I went to the Bowl last night, not really knowing what the annual Beatles Celebration was, other than it involved the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. It’s only the second time I’ve been to the Bowl, having gone to see Sir Paul a couple months ago.

The celebration is a series of singers that comes out to sing their own version of Beatles’ classics backed by the orchestra.  The orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, was excellent.  The singers…well it depends on whether you dig their interpretations of the Beatles’ songs.  I only liked two songs, Black Bird, and Come Together, both sung by Bettye Lavette.  She had an interesting, powerful voice, and her interpretations were very cool.

The other handful of singers…I mean, how does one compete with Lennon/McCartney/Harrison?  Most of them really slowed down the songs and took all of the rock out of them.  It was kind of…irritating.  But it looked like most of the audience dug it pretty well.

Besides the show last night, there’s one tonight and another on Sunday.  It’s pretty cool that the Hollywood Bowl can attract enough people for three performances of music made forty years ago, not sung by the original artists.

Nothing could have lived up to seeing the real deal which I did not too long ago.  But even so, the Bowl is a fun place to go during the summer to relax, drink beer, and listen to music.

Man I wish Lennon and Harrison were still around.  I’d love to see them play there as well…