If there is one great summer tradition, it’s a picnic bag filled with goodies, a cozy blanket and a magical night under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl. Now there is a new prize for the bowl.
The venue—the summer home for the Los Angeles Philharmonic—has been named Amphitheater of the Decade. It was honored at the 32nd annual Pollstar Awards in Beverly Hills, reflecting the Hollywood Bowl’s “superior talent booking, effective promotion, quality production values and staff, an exemplary experience for fans and artists, and consistent box office success,” over the past decade, according to Pollstar. Awards are peer-voted by the international readership of Pollstar, an industry trade publication for concerts and event venues.
Every year, music lovers from Boyle Heights to the beach communities and everywhere in between gather to hear and see the bowl’s latest offerings.
The bowl is renowned for its majestic setting and wide range of artists, from classical to rock to reggae. I even saw the Fab Four there as a small child. I loved the Beatles but couldn’t figure out for the life of me what all the screaming was about.
Bowl spokespeople recently announced the venue’s highly anticipated summer season, especially since the 2020 line up was canceled due to COVID-19.
And believe me, the bowl folks like Lisa White and her staff work with military precision and know how to make amends in a New York minute.
This summer will feature 50 performances—including 14 performances by the one and only music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel—along with performances by Viola Davis, Christina Aguilera and Ziggy Marley. They’ll have Tower of Power, Yo-Yo Ma and James Blake, to name a few. Of course, the summer baton duties for the Fourth of July performances will be carried out by longtime bowl conductor Thomas Wilkins. The summer fun will add to an impressive lineup over the past decade, which has included star-studded headliners like locals Randy Newman and Diana Ross as well as Carlos Santana, Black Sabbath, Death Cab for Cutie, Maroon 5, Itzhak Perlman, B.B. King, Liza Minnelli, Coldplay, Rod Stewart and Seal, plus so many more. You can’t say that when it comes to music, there’s a lack of diversity here.
Despite last year’s cancelation, the bowl will kick off the season with a bang!