Devanshu Mehta wrote this during the summer of 1999, after he had gone to see a John Williams concert at Ravinia, Illinois. This essay has already been posted on his site http://www.galaxyfaraway.com and is reproduced here with his permission.

A Musical Experience

I just got back from the John Williams concert at Ravinia, Illinois; and boy, you would have to have been there to believe it! It was packed... there was barely place to sit in the lawn; and the stadium seating had been booked a few weeks ago!

He started with a lot of old favorites (Jaws, Schindler, Jurassic Park, etc). The show was to end with the TPM with The Flag Parade, Anakin's Theme and finally Duel of Fates. They were excellent; though there was no chorus to Duel of Fates, though that was not a problem. Most of us fans in the audience were singing along!

But the audience was amazing! People in Star Wars t-shirts; even the Chicago Force team (who lined up outside McClurg Ct Theatre downtown) were all in SW gear... someone even had a Maul Lightsabre. It was an amazing atmosphere.

At the end everyone clapped for nearly five minutes. The entire orchestra stood up and bowed. We thought it was over and began to leave. We were wrong.

Just as the clapping ended, the entire orchestra suddenly sat down, Williams turned around; and they started playing the Star Wars theme! It was beautiful. It was not on the programme, it was not expected; but it was a salute to us. The fans. You should have seen the crowd (including me!). Almost in tears, the audience stood stunned. People who had already begun to leave stood wherever they were.

Sometimes we need to be reminded what Star Wars actually means to us. This is what is took to remind me.

DevanJedi
GalaxyFarAway.com
www.galaxyfaraway.com

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