VAN MORRISON is to celebrate his 70th birthday by playing a concert at Cyprus Avenue in his native Belfast.
The songwriter immortalised the tree-lined route after he penned a song bearing its name as part of his landmark 1968 Astral Weeks album. It was frequently performed by the artist in the 1970s and often used to end his concerts.
The street runs through the east of the city and Morrison will return there on August 31, the promoters said.
An East Belfast Partnership spokeswoman said: "This will be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, not to be missed. "Quite simply, you will want to say you were here." Cyprus Avenue is a relatively affluent street set within largely working-class East Belfast. Democratic Unionist Party founder the Rev Ian Paisley was one of its best-known residents.
Morrison has described it as a place where there is a lot of wealth.
He said: "It wasn't far from where I was brought up and it was a very different scene. "To me, it was a very mystical place. It was a whole avenue lined with trees and I found it a place where I could think."
It is also mentioned in Morrison's Madame George, another song on Astral Weeks.
The songwriter will be the main attraction at the EastSide Arts Festival. Tickets will go on sale for the Cyprus Avenue event on Monday March 2 at 9am.
* 'MYSTICAL PLACE': Cyprus Avenue in east Belfast was immortalised in song by Van Morrison on his 1968 album Astral Weeks. Morrison, far right, will play a concert on the street in August to mark his 70th birthday