[1] It was recorded during two live concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California in 2008 and released on Morrison's new Listen to the Lion label and distributed by EMI.

[5] The New York Daily News in the 4 January edition named Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl as one of the "Five Most Anticipated Pop Music Events for 2009".

He performed the Astral Weeks songs along with some of his classics in two concerts at the WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden and again on 3 and 4 March at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Andy Whitman in Paste called the live album both "nearly miraculous" and a "tour-de-force", also further assessing it: "something delightfully unexpected and daring in a late career that has been increasingly characterized by playing it safe and keeping it simple.

"[26] Another early review by Mike Ragogna of The Huffington Post notes: "Through it all, Morrison is where he wants to be, onstage and in Heaven, singing, playing sax, guitar, and harmonica.

"[28] Daily News critic Jim Farber concluded: "But its most transcendent moments showcase the pleasure of letting a singer take his voice to the limit.

"[30] Speaking of the 1968 Astral Weeks recording, Morrison told David Wild with Rolling Stone: "It received no promotion, from Warner Bros.—that's why I never got to play the songs live.

As performed in both concerts they were: "Astral Weeks", "Beside You", "Slim Slow Slider", "Sweet Thing", "The Way Young Lovers Do", "Cyprus Avenue", "Ballerina" and ending with "Madame George".

Critic's comments: "True to form, he showed no interest in recreating what he did 40 years ago in a New York recording studio, but was focused on revamping the song structure dramatically in service of the present."

(Randy Lewis - LA Times)[33] "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."