Jake Shimabukuro

We were glad for a chance to stretch our legs and walk for a bit after the big meal. The area around the theaters was filled with buses, cars and crowds of people, but traffic of all types flowed smoothly.

The venue was huge! Once we found the door, we were directed to 'take the elevator all the way to the top.' We opted for the stairs, which was quite a long haul! We arrived at the top and looked over the railing at the people coming in below. A friendly usher, who was also a member of a local ukulele organization that had purchased a block of 150 tickets, told us we were in the right place. We also learned that the hall held just under 2000 seats and the show was sold out with a waiting list. The show was part of the Orange County Japanese celebration.

We chatted with a lot of people, many of whom had no idea who Jake was. A couple of them were kind enough to take a picture of Jesse and I. No photos or recording allowed during the concert and the ushers were pretty vigilant about it.

Yes, that little tiny stool down there was were Jake was. The size of the pipe organ on the back wall is pretty impressive! We were in the front row of the top balcony. There were a lot of rows behind us and they were steep! You can also see that there were people seated behind Jake.

Despite the long distance, the sound was wonderful! He did many tracks from his current album, Love, Peace and Ukulele. He did Crazy G for an encore and it was amazing!