Some 400,000 Garth Brooks fans may still be licking their wounds over his aborted concerts in Ireland, which were originally scheduled for this past weekend. But Irish musician Van Morrison gave about 400 of his most devoted followers something worth writing home about on Sunday with a rare small-venue show virtually in his own back yard.

At one point, the celebrated singer, composer and lyricist grabbed, of all things, a ukulele, pulled a stool up in front of a microphone stand and sat his compact, stocky frame down, announcing to the audience at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa in Newcastle (not far from his hometown of Belfast), “It’s comedy time again.”

“This is called ‘sit-down comedy’ — it was invented by Billy Connolly,” the 68-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said, a broad grin appearing briefly on his ruddy, round face. “Just so you know I’m legitimate, Billy Connolly says I’m very funny. I’m not going to argue with that.”

It was a rare — for Morrison especially — moment of onstage levity, the kind of revealing drop of his guard that few outside an inner circle of close associates ever get to witness.

This was why those looking on had forked over close to $400 (Dh1,468) a ticket to see Morrison in such an intimate setting. About a quarter of the fans crossed the Atlantic from the US, while another sizable portion came from across Europe for the chance to see the artist sometimes referred to as the Belfast Cowboy virtually in his own back yard, said Howard Hastings, managing director of Hastings Hotels.

Hastings owns the resort and spa where Morrison performed in the first of two nights in the hotel’s swanky ballroom, which was outfitted for the shows with three dozen white linen-draped tables for 10.

Morrison in recent years has adopted it as his home field performance space of choice, using it to prepare for other tour dates or just to comfortably play for local fans. “He likes it because it feels like the blues clubs he started out in,” Hastings said.

Morrison has long been one of pop’s most mercurial and at times hermetic figures, one who rarely grants interviews and who during concerts rarely chats with audiences, opting to let his music say whatever he is in the mood to express on any given night.

Dressed in a black fedora, shades and a dark grey suit, Morrison was accompanied on Sunday by his musician daughter Shana.