Best of ‘07 - The Hollywood Bowl and LA Philharmonic
January 4th, 2008 - by Zidane Cousteau
A little over a year and a half ago, my girlfriend convinced me to go see Belle and Sebastian at the Wiltern. It didn’t take too much convincing. She’d made me a really good Belle and Sebastian mix a few months earlier and she offered to pay for my ticket. I was sold.
Sadly, the concert was sub-par. It wasn’t awful, but the live experience, just wasn’t a catalyst for any of the various emotions I hope to experience at a show. I wasn’t excited, energized, inspired, astounded, educated, or even amused. I didn’t gain a deeper appreciation for the band, wasn’t left wanting more, wasn’t even happy when they played an encore. I wrote Belle and Sebastian off as one of those very talented bands, that just sounds better on my car stereo then live in person.
Naturally, when my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to see them again a month later, I declined. They were playing at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but never having been to the Bowl or seen the Phil, those weren’t really selling points. She went without me and came back RAVING about the show. Apparently, all the verbs that I crave at a live show, the ones that were so readily absent at the Wiltern, were there in spades with the addition of one of the nation’s best orchestras. I kicked myself and vowed to catch the next rock band who teamed with The Phil, regardless of who they were. That band happened to be The Decemberists.
It was my first show at the Bowl and an experience I’ll never forget. I staggered up from the Hollywood and Highland parking structure (the cheapest and easiest place to park if you don’t mind walking a bit), past a sea of camera toting tourists hoping to be “discovered” as they took posed photos on Cuba Gooding Jr.’s urine soaked star on the Walk of Fame. I walked past fleabag hotels and $20 parking lots. Eventually, the tourists and cars and smog subsided, and as I entered the Bowl, I was surrounded by honest-to-god trees. The Bowl was an oasis of solitude in a desert of tourists and materialism. It’s also an amphitheater that seats 40,000 plus, one that lets you bring in picnic dinners and bottles of wine without any hassle.
And so we sat, eating our fancy cheeses and drinking our wine, and happily enjoying an average performance by Band of Horses and a truly inspired one from Andrew Bird. The latter was so good, I was convinced The Decemberists would have a tough time following. I was wrong.
They opened with, “The Crane Wife, Parts 1 and 2,” and when the Phil’s string section all hit one of the opening chords in unison and the big bassy French horn kicked in, I started laughing hysterically. I suddenly found myself experiencing all of the aforementioned verbs, all at once, in unison, coupled with another wonderful emotion: surprise.
It was surprising just how tight the band and orchestra were together, how full and layered a sound they could create. The energy sixty plus musicians could create on stage, coupled with the enthusiasm of the 40,000 or so in attendance, was a unique live musical experience for me. I’ve seen orchestras and been part of massive rock band audiences, but never at the same time. It’s a special combination.
So a few weeks later when Bright Eyes teamed up with the LA Phil, of course I was going to be there. And once again, I was anything but disappointed. That thick, complex, vibrant sound, tickled my ears and left me in hysterics a few more times. Even with lofty expectations and a similar experience recently under my belt, the sound constantly delighted and surprised me.
The discovery of the Hollywood Bowl and the LA Philharmonic (especially when teamed with a kick-ass rock band) was probably my greatest musical discovery of 2007—a year in which I was exposed to dozens of new bands and a handful of new genres. I consider myself a connoisseur of fine live music, one who’s not easily impressed. That being said, I have no trouble laying down a prediction for 2008: any band teamed with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl will certainly evoke all the wonderful verbs that good life music should.
