Over the last 25 years, Gary Lightbody has firmly established himself as an icon of Irish music – whether through his globe-dominating work with Snow Patrol, or his efforts to champion young musicians in Northern Ireland through Third Bar Artist Development, which he co-runs with Davy Matchett. Launched to superstardom following the release of 2006’s Eyes Open, Lightbody and the band have won seven Meteor Music Awards over the course of their remarkable career – as well as being nominated for a Grammy and six BRIT Awards. Last year, they celebrated a quarter-of-a-century since their formation with the release of Reworked.

He is joined on his cover of 'Into The Mystic' by artists Miriam Kaufmann and Iain Archer.

* * * * * *

"Jesus, what a song! One of the greatest opening lines in music, too: "We were born before the wind". Bloody hell. The depth of it. You could drop a coin into it and still be waiting for the noise of it hitting the bottom a week later. If you start there then you know you’re in for something special. It was always my favourite of his. And I know, I know, it’s one of his biggest. But that means little to me – big song, little song, who cares. Is it awesome? That’s all that matters, and yer damn right it is!"

Read more in the upcoming Van Morrison Special Issue of Hot Press, and watch Lightbody, Kaufmann and Archer's performance below:

Each performance for 'Rave On, Van Morrision' will be posted at 7pm Irish Standard Time every night on the Hot Press YouTube channel.

See the line-up for the next week of 'Rave On, Van Morrison' below: