Scott's John Williams SW Concert Epic Adventure

Well, Star Wars Fans, I had a rare opportunity this past weekend. John Williams and the Boston Pops conducted a summer Star Wars concert at Tanglewood. That's their summer home 100 miles west of Boston. In honor of the 20th Anniversary of A New Hope, John Williams conducted selections from his famous scores. I first heard about this while surfing the net. I had always wanted to go see him in person, so on a whim, the wife and I said, "What the heck, let's go for it!" After all, we had credit cards.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the details of how we got there. I'll just pick up the story 3 hours before concert time. I was a bit eager to get there without any mishap, so I dragged the little lady to the Tanglewood concert area. We had a picnic on the lawn outside the grounds before they let us in the gate. Now they have a huge outdoor shed where the concert would take place. People buy tickets in advance for reserved seating there. That's where we sat.

Surrounding the shed was a huge lawn. For this event, they allowed people to sit on the lawn (about 100 yards from the stage) and listen to the concert. They rigged up special TVs and televised the concert for the lawn people to watch. The people who wanted lawn seating lined up hours early and then rushed in for good spots when the gates opened. You can see a picture of how many people were there above. Man, it was packed! Especially considering how far away they were from the stage!

Then we went into the shed to find our seats. We were in one of the front sections to the left of the stage. I didn't think we had very good seats at first, but as we got closer and closer, we found out our spots were spitting distance from the stage! We were going to have a perfect view of Williams during the concert! The Force was with us! We were right by the piano and the harp and the violin section. Two hours to go. Man, time was slowing down.

As we sat there, I started looking at the crowd. You've never seen a more diverse group of people. There were young kids fully decked in Lucasfilm merchandised attire (SW Underoos), teenagers reading SW novels, college age adults like myself, older families, elderly folks. There were even some weirdos dressed as vampires! (I kid you not.) One of the ushers said, "We've never had a crowd like this!" It was so cool. As I people watched, skeeters buzzed and bit me. I guess I'm just too sweet! (I'm itching the bites on my legs as I type this.) I saw one skeeter buzzing in front of my face, I yelled out, "I have you now!" and SMACK! Squashed skeeter. As my wife stared at me, I realized it was too late for me, my son. (Dang! There I go again!) I'm hopelessly addicted.

While all this is going on, the musicians are coming out tuning their instruments. It was pretty cool in all the noise to pick out the flute practicing parts of 'The Asteroid Field' or the xylophone player doing 'The Cantina Band'. I'm not very musically inclined, but I know how to appreciate something good when I hear it.

Concert Time.

I see doors opening on the opposite side of the stage and a bald head moving through the musicians. I knew that bald head! John Williams briskly walked out onto the stage all smiles, stepped onto the podium, and faced the crowd. It was surreal! There he was only 30 feet from me!

He bowed to one side, bowed to the other, turned to the symphony, and got ready to start. He picked up his baton and they came to attention. Now going to a concert is, of course, a very visual and sound oriented experience. It is very hard to put into words. But in all honesty, it sounded exactly like cranking up your stereo and listening to a CD. Every note was as perfect in person as it was on the recording. The only difference is that when they are playing in front of you, you can pick out certain instruments and isolate their sound. Since I can't describe the music, you'll have to settle with what I saw.

First on the program was "Sunrise" from Also Sprach Zarathustra by R. Strauss. You may know it better as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Williams pointed to the base section and a low thrumming came from the instruments. Cooool! As the piece progressed, Williams arms moved gracefully conducting the musicians. You could not take your eyes off him. Rarely have I seen someone so passionate about their performance, but you could see it with Williams. His eyes would close and he would be pointing to the various instruments as their parts came up. Right away you could notice Williams mannerisms. When a quiet piece would come up, he would put his finger to his lips in a Shush! gesture. If it was a very quiet piece, he would lower down as if he were tip-toeing through a room. When a big resounding part came up, he would literally wind up like a pitcher and you could see and hear him taking in a big breath just as it took off. He often did it with his eyes closed.

He then followed up with "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" from The Planets by Holst. Ever heard of it? Well, I hadn't at first either. Then I remember seeing the computer generated animation by NASA of Mars surface, and remembered the intense music played with it. Well that was the Mars piece of the music from The Planets. I probably would have never paid attention to classical music if not for John Williams. His Star Wars music opened up a whole new world for me and gave me a greater appreciation for music. Well, yet again, he showed me something I hadnt heard before with this. It was very cool. I loved it. I recommend going out and finding a CD with the music from The Planets. You'll love this music.

Williams then spoke to the audience about the next selection, On the Beautiful Blue Danube by Strauss. He explained that most people would wonder why it was in a sci-fi concert, but that it was a wonderful part of 2001. It was part of the 'sensual' (his words) docking between the two space ships. Once you got past the fact that it was a waltz, you would realize what a beautiful piece it is. (I just had to get past the fact that most of the time it accompanies cartoon characters in slow motion!) He then played it, and I almost fell asleep. I was pretty tired!

Next was selections from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Very nice!

Then Williams spoke to the crowd again. He explained that he has an office at Universal Studios in a little seen part of the lot. In that building is where they record the film scores for the movies as they play on a screen above them. He mentioned that they would like to play music with film footage for us there if they only had a screen. Then one magically began lowering from the ceiling, and everyone got a good chuckle. He said that the timing with the footage was difficult, but that they would try it. Of course, their timing was PERFECT! First off was the opening chase sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was the part where the boulder rolls behind Indy and he is chased by nekkid natives. Next was the opening scene from Jaws where the girl gets chomped. Just as the shark attacks, the film quickly goes to Superman flying Lois Lane over Metropolis. He plays the 'Can you read my Mind' song. They finally conclude with the bike scene from ET.

Intermission!

