Michael Teoli

Review of The Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is one of the most historic con...

The Hollywood Bowl is one of the most historic concert venues in America I'd say. That said, it's not my favorite place to see a show. Let's start with the good... the history here is amazing. Every time I go, the first thing I think about is how The Beatles played here. It still gets amazing acts to this day. In fact, many of your best shows are going to be here.

One of the coolest secrets of the Bowl is that you can see FREE rehearsals for their non-rental shows (so not for acts like Depeche Mode... but for the LA Phil shows). You can drive right up to the venue and sit through the rehearsal! It's amazing and a great thing to take children too! The actual Bowl events are very cool too.

For the national rental shows... the big acts, I'll be honest... the sound isn't great here. It's not nearly as good as an indoor venue like Staples Center. Also, there is a very strict curfew here of 11pm, so the acts can't play super long. You're not going to get those 4 hour Phish shows you might get at another venue.

The worst thing is the parking and mob scene. You can park here or you can park at a free lot and take a shuttle. Additionally you could park at Hollywood and Highland, get some Starbucks and have them validate your parking and walk up. So there are options... but getting out is somewhat of a nightmare. Then you'll be in Bowl traffic for a LONG time once you get to your car. I had heard that The Greek was a nightmare... but I actually had very little trouble leaving the Greek. There was barely any traffic. Sure, you waited a bit because of that light in the residential neighborhood, but that was a breeze compared to Bowl traffic.

The parking and sound situation made me consider giving this 3 stars... but the free rehearsals bumped it back up to 4.