Thelegendary Hollywood Bowlhas canceled their entire 2020 season. This marks the first time in the venue’s nearly 100 year history that it has had to do so. All events scheduled to take place for the rest of the year have been canceled, which includes the Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza featuring The Beach Boys. Independence Day celebrations across the United States have slowly been canceled as the world’s current state of affairs continue to linger on.
The Hollywood Bowl is a world famous venue that takes over Los Angeles during the summer. People come from all over the world to seeThe Los Angeles Philharmonic, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Flying Lotus, Beck, Gypsy Kings, Kanye West, John Williams performingStar Wars, and too many more to count. The venue has never been shut down for longer than two weeks during an active season. Wars, floods, fires, earthquakes, and more, The Hollywood Bowl has seen and been through it all throughout its 98-year history.
As Los Angeles County announces another three months of stay at home orders, thesummer concert seasonwas going to have to shut down at some point. The Hollywood Bowl is only one of the many venues that will have to remain closed at a time when they would be making enough money to keep going for the year.Social distancingis still the norm and people are being told not to get into crowds with 10 or more, which means the typical concertgoing experience is not happening for a long time. For The Hollywood Bowl, it looks like next year will hopefully be the year that they stage a triumphant return.
The Greek Theatreis another popular Los Angeles outdoor venue that will more than likely cancel all of its upcoming 2020 shows. Another iconic venue, The Troubadour in West Hollywood, has started a GoFundMe to stay afloat during this difficult time. The Hollywood Bowl 2020 season cancellation “adds to the mounting revenue losses for the L.A. Phil, which faces an $80 million budget shortfall, the orchestra said.” The Bowl officially opened its doors in 1922 and provided much-needed entertainment throughout the Great Depression and while people could certainly use the entertainment now, it won’t be happening this year.
With things going the way they’re going, live music and entertainment as a whole won’t be back until some point next year. It’s impossible to tell at the moment, but even movie theaters who were planning on opening in July might not be able to do so, especially if big cities like Los Angeles will still be spending time indoors. For now, we’re all just going to have to be a lot more patient to wait this one out until some sense of normalcy appears.The Los Angeles Timeswas the first to announce that The Hollywood Bowl has canceled their entire 2020 season.
