POP MUSIC REVIEW : Still Reason to Leave Light On for Peter, Paul and Mary

The most touching moment in Peter, Paul and Mary’s Hollywood Bowl concert Saturday night came when one solitary candle was bravely waved during the trio’s obligatory singing of “Blowin’ in the Wind.” In its own way, the tiny gesture symbolized the persistent vitality, not just of the group’s music, but of its capacity to connect in a meaningful way with its audiences.

Many of the tunes have been heard often enough, and associated with enough different causes, to have become virtual cultural icons. But “If I Had a Hammer,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “This Land Is Your Land” were sung with a spirit and enthusiasm that belied the number of times they have been performed.

On the too-short list of new material were Yarrow’s passionate call for Holocaust remembrance, “Don’t Let the Light Go Out,” and an untitled, but hilarious Noel Paul Stookey take on the romantic hazards of the Internet.

“Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” was done twice--once in a brisk trio version, and once in a richly textured interpretation accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

Another evergreen, Yarrow’s “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” was introduced by its composer with the comment, “We do this early in the program now, because some of you fall asleep.”

But there was little possibility that anyone would drift off at this splendid concert. Rapidly approaching age 60, Peter, Paul and Mary are still very much in the prime of their performing years.

The evening opened with the orchestra, under John Mauceri, warming up a few traditional tunes for the Fourth of July event and adding a gorgeously woven rendering of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”