I flew to Los Angeles on Friday the 13th, which cursed me with a very long and hassle-filled process to get an Uber at LAX, and then opening my luggage at the hotel to find that my shampoo had come unsealed and leaked all over my toiletry bag. Oh wait... That's not Friday the 13th, that's just a normal travel day.
The show was on Saturday night, and since I was staying just down the road from the Hollywood Bowl, I had the whole day free before it was time to walk over. But I lost all interest in LA tourist activities roughly 3 seconds after Debbie Reynolds lost her hopes of opening a Hollywood costume museum, so I spent the day sitting in my hotel room watching sports. All three of my preferred teams won their games (New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals, University of Washington football, and Montréal in the NHL), so as I headed out the door for Brandi and friends, I was ready for a winning night as well.
I was correct, sir!
The Hollywood Bowl is amazing visually, and sonically, but -- at least down in the lower bowl where I was -- the setup was unexpected. That section is broken into little 4-seat boxes with fold-away tables, and most people were set up with meals and full sized bottles of wine, sitting facing away from the stage like they'd just come down for a nice dinner al fresco, rather than a rock 'n' roll extravaganza. Weird. At least they all packed up their pic-a-nic baskets and turned their chairs around when the music got started.
Anyway. There was no opening act, so when the time came, we got straight into Brandi and the band for a few songs, then they started bringing on the aforementioned friends, one at a time. As each guest artist came on stage, they'd do a song or two of their own with Brandi Carlile Band backing them up, then join in to support the next act. Not all of the guests were people I was dying to see, but I was really happy for Allison Russell (who sang my favourite of her songs, Requiem), Wendy & Lisa (friends of Prince!), Annie Lennox (Mon Scotland!) and JONI EFFING MITCHELL, who was the queen of the encore, seated center stage in her throne while doing three of her songs with the entire previous group.
It was a couple hours of joy, but seemed to go by in a flash. At the end, we all sang Joni Happy Birthday, for her upcoming 80th, and then I wandered back down the road to my hotel, completely in awe of the night I'd just experienced.
I had also planned to go see Samantha Bee's menopause-themed one woman show in Hollywood on Sunday night, which -- along with my canned rosé while enjoying Brandi's show -- might've garnered me the award for Most Middle Aged Lady Long Weekend Ever, but it ended up being cancelled. Oh well, I was tired of all the winning anyway. It was still a great time, and way more than worth the trip.
