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.

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