And, for that matter, Too Late guitarist John Platania showed up for the Bowl encores.) (That resume includes arguably the greatest rock concert album, It’s Too Late to Stop Now, which also sported cellist Terry Adams, who anchored the unusual string quartet – violin, violin/viola, and two cellos – at the Bowl as well. But David Hayes easily slid into Davis’s slot (which is real double bass, not bass guitar, BTW), having been the bassist on 15 Morrison albums dating back to 1973. It was no Xeroxed note-for-note recreation, and not just because original bassist Richard Davis’s participation didn’t work out, though original guitarist Jay Berliner’s present and sterling. But what could’ve been a disaster proved a triumph. Certainly the 40th anniversary of Astral Weeks deserved to be celebrated, but conceptually, it was a bit odd to present one of the most intimate albums in rock history at the Hollywood Bowl, capacity 17,376.
