An Evening At The Bowl

It’s impossible to top the greatest Father’s Day gift of all time (tickets to Monday Night Football at Texas Stadium with my buddy, Big Dave), but this year’s came in a VERY close second. Spending the 4th at The Hollywood Bowl with my wife listening to John Fogerty and the L.A. Philharmonic and watching fireworks made for an unforgettable evening.

We took the Park ‘n Ride option from Westwood (UCLA) to The Bowl, which turned out to be a very smooth move (traffic is a little crazy there, what with the stacked parking and all). We grabbed an expensive bite to eat at The Rooftop Grill and then settled in with 18,000 of our newest friends to enjoy an evening of music at this breathtaking outdoor venue. Here was the view from our seats…

It took about thirty minutes for the sun to finish setting behind the mountain trees, leaving absolutely perfect weather for an outdoor concert. The evening began with several selections from the L.A. Philharmonic, and to tell the truth, as a not-so-cultured individual I thought this would be the penance I’d have to endure to get to Fogerty. But I was wrong. They were fantastic. Not just musically good, but absolutely entertaining. In addition to the coolness of singing The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America on the 4th of July with a talented orchestra, they did a tribute to Michael Jackson by performing Thriller. Very cool. Here are a couple of pics of the orchestra in action.

Then came intermission to set up for the feature act of the evening. They started playing a little Fogerty music from “Blue Moon Swamp,” and I started getting excited. I don’t know if the intermission was extra long or if I was just getting antsy, but it sure seemed to be a longer intermission than necessary! While we waited, I snapped a pic of Jody & I to help remember the evening.

And then came Fogerty.

He came out and said, “Happy Birthday America! That’s the longest speech I give all year. Let’s rock.”

And he did. And it was good.

The acoustics in the bowl are amazing, only exceeded last night by the talent on stage. I thought the concert was unbelievable, though my fondness for his music may have made me a little biased. He performed so many classic songs: Proud Mary, Down on the Corner, Fortunate Son, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Green River, and, of course, Centerfield. I had a blast. Turns out Fogerty is 64 years old now, and forget all the steroid scandals in baseball – any 64-year-old man that can perform like that on stage has to be on something performance-enhancing. He can still rock like he was a kid. Maybe all those drugs from the Sixties have a delayed effect or something.

Here he is in action.

Speaking of having a blast, the evening ended in fireworks, set to the musical stylings of John Philip Sousa as performed by the L.A. Philharmonic. Didn’t get the best pics of the show, but this one will have to suffice.

The Park ‘n Ride option helped us escape the crowds unscathed, and we made it home a little after 11pm. Just a perfect, perfect night.