Eloquent, philosophical and occasionally outrageous, Russell Brand is a rock star comedian.

An enormous draw, it is no surprise at all that his show at the New Theatre tonight is well and truly sold-out.

If you are among the fortunate - and highly organised - few to have landed a ticket, however, you can expect witty observations on the strangeness of the past 18 months, in which he asks what have we learned... and not, and asks how does one ‘get back to normal’ if you’ve never been normal?

The theatre continues it run of big name acts, which follows last night's acclaimed show by punk poet John Cooper Clarke, with a gig by Van Morrison on November 6.

The man behind such tunes as Brown Eyed Girl, Have I Told You Lately and Days Like This, returns to the city for what is expected to be a crowd pleasing show of hits – or at least as ‘crowd pleasing’ as Van gets.

The iconic singer-songwriter tours following the release of his new double-album ‘Latest Record Project: Volume 1’, which went straight into the charts at number five, making it the 16th Top 10 solo album of his extraordinary career.

The record spawned the double A-side single Up County Down and Where Have All The Rebels Gone?, which should both get an airing.

The tunes reveal Van the Man’s golden voice at best, and see him reflecting on life.

atgtickets.com