“Throughout the whole set, he was terrific – engaged, nuanced, generous and seemingly tireless in his vocalizing, while offering the occasional masterly saxophone or harmonica solo as lagniappe,” is the verdict of The Washington Post’s man in the front row, Tim Page.
“To be sure, there were slight differences – in the most notable structural change, he moved the almost unbearably desolate album closer, ‘Slim Slow Slider’, to earlier in the set, and finished with the marginally more cheerful ‘Madame George’, but it was still recognizably –triumphantly – Astral Weeks."
In an email interview beforehand with the Los Angeles Times – who spoke of his “alchemist’s approach to music” – Van maintained: “I’m not ‘revisiting’ it really, as this is a totally different project. I’d always wanted to do these songs fully orchestrated and live, but never got around to it. Then I thought, well, we have lost the great (drummer) Connie Kay already and Larry Fallon the original arranger, so I thought I should probably get to it now.”
Broadcast live on KCRW FM Los Angeles’ website – the first time Morrison has indulged in this sort of world wide web-ry – the gig was recorded for the upcoming Astral Weeks Live At Hollywood Bowl album, which will be released on his own Listen To The Lion label.