Nearly every year that I was in Boston, I attended the Boston Pops annual Holiday Concert. Last year was awesome because I saw the Barenaked Ladies perform with them. So, since I'm not in Boston, William and I went to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra's concert entitled "Colors of Christmas".
The night went off completely without a hitch- we were afraid of rush hour traffic, but had COMPLETELY smooth sailing up the 101 to the city- something that has NEVER happened before. We also found free parking on the street, just 2 blocks from the hall. Thus, we were early. But, I was so glad because we had time to look at all of the beautiful Christmas trees lining the hallways. Different elementary schools and businesses decorated over 20 trees. Here's just one side of the two floors of trees.
It was cute because the "green" recycled items was the theme for the kids so it was fun to see their creativity with pie tins and old cans. The funniest tree was one by See's Candy. We only saw red ribbons on the tree- which is really beautiful, but kind of bland. Then, we look up at the top section of the tree and see their lollipops hanging as ornaments. However, there was none on the bottom 2/3 of the tree. Upon closer inspection, we found that the lollipop holders were still on the tree and that people had just taken the lollipops that they could reach! We just thought that was so funny that people would take a "free" sample from off the tree. I thought that this was such a beautiful tree done by the Salvation Army, especially with the City Hall in the background.
I think that it is such a neat building- it kind of reminds me of Napoleon's tomb in Paris. Here are some close up pictures from the daytime.
And nighttime- there was this neat little outdoor balcony on the 3rd floor that no one was using. It provided this great photo op.
Here are a few general shots of the inside of the hall.
Isn't this a cool light fixture
And the inside of the hall- it reminded us of the interior of the Sydney Opera House concert we saw. I think its pretty unique in that there are seats BEHIND the stage too.
The concert itself was really fun. They had 5 different guest artists who not only sang Christmas music, but also their "greatest hits". It was an interesting combination to hear classics like "I'll Be Home For Christmas", "O Holy Night", and "Joy to the World" (to name a few) and then hear others like "Wedding Bell Blues", "Age of Aquarius", "Let the Sunshine In", and "Up, Up and Away." They are all really fun songs, but it was just so unique to hear them at a Christmas concert. I was really happy though to hear one song- "Beauty and the Beast" because it was sung by Peabo Bryson who sang the version with Celine Dion. Sadly, Celine wasn't there, but he did a great job. This was also the funniest part of the concert. So, they invited two twin boys to come up onstage and sing with them and then 5 other kids just come running up as well. So, they had all of them standing in a line while Peabo Bryson and Oleta Adams sang the song. It was so funny to watch the kids reactions as they were expected to "hold hands". And then some just stood there looking scared. Oleta was singing specifically to one of the little boys and he ended up plugging his ears! We were dying. And then this little girl sang the final word- "Beast". It was just so adorable and so funny to see these little kids up there.
The mass exodus after the concert to leave the building.
It was definitely one of the most unique Christmas concerts I've ever been to.
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