John Williams' Film Night at Tanglewood, Aug 2 and 3, 2024

[Bellosh 4,223]

20 hours ago, Andy said:

For sure.  Neither conductor really slowed down to tell anecdotes.   Newman, a little. But he seemed in a hurry. I think they were hot and uncomfortable.  Definitely not the same without John. 
 

I had decent seats in the shed, and idiot drunken yuppies cracking open cold ones and giggling in the row behind me.  They got the death stare from me a couple of times. 

 

 

Seemed the same to me, but I’m not 100% sure. 
 

Luke and Leia had an odd arrangement. There were several bars in the beginning and in the middle that were just omitted.  Anyone else ever hear it this way?  It’s as if they just chose a few bars and crossed them off throughout the piece. 
 

Wide Receiver brought the energy. The highlight for me.  Much more rambunctious than its cousin March of the Resistance also played tonight.  
 

I could do without the images shown on the screens. People cheer their favorite athletes or chuckle at amusing scenes. It’s lame. I don’t need to see Star Wars images over March of the Resistance.  I’ve never been to a LTP concert, and I don’t think I ever will.   I want to concentrate on the performers,  not distracting visuals. 

 

Neat to hear Olympic Fanfare played live during an actual Olympic Games season.  The whole NBC suite was the highlight for me.   The Normies are so lame when they chuckle the opening bars of the NBC News theme. 
 

The non-Williams stuff was… meh. With the exception of the Spartacus suite. That had some teeth to it with all the intense and interesting percussion. 
 

Encores were Marion’s Theme, ET, and Imperial March.  I would’ve preferred the Raiders March with Marion’s theme as a more lively send off. 
 

Overall, still a fun concert. But just knowing what it could’ve been, compromises the spirit. That and the traffic guard who nearly sent us to our death demanding we exit in the opposite direction we wanted, taking us down the foggiest, most winding wooded roads in pitch darkness. 
 

 

 

Great write up and lol at the normies laughing at the NBC nightly News theme. They always do that 

 

I ultimately made other plans as the drive was too far to go with JW not being there.

 

Hopefully next year I can meet up with you and others!

[Marian Schedenig 10,123]

So no update on Williams's health then? I was hoping the Tanglewood concerts would give us an indication that he's going to be fit for Vienna.

[BSOinsider 57]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:21 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

 

It's amazing they keep playing it. Even if Williams himself doesn't care, somebody else must be fed up with it. It's a shit arrangement.

John Williams curates the entire Film Night program every year, and specifically picked this version of the piece. While I also personally prefer the other version let’s please not imply that this piece wasn’t specifically chosen by the composer himself. 

[Marian Schedenig 10,123]

Oh, he certainly picks it himself - he's been playing it at his other concerts for years as well. Doesn't mean somebody couldn't try to nudge him to replace it, either with a different piece, or with the full, uncrippled version.

[Mr. Hooper 5,021]

46 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Oh, he certainly picks it himself - he's been playing it at his other concerts for years as well. Doesn't mean somebody couldn't try to nudge him to replace it, either with a different piece, or with the full, uncrippled version.

[Marian Schedenig 10,123]

50 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

 

Say no more!

[SilverTrumpet 645]

So I guess nobody had much to say about the experience itself, huh?

 

We ended up staying home and listening to the radio version. We had lawn seats like we have traditionally done and lucked out with in recent years. That plus JW not being there, knowing it'll rain, having a ton to do at home and knowing we'd be home super late, and then the set list didn't look all that exciting anyway. It was a fine night of Chinese food...though the Chinese food wasn't great. 

[BB-8 4,958]

On 01/08/2024 at 8:41 PM, Mr. Hooper said:

I won't be there, but I'll send a video message of me having a beer.

Enter Mr. Hooper...

[Mr. Hooper 5,021]

4 hours ago, BB-8 said:

Enter Mr. Hooper...

I'm currently checking my home for hidden cameras...

[WilliamsStarShip2282 326]

Both Film Night and Tanglewood on Parade were well attended, but especially on parade was far less people because of the rain. But both concerts were excellent, especially on parade. The tribute to Seiji was really nice, and excellent performances of all the pieces, really enjoyable if you got lucky and in the shed. There was a video narrated by JW about Seiji's life, but it was clearly done a long time ago, no indication of when though, most likely around the time he last conducted there.

 

James Taylor and his wife were special guests, and his wife told some old Tanglewood stories, including a time when there used to be a "Tanglewood Train" for Tanglewood on Parade that went from the Lenox square to Tanglewood, and JW's first year with the Pops he went on it with Seiji. I guess going down the hill to Tanglewood the train started to really pick up speed and JW asked Seiji "does this thing have breaks?" and Seiji said "No! isn;t this exciting?". She told it much better of course, hopefully there will be a broadcast of it.