Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is world-renowned for being a premier outdoor music venue. The Bowl is host to a wide variety of musical genres from classical to reggae and jazz to swing. I have gone to several performances (Tony Bennet, Josh Groban, and the music of John Williams...sound tracks Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, and countless other blockbuster movies) there and the acoustics are fabulous. Ticket prices range from $ to $$$$$ but the great thing about the Bowl is that the shape of the amphitheater allows folks with the cheaps seats to get the same if not better musical experience as folks who shell out more cash. Plus you can bring your own picnic basket or food from your favorite take-out spot and enjoy a picnic under the stars while listening to great music. Parking at the venue is a nightmare so I suggest to park at a satellite parking site and take the shuttle to the Bowl for a nominal fee. Check out www.hollywoodbowl.com for performance dates, ticket prices, and parking information.

This was one of my favorite group activities while living in LA. I would load up on the cheap tickets in early spring. I think I spent almost $100 in tickets, but that allowed me to bring a bunch of friends to check out some great shows all season long.

You can pack a picnic and everything. There's even lots of room for dancing and moving.

A MUST DO... We usually park in the neighborhood because we get there early enough with our picnics.

On occasion, you might even see folks up on the hills enjoying the show from afar. It's a sight to see.

A music appreciation class brought me to the Hollywood Bowl for what would be my first visit there. Things started out well by Sony handing us a few hundred dollars worth of free tickets - So the large group of us (community college students) all recieved box seats, which were very close to the orchestra, giving us a great view! The concert we saw was "Video Games Live", a concert which was aimed at creating interest towards orchestrated music to a younger generation. It got me.

There was a wonderful laser lighting show, video and live acting accomanying the music, and outside the show were tons of arcade games, reps from nintendo and other big names in the business were there also. Popular video game music was played, such as the soundtrack from "Halo" and "Myst", along with about a dozen other best-sellers. Music was from all types of platforms, from the PC to the nintendo 64 to the xbox, and the perfromance was flawless.

The "Video Games Live" concert is an annual event (late summer/early fall), although the Hollywood Bowl is most known for its jazz and orchestrated music, along with spectacular world music concerts. Just don't expect a young crowd- my music appreciation teacher would describe most orchestra performances saying, "When I would look around I would either see alot of white hair, or no hair at all."
Thankfully, "Video Games Live" was just the opposite.