Hollywood Bowl – July 3, 2025
Julie does not like Earth Wind and Fire. I will never understand why. But c’est la vie. There are plenty of other people who like Earth Wind and Fire so I went with Sheryle to the Bowl for this year’s 4th of July spectacular. I admit that I hadn’t yet attended a 4th of July spectacular at the Bowl. I know it’s hard to believe. It’s always a popular band and fireworks. I guess none of them have had the draw for me that Earth Wind and Fire has.
Sheryle requires ADA assistance and is ADA registered with the Bowl. She was able to get pretty good section J2 tickets for less than I would have had to pay (although, I would have just paid less and sat much higher up). She is also a planner, so she bought bus tickets before the Culver City lot had been available. The next closest to us would be Santa Monica or Westwood. She went with Santa Monica because Westwood said you had to pay for parking in addition to paying for the bus. The bus picks up on Pico and parking is at SMC Lot 4. Now that Culver City is open, we debated trying to switch the tickets, but in the end, I decided it would probably be a shorter drive to Santa Monica than Culver City, even though it’s a longer distance. On the day of the concert I kept checking Maps and Santa Monica was the quicker trip. However, it was a looooong ride on the bus. Our bus left at 5:10 and we didn’t arrive at the Bowl until 6:45 – and that’s when we got to the stop where the seasonal Bowl employee gets on the bus and tells you how to get back to the bus at the end of the show! Granted, traffic was awful, but the drive up La Brea had to have been better than what we went through to get from SMC to the Bowl. That said, we were on one of those super comfy tour buses with overhead luggage storage and darkly tinted windows. The ride was pleasant enough – just long. And the bus picks up about half a block to the west of the parking lot. You have to get through a signaled intersection, so keep that in mind if you’re running a bit late (although, I’m sure they’d hold the bus if they saw you waiting for the signal to change).
Rather than waiting for the ADA entrance, we took our chance on the side gate. Someone directed us around to the other side where there was “no line” and I knew it was a mistake, but couldn’t stop Sheryle in time. I warned her there were no escalators on that side and it’s a STEEP walk up the hill, but we made it. We were toward the back of section J2, so I suggested we go up to Promenade 3 and make our way down a couple of rows to our seats rather than trying to climb all of the stairs in the section. That was for sure the right move. Sheryle brought sushi and I brought what called to me at Trader Joe’s (which was popcorn, cookies and teensy candy bars) and cocktails. We were in our seats around 7 so we had time to eat our sushi before the show began. Our section was rather empty, but we figured people would just show up late (and they did – the people sitting next to me didn’t arrive until well after intermission).
The first half of the program was patriotic songs. After the national anthem, they opened with Strike Up The Band (Gershwin), Then a Gould piece from American Symphonette No. 2, America The Beautiful, American Salute (Gould), Armed Forces Salute and finally Louis Prima’s Sing, Sing, Sing. Some obnoxious people arrived in the middle of the patriotic pieces and very loudly made their way to their seats and then had a yelling conversation with each other. At some point I had had enough and turned around and asked them to stop talking. The obnoxious woman got even louder and sarcastically said “Oh because you’re not supposed to TALK during a CONCERT!!!?” I said, “Not a classical concert.” and turned back around in my seat. I sat through the remainder of the patriotic pieces debating whether to text the Bowl and get them to come intervene because they just got more and more obnoxious.
After intermission, Earth Wind and Fire joined the LA Phil on stage. I was a little amused that the orchestra stayed. They started with Shining Star, which is always a great way to start, and worked their way through many of their hits including Sing a Song, Got to Get You Into My Live, Serpentine Fire, Devotion, After the Love Has Gone, I’ll Write a Song for You, Reasons, Let’s Groove, Fantasy, Boogie Wonderland and That’s The Way of the World. They are consummate performers and know how to work a crowd. At one point Phillip Bailey spoke of a time 50 years ago that they’d played the Bowl and noted that the band had been around for several years before that. There were 3 original members present, and I have to say once he got warmed up, Phillip Bailey can still hit all the notes. It was really impressive to hear him! Honestly though, the LA Phil didn’t add much. There are already so many people on stage and EW&F has such a big sound, that adding the orchestra just wasn’t necessary.
During That’s the Way of the World, the percussionists made their way back to stage and then EW&F left the stage and the orchestra struck up Stars and Stripes Forever (Sousa) and the fireworks started. It was wonderful! And it seemed to go on forever. There were so many fireworks! Once the fireworks ended, Sheryle turned to me and asked if that was it and I said no, they hadn’t done Into the Stone yet, but more importantly, they hadn’t done September yet. So EW&F came back onstage and launched into September. As much as Shining Star is a great way to start the show, September is a great way to end it. That said, I was still bummed that they didn’t do Into the Stone.
We learned the fatal flaw of taking the Santa Monica bus: you have to go through the tunnel to get to that bus. We made our way through the crush of people and poor Sheryle would have done well to go to the blue tent and have them send the bus up the hill but we wanted to get home. Even through the slow moving press of people, I think we made the first bus.
The takeaways from this show: 1) I think they’d do well to separate the patriotic stuff from the pop stuff. I understand why they do it because it’s a huge draw, but I would have loved to have just the patriotic stuff and maybe throw in some Copland or some more Gershwin and then do EW&F on another night were they could have played a full set. It would draw a different kind of crowd and I wouldn’t have been so annoyed by annoying people who don’t know how to attend a classical concert. 2) Take the Culver City bus. It will take longer to get there through the gridlock that is La Cienega, but the bus ride will be shorter and the walk back to the bus at the end of the night will be much easier.