Music in the Air
Saturday, August 30th, 2008Heading into the last official weekend of the summer, I recall one of my favorite summertime activities: attending an outdoor concert on a mellow evening with a great picnic, fine wine, close friends and of course, excellent tunes.
 One of my favorite memories is seeing Chicago in concert on the lawn at the Chateau Ste.-Michelle winery in Woodinville, Washington, a number of years ago. It had been cloudy and threatening rain earlier in the day, but as concert time approached, the sky cleared and we had a perfect view of Mt. Rainier glowing in the evening sun to the south, while hot air balloons drifted overhead and a full moon rose over the wooded foothills to the east. We brought our own home-cooked gourmet feast, purchased a bottle or two of the winery’s best, and laid back and basked in the ambience and the great music. I have to admit it was a little difficult to pull our blissed-out selves up to give the band its well-deserved ovation at the end of the night.
Another great spot in a breathtaking location is the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, only about 45 minutes from my home in the north central part of the state. With a total capacity of around 20,000, it has the usual reserved seating in front of the stage, backed by an immense grassy bowl for general admission lawn seating. The stage backs up to the upper edge of immense basalt cliffs looming high over the Columbia River, so those seated have a magnificent view looking north upriver and west to the cliffs opposite and the sunset beyond. Last year my daughter and I took in a John Mayer concert there, and his comments about the immensity and timelessness of the landscape echoed our sentiments–and WE had the better view!
I know there must be scores of great outdoor concert venues all over the world (I’ve visited Red Rocks outside of Denver, for instance, but not gotten to attend a concert there), and I’d be willing to bet that most of you have your own great memories of summer evenings at some of them. I’d love to hear about them and start my list of not-to-be-missed venues in the summers to come.
 Patty Vanikiotis, proofreaderÂ
