Sabbatikos

Los Angeles, a cinematic city with a killer soundtrack, has no shortage of iconic music venues, The Troubadour, The Viper Room, The Roxy, The Echo, The El Rey, The Fonda, the shows go on. But few places capture the magic of live music performance quite like the Hollywood Bowl. Entering it you can hear the reverberations in the surrounding canyons and hills of concerts past; Miles Davis in 1963, The Beatles 1964, Bob Dylan in 1965, Sinatra in 1967, The Rolling Stones 1975, or even the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s annual 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.

Nestled in the natural bosom of the Hollywood Hills, the Hollywood Bowl’s amphitheater curves like a natural woman (in a city of plastic ones), drawing music lovers into a space where the stress of our daily lives dissolves in anticipation of losing yourself at an epic performance at night.

There’s a ritual to an evening at the Bowl, one that begins long before the first note. Picnic baskets (you can bring your own or pre-order one) are unpacked beneath sunny skies, wine is poured into plastic glasses, and the mingling of conversation fills the air with giddiness rising in anticipation of the event. Do yourself a favor and bring a simple spread: a fresh baguette, some excellent cheese, and a bottle of wine or two (surprisingly, you can bring your own bottle!). The food and wine are important; there’s nothing quite like breaking bread with family and friends before a shared experience to set the mood for what will likely be another legendary performance. There’s something about the Hollywood Bowl that brings out the best in every performance.

Settle in as the sun dips behind the hills and the heat of LA begins to cool. Cozy up in your blankets and pour each other another glass of wine. Enjoy the stillness, accompanied by the soft rustle of programs, the squish of a rented cushion, and the crinkle of snack bags. Ease into the realization that you are here for a collective experience greater than yourself.

Tonight we are here for Mitsky (with Sharon Van Etten opening). Her performance is spectacular and surprisingly intimate, given the size of the venue, thanks to the well-positioned screens that bring you closer to the artists.

You’d think that acoustics in an outdoor venue are tricky, but the Bowl manages it with grace and precision, like the ancient Greeks and Romans did. Originally carved into the hillside in the 1920s, its famous shell has evolved over the years, fine-tuning the way sound carries through the venue. And then, there’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The artists take the stage, the lights dim, the crowd erupts, and the concert begins. And then, there’s literally music in the open air. Looking around, you realize that thousands of strangers are feeling the same thing at the same time. It’s an experience I absolutely love and love to share with others.

A year before Mitski we had come to the Bowl previously to see composer Ramin Djawadi conduct the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra playing his compositions of the music from the Game of Thrones.

The Hollywood Bowl is an integral part of a Los Angeles experience. Beyond the stage, the city sprawls, lights flickering like a reflection of the stars overhead.

And when the concert ends, when the encore has faded and the applause has settled, the crowd winds its way down to the base of the amphitheater and spills back into the night creating a traffic jam of red taillights to follow back into the city, The Valley, or the Hollywood Hills…wherever your LA is. For us, for a while, we were somewhere else. Somewhere unstuck in time. Somewhere that felt, if only for an evening, like a legendary concert in the making, and we were there!