nothing quite like necking bourbon from a jam-jar while chatting at the bar to Mrs Doyle from Father Ted, I assure you...

Michael Chapman in Brighton

"I'm going to be playing the guitar tonight," announced Michael Chapman to a rightly packed West Hill Hall yesterday. "I've just been touring with Thurston Moore and we've been torturing the things..."

He is a man of several parts and the improv which has informed his last two albums, Clayton Peacock and Pachyderm, is on hold, in favour of more structured songs and tunes from his wonderful back catalogue. 

That said, it is his virtuso instrumental chops which are to the fore, with the lyrics largely spoken now. And his playing is freewheeling and expansive, with several extended medleys exploring the sonic possibilities of his trusty guitar, which is 'nearly as old as me' and 'doesn't like the cold', as frequent tunings testify.

He plays the gruff, no nonsense Yorkshireman to a tee in his between-songs patter, skirting the non-PC with relish. A recollection of a dinner with John Fahey, which ended with his 20 stone touring partner naked except for a strategically-placed flag from the Nuremberg Rallies, leads into a beautiful pastiche ('that's French for piss-take') of the great man, all bottleneck and handbrake turns.

Other highlights include 'That Time Of Night', which Lucinda Williams covered memorably on last year's Oh Michael, Look What You've Done compilation (which I will continue to plug at every opportunity: it's great, if you haven't heard it yet...). It's a lovely summation of the tenderness behind the tough coating of the Chapman persona:

I love it when you want me
I love it when you care
You know I don't scare easy
But I do get scared.

He is one of the great guitarists. Full stop.

It's amazing we can see him in small halls like this, so catch him when you can.