Hollywood Bowl – August 14, 2025
I got these tickets on discount from TodayTix. It was actually a little weird going to the Bowl without buying tickets directly from them. I couldn’t download the tickets into my Apple Wallet. In the end it was fine though.
I gave myself plenty of time (or so I thought) to get to the bus pick up. As it turned out there was an accident on La Cienega halfway down the hill. The good news was that once I was past the accident traffic was pretty light. When I got to the Metro station I had a moment of panic when I didn’t see the Bowl guy. I was afraid they’d moved the bus AGAIN. He was there though – just around a corner where I couldn’t see him. I got on the bus and sat behind an older couple. I was up one step so I could clearly see that the husband was working on the Spelling Bee and noticed it wasn’t the current one. I said, “Hey – that’s not today’s Spelling Bee!” and started a conversation that lasted the entire bus ride. They were very nice. The wife was regaling me with stories of bands she’s seen when she was much younger. She pointed to her husband and said, “He saw Fleetwood Mac” so I asked if that was before they all hated each other and he said it was before any of the women were in the band.
After the crowds for JCSS, I couldn’t believe how empty the main plaza was. I sat on the bench right next to the Amex entrance to wait for Julie. She got there with plenty of time and the people sitting next to us weren’t in their seats yet so we were able to spread out. When those people came, we still had a little room and I remembered selecting the 2 seats together with 1 empty seat next to us hoping that no one would purchase it. No one did.
The program began with Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was a lively and lovely piece. Next we had Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto with Pacho Flores on trumpet. He was wonderful! His tone was just out of this world, so smooth and warm. He came back out for an encore and just blew me away. After intermission we had Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. There were four movements and I was surprised that people only clapped after the first movement and then realized they should keep quiet until it was over. Fireworks were on the schedule so when it ended with no fireworks I was a little sad, but then after bows, the conductor Gemma New struck up the band once more and we got our fireworks.
All in all it was just a really pleasant evening at the Bowl. There is no better way to spend a warm summer evening.