Star Wars in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl Photos

Star Wars in Concert sporadically tours the country, but nowhere is it better than at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. These photos of Star Wars in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl can capture only part of the enthusiasm and downright joy of the crowd. Really, for a Star Wars fan, it’s the best place to see and hear the concert.

The Hollywood Bowl is the largest outdoor amphitheatre in Los Angeles, with a maximum capacity of over 17,000 people. Star Ways in Concert played two consecutive nights at the Hollywood Bowl, to near-sell out performances. The fun started long before the concert started, with lots of little children running around “battling” with plastic light sabers and toy zap guns. Here’s a photo of a guy wearing my favorite T-shirt of the event.

Little kids weren’t the only people excited about Star Wars in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. I overheard a group of giddy 20-something year olds talking about their road trip here from Flagstaff, Arizona — and a family a few rows ahead of us drove down from Reno, Nevada. The children who dressed up for the show were adorable, though some kids might argue that they were not adorable, but in fact, absolutely terrifying to behold.

The Hollywood Bowl hosts concert series by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the summertime (the LA Phil most often performs in downtown Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall), along with pop, rock, and country. It’s fun to have shows start at dusk, and as nightfall progresses, the shows generally intensify. Star Wars in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl made full use of the dark, with laser shows, three large projection screens, and a smoke machine.

Anthony Daniels, aka the Voice of C3PO, narrated the show. He certainly seemed to relish hamming it up, and the occasion when he quoted the uppity droid sent the audience into a frenzy of joyous screaming and applause. At one point he opened his suit’s jacket to reveal a shiny gold vest — huge reaction from the crowd.

After the intermission, the smoke machine’s puffs hit some projected lights, and visions of Star Wars spacecraft appeared. My 9-year old and her friend were so impressed by this (relatively simple) effect: It was great fun listening to them jabber excitedly about the special effects at the Hollywood Bowl.

Remember how I described the Star Wars in Concert as being best seen and heard at the Hollywood Bowl? Well, the laser show can be replicated anywhere and lots of people across the country share an affinity for the Star Wars music and saga — but Los Angeles is home to many of the people involved in the creation of Star Wars. After the Star Wars in Concert show appeared to be over, there was one more surprise in store for the audience: John Williams himself strode on stage (massive applause) to conduct an encore of the Imperial March. That’s colloquially known as Darth Vader’s theme. What an encore!  The crowd went nuts. Surprises like that are among the reasons that Star Wars in Concert is such a fantastic experience at the Hollywood Bowl.

Los Angeles