Hollywood Nights. Hollywood Hills.

With the official start of Summer kicking off last weekend one could not think of a more appropriate place to spend it than the Hollywood Bowl. KCRW began their annual World Music Festival on a rather warm evening with a selection of artists from South America.

Thievery Corporation was supported by Federico Aubele, Los Amigos Invisibles, and Bebel Gilberto. Seu Jorge also came on for a couple of songs during Thievery’s set. It was a Latin flavored night at the bowl and with the temperature in the mid 90s at the start of the show it was certainly caliente.

One of the fun parts of the World Music festival is that the Bowl allows you to bring in your own food and drinks.  This is good for two reasons. One; you save money ($8 for one beer versus a 6-pack at the store) and two; you can eat/drink exactly what you want.  The Shih and I decided on Sushi and Guinness but our other friends were dining on mini panini and wine. To each their own. One negative side effect is people often over drink leading to beverage spillage on cherished items or being accidentally smacked firmly in the head by an overzealous liquor enthusiast. All in all though the pros beat the cons.

One of the aims of the World Music Festival is to introduce the masses to a more diverse music scene than MTV can provide. Bebel Gilberto and Los Amigos Invisibles were artists that I was not familiar with but afterward left me wanting more. While Bebel could have benefited from a smaller venue she still played a memorable set as dusk arrived.

Thievery Corporation took the stage immediately following Bebel Gilberto. One interesting feature the Bowl used this year was a revolving stage. Almost like a trap door. This way there were no gaps in the performances and each artist cold build on the momentum of the previous performance.

What seemed like an endless stream of guest performers (nearly a dozen in all), Thievery Corp got the Bowl grooving and moving for the better part of 90 minutes. Below is a snippet from one their more well known songs “Lebanese Blonde”.

With some sweet parking luck we were able to escape the madness of the Hollywood Bowl easily and head back to the Westside. The first night of the Summer came to a close, however; I am looking forward to many more evenings at the Bowl over the next few months.

Jack Johnson will be making four stops in the Southern California Area coming up in late August.

• Wednesday, August 27th – Harder Stadium @ UCSB – Santa Barbara, CA
• Friday, August 29th – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Irvine, CA (KROQ Sponsored)
• Saturday, August 30th – Cricket Wireless Amphitheater – Chula Vista, CA
• Sunday, August 31st – UCLA Intramural Field – Los Angeles, CA (KROQ Sponsored)

Tickets go on sale to the general public for these shows on Saturday, June 21st at 10AM. For the KROQ sponsored events you can get your tickets now using the presale password: KROQALLATONCE

I’ll keep my ear to the ground for the other shows to find the presale password. I’ll update this post if anything should surface. Click the image to go to ticketmaster’s listing for Jack Johnson.

If you are interested in attending either Feist or Thievery Corporation at the Hollywood Bowl the presale password is BOWL. Same as Beck.

Both artists are partaking in KCRW’s World Music Festival.  If you are not familiar, six Sunday evenings each Summer KCRW brings great music to the bowl from around the globe. You can also bring in your own food and wine/beer and enjoy it at your seats while enjoying the show.

Thievery Corporation will be headlining June 22, 2008 and Feist on July 20, 2008. Just click the images above and it will take you to Ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

****UPDATE 6/21/08****

If you are trying to score the $20 KCRW Member seats use the password ‘kcrw’.

Hold onto your butts! Beck has announced a brief summer tour and he’ll be stopping to entertain at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, September 20th, 2008. He will be supported by Spoon and MGMT. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, May 10th at 10AM at Ticketmaster.

You can imagine with a lineup such as this that tickets may be hard to come by. Behold! The presale starts at 12PM tomorrow and the password is BOWL. Also, if you are a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic you can buy tickets even before the presale (like myself). 

Come on out and enjoy a late summer evening at the Hollywood Bowl. You will not be disappointed!

“I’m a full grown man but I’m not afraid to cry.” – Beck

“Enter and we dance. Plug it in and we begin.”

My favorite thing to do in Los Angeles is to attend live shows. Because of our location we get great music almost all year round. Now that the weather is getting warmer, outdoor concerts are starting to pop up. Los Angeles has 4 or 5 great outdoor theaters so last night was really a surprise since it was not at one of the usual venues.  On Saturday night my friend and I headed downtown to check out one of our favorite artists Groove Armada at Los Angeles City Hall. The ‘Los Angeles City Hall’? The one and only.

The stage was setup on the South staircase and was sponsored by KCRW. Since this was a very unique setting for a concert my friend and I were a bit skeptical on how it would be pulled off.

After a quick dinner in Little Tokyo we headed over to City Hall (1st and Main).  The show kicked off promptly at 6PM and started with a DJ set by KCRW’s very own Jason Bentley.  Jason had the slot from 6-8PM and the task of warming up the crowd on an unusually brisk Spring night in LA.

While it was billed as a DJ set, Jason did more ‘Macbooking’ than spinning on the 1′s and 2′s. While this lead to a lame joke by me, Jason Bentley got the crowd moving and warmed up. One of the highlights of the set was Jason mixing ‘Nasty Girl’ by Vanity 6. My friend decided that if she was a stripper that would be her goto song. If you don’t remember ‘Nasty Girl’ listen below. 

At about 8:30, after the crowd was sufficiently warmed by Jason Bentley and an ample supply of booze, Groove Armada took the stage and did not disappoint.

The tour was billed as a DJ Set for their latest album ‘Soundboy Rock’ so we were not expecting the full lineup of Groove Armada characters as when we saw them at the Hollywood Bowl over the Summer. True to our expectations they transitioned without a break in the action and put on a great show.

The acoustics were a nice surprise and the setup provided great clarity. Although we couldn’t hear each other talk during the car ride home (note to self: get earplugs), Groove Armada provided a great night downtown. The first 2/3 of their set was mostly a DJ set however they began mixing in their greatest hits for the last third of the show. When they mixed in ‘Super Stylin’ the crowd reached their feverish peak.

The crowd was filled with your KCRW subscriber types (thirty-something hipsters, yuppies, eco-friendly moms and dads) and a few of the just turned 21 crowd. Everyone meshed well together and the party was in full swing for close to 3 hours. During one of the last songs the stairs in front of the stage were opened up and everyone rushed the stage to groove as close as possible to the action. They wrapped up their set around 11PM at which point we retreated back to the Westside to rest from a long night of dancing. 

In all, Los Angeles City Hall provided a unique venue and Groove Armada provided the perfect soundtrack for an evening in an urban environment. While it was a bit chilly the dancing kept us warm all night long. These kinds of nights make me wonder why I don’t do more things downtown.