Last Sunday I attended Sia’s Nostalgic For The Present concert at The Hollywood Bowl with friends, and it was incredible!

The Venue

For those who have never been to the Hollywood Bowl before be sure to bring a seat cushion. My butt was aching while watching the opening act.

You’ll be sitting on a bench that is not spacious and quite hard on your bum, so you’ve been warned.

You’re also allowed to bring a picnic basket, unopened alcohol and an unopened water bottle inside the venue, so that was cool (check the Hollywood Bowl site for an accurate list).

But I can’t imagine hauling a picnic basket to my seat and having to find a place to store it in the limited seating space. 

Transportation

The venue has shuttles that take you to and from your parking. We parked at the LA Zoo (free of charge) and took a shuttle to the Hollywood Bowl.

Tickets were $6 plus a $1 and something fee if you bought them online and I believe it was $12 in person.

Try to get there early because the shuttle took a long time to get to the venue.

I would not suggest parking at the event.

You’ll have a hard time getting out and who knows how much they charge.

For some reason when we were on the shuttle to the Hollywood Bowl, an employee told us that we only had 20 minutes after the concert to get back to the bus.

It made us panic because there were thousands of people at the show and getting out of the venue wasn’t going to be easy. It was hard to find the shuttle back after the show.

Some workers gave us wrong directions, so we were like lost cattle trying to find our way home. Eventually, we found the right bus, but it was packed so we had to stand.

We also learned that there would’ve been more shuttles coming every 20-30 minutes, so we rushed for no reason. 

Opening Acts

Unfortunately, we missed AlunaGeorge (who I don’t know) but we got to see all of Miguel’s performance (who I also don’t know), and he sang for an hour, which is kind of long for an opening act.

I went to Demi’s Neon Lights concert a couple of years ago, and her opening acts were Fifth Harmony and Little Mix, and I don’t think they performed that long combined.

Each act seemed to be around 25 minutes. Miguel has a beautiful voice, but after a while, his songs seemed to sound the same.

I was angsty for Sia to come out and the bench was hurting my butt so that could’ve been why I was a bit annoyed that he performed for an hour. 

Sia 

You know that feeling you get before the main act performs. The lights go out, and the music starts to play, and you’re eager with anticipation for what’s to come.

Well, imagine that feeling being intensified by 100! That’s how excited everyone was for Sia to come on.

And boy did she not disappoint!

She kicked off her performance by singing Alive, which was quite fitting.

What I found amazing was that Sia didn’t talk to the audience until the very end. Even at the end, all she did was say “thank you.”

Her music and dancers spoke for her, so I guess she’s probably one of the few artists who can get away without having to engage with fans.

Each time she’d finish a song a short video would play before the next tune.

The videos were weird. I don’t think I’m artistic enough to get what was going on, but I clapped like I totally understood it.

BONUS: We got to see Paul Dano and Kristen Wiig perform, which was such a treat! They were phenomenal, as was Maddie Ziegler (aka mini Sia).

Songs She Performed

Sia sang Diamonds, Titanium, Alive, Chandelier, Bird Set Free, Breathe Me, Unstoppable, Move Your Body, Cheap Thrills, Reaper, Big Girls Cry, One Million Bullets, Elastic Heart, Soon We’ll Be Found, The Greatest and Fire Meet Gasoline*.

Personally, the concert felt short, but it wasn’t. Sia sang 16 songs and the whole set list was around 1hr and 15 minutes. I guess I just wanted her to keep on singing.

Overall

The concert was a beautiful experience, and Sia is an amazing vocalist! Her voice never faltered, and I was shocked that she was able to sing each song basically non-stop.

I hope to be able to see her again if she ever goes on tour!

Fun Facts

Katy Perry, Hillary Duff, Billy Eichner, Camilla Belle and Alfonso Riberio were all at the concert that night! 

I would share some of my pictures from the event, but iPhone night photos are the worst, so enjoy this picture I wish I took.

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*I always searched YouTube for a live version of this song, so it was a dream come true to be able to hear it live (dies internally).