HUB, POPS PARTY HUB, POPS PARTY

Crowd packs Esplanade for concert, fireworks

Hundreds of thousands of revelers from across the country, many decked out in elaborate red, white and blue attire, packed the Esplanade last night to take in the city’s annual Boston Pops Fourth of July concert and fireworks show.

“There’s no better place to be on the Fourth than Boston,” said John Schinker, 46, of Stow, Ohio, whose family has celebrated Independence Day on the lawn in front of the Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell for each of the last 17 years.

“This is the place where the Revolution started,” he said. “That spirit of liberty permeates the culture here. That spirit has lived here for hundreds of years.”

Schinker, like many in the crowd, traveled to Boston to hear the world-renowned Boston Pops do what they do best.

Joe Duggan, 58, of Onset, said he makes the trip to Boston every year for the music.

“The 1812 Overture. I’ve loved the Pops since I was a kid,” he said. “Once you come and hear it live you can’t watch it on television ever again.”

Shawn Foster, 47, of Windham, N.H., said he and a group of friends have been coming to the see the Pops for seven years running.

“This is the first year we got the front,” he said. “Every year we come down the night before and camp out. It’s so great to come here. It’s fun all day. The Pops. We take shifts, we shop, we meet people from all over the country.”

Joining Foster in the front row was Jennifer Ravgiala, 30, of Lawrence, who earned her spot by camping out at 5 a.m. Monday.

“It’s all about the experience. This is my Boston Pops family,” she said. “I love it here.”

After Keith Lockhart led the Boston Pops in “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which was topped with a rousing fly-over by F-15 fighter jets, Melissa Etheridge tore through four songs before the fireworks display lit up the sky over Boston.

“I come every year ... You can’t beat it,” said Jeremy Torres, 20, of the South End. “People come from all over the country to see this.”

For 18-year-old Mendel Boymelgreen, of Miami, it was his first time seeing fireworks over Boston.

“It’s great,” he said. “It feels very patriotic.”

STAFF PHOTOS BY STUART CAHILL, ABOVE, AND JOHN WILCOX, RIGHT ‘NO BETTER PLACE TO BE’: Conductor Keith Lockhart, below, leads the Pops at last night’s concert, which culminated in a fireworks show over the city, above.

STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN WILCOX HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE: Leslie Odom Jr., above, one of the stars of ‘Hamilton,’ performs with the Boston Pops Orchestra at last night’s Fourth of July celebration on the Esplanade.