Hollywood Bowl w/John Williams

One of the perks of living in Los Angeles is being able to catch the Master of Soundtracks, John Williams, conducting the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

We've done this at least 4 times so far, and never tire of hearing him. Usually he performs a mixture of great themes from movies old and new. Some are his, but not all. And he adds commentary and background on each piece in his gentle style with a little humor.

This time he started with movie themes composed when he was just a pianist in orchestras of other famous composers. One such composer was Bernard Herrmann who is famous for the soundtracks of Citizen Kane, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and several episodes of The Twilight Zone.

John told a story of how Steven Speilberg met Bernard Herrmann. When Speilberg confessed his lifelong admiration, Herrmann replied "So how come you keep hiring John Williams?" :-)

Of course almost everyone was there to hear the tunes that John created, and when they played, people were both mesmerized and excited by those familiar sounds being produced by a full orchestra. They played themes from Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T., Harry Potter, and of course, Star Wars. When any theme from Star Wars was played, dozens of light sabers lit up the audience. Just when we thought we'd left the crazy fans at Comic Con...

Just like a typical rock concert, he finishes the last song on the program, thanks the audience and leaves the stage. But wait... the orchestra is still there. After a few rounds of standing ovations, Williams returns as if obliged by our enthusiasm. But you can tell he really does love it. And we do too.


This time we lucked out with seats in Section G1, Row 15. Great seats right in the center with an excellent view. We hope to keep up this incredibly fun tradition.