Each concert, a story. Each song, a memory. The Hollywood Bowl always brings it all together.
By Lisa Niver
Summer at the Hollywood Bowl is ritual and refuge: dinner-in-a-box, friends beside you, the canyon air cooling, and the first note lifting like a collective breath. This season — and the recent years that led up to it — read like a personal soundtrack: legends and film scores, fireworks and choirs, hits that bring back high-school feelings and moments that stitch generations together. For a venue now celebrating its first 100 years (the Bowl opened in July 1922), it’s also a reminder of how music and memory carry on.
2025: John Legend — Stories, Soul, and the Orchestra
This fall, An Evening with John Legend was everything the program promised: songs and stories. Joined by a full orchestra and gospel choir, Legend moved easily from storytelling into song — speaking about growing up singing in church, working in finance before answering music’s call, and making art that travels the world. I went with Sage; watching him at the piano, hearing the choir swell, and feeling the crowd lean into every lyric made the night feel intimate and grand at once. His message — love, courage, and taking chances — landed like a soft benediction under the stars.
The season’s Fireworks Finale paired horn-driven rock with smooth ‘80s gold. Chicago — together since 1967 and still going strong — delivered brass-laden anthems that made the Bowl sway: the kind of songs that bring back teen angst and first crushes in one chorus. Christopher Cross opened with his signature, mellow sweep, the voice that makes you sigh and smile. I loved sharing the night with Michelle, Adam, and Eva — and it was extra special spotting my parents with friends, plus Jessica, Shimon, and their crew. Fireworks, horns, and community: a perfect LA farewell to summer.
2025: Jurassic Park in Concert — A Roaring, Symphonic Ride
One of the season’s most cinematic nights was Jurassic Park in Concert. Watching Spielberg’s 1993 classic while the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed John Williams’ score live-to-picture transformed the film into a full symphonic adventure. Nearly three decades on, the audience still gasped at the brachiosaurus and laughed together when the park touted its “cutting-edge” CD-ROM tech — cutting edge in 1993, delightfully retro now. With 18,000 people beneath the stars, it felt like the best of summer: community, nostalgia, and cinematic wonder.
The 2024 season shimmered with color and range. Barbie The Movie: In Concert was pure, pink spectacle — featuring the Barbie Land™ Sinfonietta, an all-women (mostly women of color) orchestra dressed in vibrant pink jumpsuits. It was playful, empowering, and so much fun — plus a fireworks finale to match.
Opening for Pink Martini that August was the Andrew Bird Trio — a delicate, melodic warmup for an evening of global, multilingual music led by China Forbes. The Bowl at its best: inclusive, joyous, and culturally curious.
Paula Abdul proved that star power only refines with time; at 62 she danced through hits like Straight Up with kinetic joy. Boyz II Men followed with velvet harmonies: End of the Road, I’ll Make Love to You, and Motownphilly felt like a communal time machine, singing along with thousands under the sky.
2023: Star Wars — Return of the Jedi in Concert & Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks
A rain-soaked Return of the Jedi in Concert became a legendary Bowl memory: rain, lightsabers, and John Williams’ score performed live by the LA Phil. It was wet, raucous, and thrilling — the kind of night where a city’s collective fandom can be heard in every cheer. Soon after, the Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks delivered the 1812 Overture in cinematic fashion, complete with marching band and pyrotechnics. Both nights proved the Bowl is unmatched at marrying music and spectacle.
2022 brought roots and rhythm. John Fogerty — the man behind Creedence Clearwater Revival’s swampy, southern-fried rock — served up anthem after anthem: Proud Mary, Born on the Bayou, and Have You Ever Seen the Rain. His set was a reminder of rock’s earthy, storytelling power. That same summer, Ricky Martin made his Hollywood Bowl debut with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil, turning the amphitheater into a massive, dancing celebration that pulsed from Livin’ La Vida Loca through every chantable hit.
My modern Bowl ritual began on a fairy-tale note: The Princess Bride in Concert (introduced by Rob Reiner), where the Los Angeles Philharmonic performed Mark Knopfler’s new orchestral arrangement under conductor David Newman. Jessica joined me, and the fencing, giants, true love, and perfectly timed music made the night feel like stepping into a beloved book brought to life. It was “inconceivable,” in the best way. Have you read the book? It is AMAZING!!
Why the Bowl Endures
From the reverberating brass of Chicago to the intimacy of John Legend’s piano; from dinosaurs stomping across the big screen to the cotton-candy glow of Barbie night — the Hollywood Bowl is where Los Angeles gathers to mark the seasons, milestones, and friendships with music. It’s where generations meet: where my parents and I hum the same chorus, where friends like Sage and Jessica become co-conspirators in memory-making.
Now, as the Bowl moves past its first 100 years, it still offers the same thing it always has: nights that transform the ordinary into the unforgettable. Under those arches, with the canyon as our witness, music keeps telling our city’s story — note by note, summer after summer.
Here’s to another season under the stars.
Photo by Hollywood Bowl
