Singer Van Morrison to play free gig in Belfast over Freedom of the City honour

BELFAST City Council will carry a lottery style draw for free tickets to a Van Morrison.

The Waterfront Hall gig is being hosted by the council to celebrate the singer being granted the freedom of Belfast.

The concert was due to be held at the Ulster Hall but because of demanded it was switched to the Waterfront.

Van Morrison – real name Ivan George Morrision – will be conferred with the Freedom of Belfast honour on Friday, November 15.

The east Belfast artist will perform a free concert later that evening.

A total of 2,000 tickets will be made available and fans can apply online or in person at the Watefront from 10 am tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22.

Closing date for applications for two tickets per person is by 5 pm on Wednesday, October 30.

Belfast City Council will host a computerised draw to give a fair distribution of tickets across the city.

A Belfast City council spokesperson said: “The one-off concert at the Waterfront Hall is being held to mark Belfast City Council conferring the Freedom of the City on the legendary musician to mark his remarkable global status and contribution to the city where he was born.”

Morrison, 68, said last month that he was “delighted and honoured” to receive the freedom of his native city.

In a message on his official website, he said: “Belfast is my home.

“It is where I first heard the music that influenced and inspired me, it is where I first performed and it is somewhere I have referred back to many times in my song-writing over the past fifty years.”