Astral Weeks Live At the Hollywood Bowl

Astral Weeks became a cult favorite and was seen almost as a religion to many artists. On November 7 and 8, 2008, four decades later, at the age 63, Van Morrison revisited Astral Weeks live in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl, and delivered a jawdropping, awe-inspiring performance.

The first half of the show featured Morrison playing timeless classics that have made him a legend, while the second half was the breathtaking performance of the Astral Weeks album.Van Morrison did not simply re-create what he did 40 years ago in a NY studio, but instead took the songs to a dramatically higher contemporary level. The jazz-rooted compositions of Astral Weeks are poetic stories of young love and the quest to find one's place in life. They were, and remain, ideal source material for musical improvisation that gives way to the sense of wonder for which Morrison has always striven.

". . . transcendence is what Morrison has been after with his music from the beginning, and it's what he achieved frequently on Friday, when he played his watershed 1968 album Astral Weeks live in its entirety for the first time. The wondrous, youthful timbre of his voice then has evolved over the years into a richer, fuller instrument, with every bit of its remarkable elasticity very much intact." (L. A. Times)