Now the good part begins..STAR WARS!!! He begins with the Star Wars Theme. Like I said before, it sounded EXACTLY like on the CD's youve probably bought. But it was awesome to see the creator of the music there conducting his own work. It was also fun to pick out the individual instruments and watch the musicians play them. At the very end of the opening theme, Williams pointed to the drum player and I saw him mouth the word 'Louder!' as it triumphantly concluded. Oooh! Chills! Princess Leia's theme followed and I specifically watched the harp played next to us. Wow! The music was so beautiful and Williams conducted most of the music with his eyes closed. After each song was played, Williams would point to one of the soloists and have them take a bow. He definitely shared the credit with the Pops.

Next was the Forest Battle from ROTJ. This was the concert version (as on the ROTJSE soundtrack) and is one of my personal favorites. Then came Yoda's theme and the Parade of the Ewoks. It was fun to watch the xylophone player just across from us.

Next was the Cantina Band song. Again, Williams spoke to the crowd. He said that when he watched the film without music, it was, of course, a very odd looking film. He watched the cantina sequence for the first time, turned to George, and said, "I must admit, I have absolutely no idea what to do with this!" Then George told him to imagine a strange alien band with all their weird instruments. Then imagine them turning over a rock and finding big band sheet music by Benny Goodman. He wanted the music to sound like them playing it for the first time having never heard it played before. Thus the famous Cantina song was born. Most of the musicians sat that one out, but they watched their fellow players sweat out the jazzy tune. Man, that xylophone player got a workout. At the part near the end, his hands were flying trying to play the solo part, and John Williams was grinning and laughing as he played it perfectly. That was definitely a highlight of the evening.

They then played a concert version of the Asteroid Field from Empire Strikes Back. I don't believe I've seen any recordings of this concert version on any CD's, but it was a wonderful piece.

Williams then had the screen lowered and they played excerpts from the score with clips of the films. Very cool! Just check out the pictures! It started out with 'A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away....', then the theme started up. John Williams was lit only by a spotlight.

The concert concluded and everyone gave Williams and the Boston Pops a standing ovation. I was a bit disappointed that they did not play 'The Imperial March', but such is life. Everyone was yelling "Encore! Encore!" Then Williams came back out for the encore. Guess what they played? Yep. The Imperial March! Chills, yet again.

But wait! The house lights come up! Williams turns around and they crowd starts making noise! Suddenly Chewbacca was walking through the crowd! Ack! I just ran out of film! I tried to reload, but couldn't get it to work! Oh, no! My wife takes the camera from me and properly loads it. I take it from her and snap these pictures just as Chewie walks by!

You guys know I've met Peter Mayhew and whoever was in the costume was the perfect height for the Wookiee. Don't know if it was Mayhew, but this guy got the job done.

Then on the stage Darth Vader walks out! Wow! The best Vader costume I've ever seen! Coolness overload! Williams then finished The Imperial March, and I realized I hadn't listened to a bit of it! Drat!

Vader walks towards Williams and he pretends to back off in fear. All the Pops are laughing at the sight of Vader, Chewie, and Williams all together there. They then walk off the stage together. Everyone yells "Encore!" again. I say to my wife, "Well, I think he's done." She says, "Nope, the Pops still have sheet music ready." We're so close I can read the top. It says, "Something March". Hmmmm. What March is that?

The music starts to play and I recognize it. It is the Raiders of the Lost Ark March. One of my favorites! What a way to end the evening. When it is done, Williams bows one last time, accepts flowers from an audience member, then hands them to the lead violinist in a gentlemanly manner. He waves one last goodbye and leaves the stage.

The show is over......for everyone but the die-hard fan.

Rather than fight traffic, we decide to hang out and try to get Williams' autograph. I ask a stage hand if Williams ever signs autographs. He says sometimes he does, but tonight he's really tired and probably won't do it. But you never know. So we stand by the stage and wait. We stand right by a door and we can see his dressing room right inside not 20 feet away. All sorts of people are going in and out. We can see Williams greeting all of them, taking pictures, and signing autographs. All us fan boys are about to go nuts! So close, yet so far away! A regular concert-goer comes up and says that if Williams will sign autographs, it will be at the back entrance. They shut the stage door, so we run around to the back door where he might come out.

There is a small crowd standing there already. About 30 of us. At the top of the steps is a theater guy watching the open door. He tells us, "For those who haven't heard, Mr. Williams will not be receiving tonight, but he will for his August show!" Then a guy yells out, "Yeah, but we won't be here!" Everyone else yelled out jokingly, "Yeah!!" The theater guy says, "Man, in all the times I've done this I've never been heckled before!" Someone yells out, "Get off the stage, ya bum!" That got some good laughs. I try to use an old Jedi Mind Trick on him, but nothing seems to be working. We then start thinking like a mob and pondering whether or not we should overpower the guy. Then I yell out, "Can we get Chewbacca's autograph?" Everyone goes, "Yeah!" The guy says, "Sorry, he's already out of costume." I say, "Costume?" Everyone goes, "Noooo! It's not true! It's impossible!" The theater guy goes, "Man, you guys have seen that movie too much!" Movie?

Then, in the open doorway, I seen the glint off a bald head flash by! I said, "He's going out the other side!" Everyone starts walking around to the other side. Stay on Target! Stay on Target! We go around just in time to see him and some other people jump in a car and take off. I shot the picture you see below.

Ah, well, it was worth a try. But we will meet again. Oh yes. It is his destiny.

That concluded our groovy John Williams Concert Adventure. We flew many miles, waited many hours, went hundreds of dollars in debt, skipped school, braved the experiment in Chaos Theory known as the Boston road system. It was worth it all. The next day as we were driving out of Cape Cod, we saw the sign below. Does that name sound familiar? Hmmm.