Every year, the Shoreline Amphitheatre hosts the Bridge School Benefit, an acoustic-themed concert to benefit the Bridge School, an innovative organization educating children with severe speech and physical impairments. Neil Young and his wife Pegi always host the event and 2008 was no different for the 22nd annual concert.
Both days started with a blessing from Native American friends of Neil, a speech by Pegi, and a pair of solo acoustic songs be Neil. Through the course of the evening, you can always catch a glimpse of the students who have a great view on a platform at the back of the stage (just behind the drummers).
Next up on Saturday was Band of Horses, a personal favorite, I wasn’t sure how they would sound without the chiming electric guitars but they were fine, even when Ben Bridwell was on autoharp and the instrumentation was more Spartan rather than anthemia. Unfortunately, their early set was too short, and failed to build up momentum. Cat Power was next and she was ok, although Chan’s voice sounded a bit strained. She did manage to wander into the audience. Neil joined her both days for a cover of the CCR tune, “Fortunate Son.”
Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco held down the next slots with nice performances. “Soul Meets Body” and “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” were both crowd favorites. Jeff Tweedy and Wilco was great as always. Nels Cline is such an amazing guitar player and the band is so tight from extensive touring. They included a new song in their set, as well as “Forget The Flowers,” “Hummingbird,” “War on War,” “Jesus Etc,” “Late Greats,” “California Stars,” and more
Next up on Saturday only was Sarah McLachlan; in a live setting, her voice is absolutely stunning. She included a couple of new songs which will be included on an upcoming hits collection. On Sunday only, it was Smashing Pumpkins, followed by Josh Groban. The real special surprise came when Josh came out to sing the only Smashing Pumpkins hit in their set, “Disarm,” with the Pumpkins.
But it was Norah Jones afterwards that was the real stunner. I expected more piano from Norah Jones. She had a nice little three piece band, Norah, a standup bass player, and another girl on guitar and banjo. Norah alternated between piano and guitar. They had really nice vocal harmonies together. Her set was more country oriented than I expected, with a cover of Johnny Cash's "Cry,Cry, Cry" and a really good song that Hank Williams had written the lyrics for and Norah has now provided the music. They also played Wilco's "Jesus etc." (which they had practiced specifically for the Bridge School Benefit) in spite of Wilco having played it earlier in the evening, which I found humorous ad perhaps they should have consulted with the boys prior to their set. I like her music generally but I was expecting a smooth pop set and got more bluegrass than I expected but loved it. She's much better with some twang in her thang.
Jack Johnson was the final act before Neil’s headlining slot on both days. His mellow vibe and smooth songs always get the audience attention, whether solo or with his band.
It was a real Neilapalooza on Sunday with Neil joining almost everybody; he didn't join Death Cab or the Smashing Pumpkins (perhaps passing that honor to Josh Groban, I guess Neil needed a break).
Neil and Pegi joined Wilco for “I Shall Be Released,” and Neil joined Josh Groban for “Harvest Moon,“ and he joined Jack Johnson for “Harvest.” All of the other guest appearances featured Neil on guitar but when he joined Norah Jones, he sat behind his trusty pump organ on a rendition of “When God Made Me.“
Neil's set in the evening was great. They played “A Day In The Life” and it was simply amazing. Especially hearing the band replicate the crashing orchestra part acoustically. Each day ended with a jam as performers joined Neil for "Comes a Time" I saw members of Band of Horses on Saturday and Josh Groban on Sunday, and members of Wilco, Jack Johnson and Norah Jones both evenings.
Overall, it was another great year. Still my favorite show to go to year after year. As usual, Neil gets to jam with a variety of other musicians and the audience is treated to some of their favorite artists playing acoustically (which often leads to versions that are radically different from the standard tour versions). Do yourself a favor and make a point to come out and help a great school and see some of the greatest artists perform.
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