kaedor

Believe it or not, he was the best he had ever looked (I've seen him 4 times in the last 3 years).  He was really funny - at one point a helicopter flew circles over the Bowl, which was really annoying (thankfully it happened in between songs), and eventually Williams cracked this joke about "Helicopters... now, that would be a good soundtrack. I've always wondered, are they in the key of C or the key of B flat?"

So as you saw, there were four encores, so Williams actually returned five times (counting the final "I'm going to sleep" gesture).  Each time he shuffled off the stage, he looked kind of crazy - I would describe it as funny, wacky, and definitely sprightly.

Oh yeah, something I forgot to mention... during Superman, the video screens showed a montage of Superman and Batman clips, from the Routh/Reeve/Bale/Clooney/Kilmer movies... it was very distracting, and it made the Batman movies look MUCH better than they actually were!

A warm California night at the Hollywood Bowl...

First Half:

Harry Potter Grand Suite.  Just like other performances, but I think it sounded even better.  Note: Diagon Alley used the "full orchestra ending", which I had never heard before (although I had seen the score).  It was much better than the "movement ending", which I heard last year in Boston, and which is the only version I've seen on YouTube.

Second Half

Tribute to the Film Composer.  From the Academy Awards thing.
Escapades, from Catch Me If You Can.  Saxophone concerto-esque piece - really good.
As Time Goes By, from Casablanca.  An engaging violin solo (I've heard Williams violin solos that were not so engaging)
Devil's Dance, from The Witches of Eastwick.  A little bit of Jaws, a little bit of Harry Potter...
End Titles, from Dracula.  Good performance, but I could have done with Jurassic Park instead!
Superman March: Best performance I have ever heard.  The LA Philharmonic brass is superb - no mistakes, and a truly powerful sound (especially the trumpets) - much better than the Boston Pops, who seem to flub a few major notes every time.  I suppose the LA players are just better at this sort of film music.

The encores were:

1. Yoda's Theme.  The cymbal player gave a HUGE crash on beat 1 and then, after his realization of what he had done, slumped over as though his favorite pet had died... I can only assume he assumed the first encore was...

2. Star Wars Main Title.  About 100 people busted out their toy lightsabers.  Great.

3. E.T. Concert Suite.  A little slow for my tastes (slower than the recording).

4. Imperial March.  Flawless.  The lightsabers came back out, and the multicolor ones were turned to red!

Amazing!  As is often the case, the encore was better than the "real" concert.

Here's hoping for Harry Potter 7!