Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticNot since Kanye and Drake played the Coliseum together six months ago has there been a coming together of forces quite so opposite on a stage in Los Angeles, or maybe anywhere.
We’re speaking, of course, of the combined performance by the UCLA and USC marching bands (mentioned here in alphabetical order — no favoritism) that climaxed the official opening of the Hollywood Bowl’s summer season Friday night.It takes a lot to overshadow Gwen Stefani, the LA Phil, Gwen Stefani with the LA Phil, a pair of world-class ballet dancers, Branford Marsalis performing the film music of John Williams, and Williams making a surprise appearance to conduct his own world-premiere piece.
But the combined army of the USC and UCLA bands nearly managed to do it with what was billed as a historic, first-time-ever collab, performed in the service of stretching Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” out to nearly 10 minutes as fireworks went off over the bandshell.
This “Tusk squared” climax was the cherry on top of an evening dedicated to celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Bowl. (It’s actually the 101st, but 2021 was still a little too pandemic-y to throw a proper party.) It actually was a night fit for a centenarian, with a June-gloom marine layer putting the lie to the venue’s eternal promise of nights “under the stars” but more than enough star power on stage in a well-thought-out, something-for-every-Bowl-er lineup.The proceedings started off with “Centennial Overture” and the unannounced cameo by Williams, or, as he is regarded among many longtime Bowl season ticketholders, God. “Our dear friend John Williams — maybe you know him — has written an overture especially for our celebration,”.
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