Star Wars in Concert

I had missed this last time it was in the Los Angeles area so when I heard a few months ago that it was coming back to Los Angeles for two days only I jumped at the opportunity to see it. I was attending the event with my friend Sean. I left my brother's house around 5:30pm expecting to get to the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles around 6:30pm, which I did.. but I wasn't expecting the chaos surrounding the place. I was first going to try and find parking on the street and just walk but thought better of it so instead I parked across the street from the Bowl and paid $21. It was also stacked parking which means you can't leave once you're in as they just pack the cars in. Of course I'm in the very back of the parking lot and figured it would take me hours to get out.

I followed the crowds to the entrance, having never been. I got to the entrance around 7pm. The event started at 7:30pm so I opted to grab a hot dog and some water. That took about 20 minutes in line to accomplish that. I headed over to will call to leave Sean's ticket as he was filming all day and expect to be a bit late. After leaving his ticket I made the trek up to my seat. I manage to sit down and settle in around 7:22pm.

I was very happy with my seat selection. I didn't need to be near the stage as you're really listening to the music and watching the huge screen. I choose seats about 2/3's up but directly in the middle.  I was bummed that I didn't get there earlier and go through the museum with Star Wars memorabilia, costumes and such. I knew that they opened 2 hours before the concert started but really miss judged as how crazy they place would be. Also they said no cameras or video devices but there security was nothing and I could have easily brought my camera or flip cam.. so I was stuck with the camera on my iPhone.

Anyways the program finally got started around 8pm and Sean showed up about 20 minutes in. The event itself was FANTASTIC!! Anthony Daniels who plays C3PO hosted the event and was so charming and charismatic.. he was the prefect host. They started with the beginning of the story and the orchestra would play famous Star Wars music to accompany the movie clips. Each clip segment was title.. Here's a list of the titles and who the main focus was in the clips.

Of course they started off with "Star Wars Main Title", then "Dark Forces Conspire" ("Duel of the Fates"), which was pretty epic!!! "A Hero Rises" (Anakin) was a very cool segment. They showed clips from the first three movies. Next was "Droids!" (C-3PO, R2-D2, and other droids), R2D2 is my favorite Star Wars character so I really enjoyed this segment. "A Race with Destiny" (Pod Race Flag Parade) was next and then "A Fateful Love" ("Padma and Anakin"). "A Hero Falls" (turning to the Dark Side) and this is when the crowds started to go crazy "An Empire is Forged" (Darth Vader). We then had a 20 minutes Intermission and the second half of the concert started. This of course was my favorite part because it was pretty much all from the first trilogy. It started with "A Narrow Escape" (Han Solo), then "A Defender Emerges" (Princess Leia). There was some video issues here and the video started about a minute into the piece. Next was "An Unlikely Alliance" (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Cantina Theme), this was a fun piece, though my only complaint is they used the scene where Greedo shots first and Han does that stupid jump move. After that came "A Jedi is Trained" (Yoda & Luke) and  "A Strike for Freedom". Another segment that I really liked was "A Bond Unbroken" (Luke & Leia). Then then did "Sanctuary Moon" (Endor and Ewoks) and "A Life Redeemed" (Vader) and finally "A New Day Dawns" (Throne Room and End Titles).

It was an incredible night and event. Oh and I totally forgot to mention after intermission many of the original segments included awesome laser shows that were timed with the music and/or scenes... it was truly amazing.

photo courtesy of @amy_geek

And if the night couldn't get any better. After everyone said goodbye and some folks were standing to leave, Anthony Daniels came back out to announce a special guest who wanted to come out and say hi.. and then went on to say.. Please welcome JOHN WILLIAMS!!!! The crowd went CRAZY!!!! Everyone was on their feet screaming and cheering. Mr. Williams looked surprised and very appreciative of all the noise. He then went on to conduct the orchestra for a special encore of

"The Imperial March". I had tears in my eyes listening to this magical piece being conducted by the man or created it so many years ago. Sean and I couldn't stop smiling at each other.

The night was already fantastic but this made it incredible and a night that I will never forget. On our way out I stopped by one of dealer booths and purchased a cool T-shirt and Program of the event. They were expensive but I couldn't pass it up. This is an event that I want to remember and cherish.

After the event I was on a high and didn't care that it took me almost an hour to walk from my seat to my car and then another half hour to get out of the parking lot and to the freeway. Nothing was going to spoil this evening.

IT WAS TRULY MAGICAL!!!!!