All You Need is Love (and Cheap Trick)

Last weekend, I had the privilege to attend a concert at Los Angeles' famed Hollywood Bowl celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' seminal album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The show was headlined by Cheap Trick, who were joined by several special guests, including Amee Mann, Joan Osborn, Ian Ball, and Rob Laufer. Cheap Trick is one of my favorite rock bands from the '80s, and everyone was in fine form. In the second half of the show, the Sgt. Pepper album was performed straight through in its entirety, with orchestral support provided by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

"All You Need is Love" was performed for the encore and I must say it nearly brought me to tears: Thinking of all the crap going on in the world today and watching this '60s anthem to peace being performed live made me think about how simple it would be to solve so many problems if people embodied and personified the song's simple but heartfelt message. How sad for the world that so little has changed since the Summer of Love.