This past Friday, I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see John Williams conduct the LA Philharmonic. This show is done pretty much every year and I went to it about 2 years ago. But this time, my friends Kate and Beth came with me and neither of them had seen this particular show before (also, Kate had only been to the Bowl one other time, so she was excited to get to go again).
First of all, a tip to everyone who goes to the Bowl: never drive yourself there! The parking is outrageously expensive plus it’s stacked parking so it takes forever to get out of there. You can take the subway to Hollywood and Highland and walk up the hill, but we wanted to bring a big picnic so that wasn’t the best option. What we did (and what I do almost every time I go to the Bowl) is take the Bowl Shuttle there. There are pickups all over town (we left from Santa Monica this time) and it drops you off right at the front. It’s only about $5 per person round trip so it’s very affordable!
After we took the shuttle to the Bowl, we picked up our tickets and headed to our seats. We were almost all the way on the end, but we were pretty close to the stage.
We were all pretty happy to be there, even though it was a crazy hot night!
I was super excited to see the show since I knew how amazing it was last time. But I was extra excited because of who the guest narrator was!
Julie Andrews was the narrator for the first half of the show!!! It was so incredible. She was as graceful as all the characters she’s played in movies and I was in awe watching her.
That’s her on the end of the stage. Since we weren’t super close to the stage, I spent most of the time watching her on the giant screen right by our seats.
The second half of the show featured movie soundtracks that John Williams did. There was a lot of Indiana Jones (which always makes me think of Disneyland). And the highlight of the evening was when the Star Wars music started. People come to this show with lightsabers just for this part of the show. And it was pretty cool to see the place lit up by them (sorry for the dark picture, but it was either that or a super blurry one).
There were 2 encores as well. The first one was Star Wars music again. And the second encore was the theme to “E.T.”. I remembered this being the last song the other time I saw this show. And at the final notes of the theme, the Bowl was lit up like a rainbow.
After the show ended, we headed back to the bus for our ride back to Santa Monica. I’m so glad I got to go to this show (and thank you Kate for buying my ticket for my birthday present!). I like to try to go to the Bowl every summer but this summer has been a little crazy.
I’m planning on going to this show again next year. I’m hoping my parents can come out for it (my dad has never seen a show at the Bowl before). But any show at the Bowl is really the perfect way to spend a summer evening!
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