Hollywood Bowl "Flicks" to life

 Friday night we went to the Hollywood Bowl.  I have always wanted to go there, but hadn't remembered to buy tickets early enough (it seems like every time I looked, only box seats were left).  This year, I remembered early, and was able to go to the box office and purchase tickets the day after they opened.  There are so many good concerts performed there over the summer, but I was thrilled to be able to purchase tickets for the concert I really wanted, John Williams. He is one of the most successful composers in cinematic history.  He has composed the scores for Harry Potter, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Jaws and Star Wars, and many others.  It was so much fun to go to that concert.  We recognized most of the songs he played.  The opening song we immediately recognized, although we never would have associated it with him.  He played the Olympic Theme that NBC uses.  During that performance, they showed great Olympic moments on the screen.  It was very entertaining, and aappropriate for this year They didn't use the video screen for every song, but they did on occassion. 

  They showed famous sword fighting scenes.  Maddie was satisfied, they included the scene from the Princess Bride.  For the finale, they played the entire last reel of the movie ET as they showed the movie on the screen.  It was over 15 minutes of music, and just amazing to think of the impact the music has on the film.

As an encore, they played several selections from Star Wars.  The crowd was very excited, and several people had brought light up light sabers.  As soon as those familiar notes began, the light sabers came out and were waved around the theater.  It was a very fun experience.  The evening was full of laughter, entertainment, and of course, very emotional music.