July 3, 2009

The Fourth of July is not a single day in Boston. Rather, the festivities go on all week, and, frankly year-round. But the weekend of the Fourth is a whole different level of patriotism. Boston's Harborfest overlaps the Fourth, providing a vast number of activities that I couldn't begin to take advantage of properly, especially with my work schedule. But I did what I could, and it's been an amazing weekend!

On July 3, we had over 2,000 visitors to Park Street Church on the Freedom Trail. That was a busy day, let me tell you! After work, I made my way down to the Charles River esplanade, where the Hatch Memorial Shell is. There, the Boston Pops were going to do a dress rehearsal for the Fourth of July concert. The dress rehearsal is a lot less crowded than the actual event, so it made sense to go for that instead. Even so, there was a huuuuuge line to get in. I waited about 45 minutes to get my wristband and get into the area in front of the stage to stake out a place to sit. I ended up a ways back, but with a decent line of sight. The only problem with my location was that I was one of the few people who didn't have a lawn chair. I could still see because there was a paved path in front of me that had to be kept clear, but that didn't stop people from stepping on me. That's right, other concertgoers saw my spot as a perfect path through the lawn chairs and were continually stepping on the edge of my tarp (a used plastic tablecloth I snagged from church) and, if I happened to be standing to stretch my legs, in the center of it. Very rude. The worst, though, was when I lay down for a while to rest (I got my spot more than 3 hours before the concert actually started). I heard noise and opened my eyes to see a man stepping directly over my head! The gay couple next to me acted offended for me, as I was too shocked to react before the man had moved on.

In spite of the awkwardness of waiting for the concert, it was definitely worth the trouble. Not only did I get to see the Boston Pops, but Neil Diamond performed as well! And Craig Ferguson was hosting. I will never again have the opportunity to hear Neil Diamond sing "Sweet Caroline" live for free--that just doesn't happen!

And because I know many of you, my readers, envy the opportunity I had, I took the liberty of recording a few short video clips of the concert for you to enjoy. First up is a portion of Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Next is Neil Diamond singing what has become the official song of the Boston Redsox, "Sweet Caroline."

And finally, Boston Pops playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever"

It was great fun, and the celebration doesn't stop here. The Fourth itself will be posted next!

-Kim