music in the park

Summer in NYC is amazing. Especially when you take advantage of all the outdoor activities hosted around town. During this past week, I was able to go to 2 concerts (did I mention FREE?) on the Great Lawn in Central Park - Bon Jovi and the NY Philharmonic - how vastly different can we get?
Bon Jovi's appearance was to celebrate Major League Baseball's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, that is getting retired at the end of this season. Over 60,000 people filled the Lawn to bring out the Jersey girl/boy out of them and scream all the words of "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Runaway".
Last night was another packed Lawn for a concert where the NY Philharmonic annually treats us to their orchestral sounds. People kicked back on the lawn chairs, sipped some wine, picnic-ed under the stars to a backdrop of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and more. The concert's encore finale was a fireworks show at the south end of the park!
The 2 concerts were so different in music but were so similar in that they both brought together the otherwise disjointed NYC-ers to share their love for food, culture, fun, and social gatherings. Topped by perfect weather, I soaked in the positive energy flowing through the notes of the music into the veins of everyone there.