Website dedicated to Neil Young and his music
Bridge School Benefit XX (October 2006)
My first Bridge School Benefit!!! WOOHOO!!! What an amazing experience it was and, as it is usual the case for me with Neil shows, a road trip. I was traveling by plane from Seattle to San Francisco and then by train from San Francisco to Mountain View. I was supposed to go to the campsite where all the Rusties were, but due to health issues I was forced to abandon that project. I was really pissed cause I really wanted to party with all the Rusties after the shows. Then again I was lucky to have enough strength to get out of my bed at 5 in the morning and run to the airport.
One more bummer is I was alone. My girlfriend was supposed to come with me, but finally she couldn’t come. So, first of all, I was there all alone and second of all, I had two tickets to get rid of. The Saturday one was easy but the Sunday one was a pain in the ass. Everybody knows how fun it is to stand in front of the venue and look like one of those lowlifes saying “tickets... who needs tickets... want tickets?” I was so fed up after half an hour that I just sold it to a guy who needed a lawn ticket for 20 bucks (instead of 90).
Once inside, I waited for the show to begin while drinking tea after tea to cure my cold. I think I must’ve spent at least 60 bucks on hot drinks during the weekend. Meanwhile, the Rusties began filling the Rust Row. I was sitting just in front of Jim and behind Sheila so I was in good company for the day. On my left there was also a quite sympathetic Rustie but I forgot his name... All I know is he posts under Piece of Crap.
So, as the show began, Neil came in and played a couple predictable songs (No I Am A Child????) and then I got what I expected with the opening act, Devendra Banhart: total crap. Cute, but crap nonetheless. Definitely, that guy must bang his head when he realizes each morning that he was born 30 years too late. Then the surprise discovery of the weekend: Gillian Welch. I’m in LOVE!!! I knew a few songs she did, mainly from the O Brother soundtrack, but I had no idea how awesome she really is. And her guitarist? He’s incredible!!! The solo at the end of Revelator was breathtaking! It’s a shame that the audience doesn’t stop yapping on the recording. Then at the end of her act came THE greatest moment of the weekend and probably of all the Neil shows I have ever seen: Country Girl. Gillian started the tune alone with Rawlings (the guitarist) and then Neil came in to sing the last verse and blow some harmonica. The moment when yells with his whining voice “Country Girl, I think you’re pretty” I think my heart skipped at least ten beats. At that moment you could’ve put Angelina Jolie naked in front of me, and I wouldn’t even notice.
The next act was by far the worst of the evening: Death Cab For Cutie. The stupid haircuts, the unshaved faces, the sloppy clothes, the emo voices, the pointless lyrics, the insignificant music and the indie sound was enough to make me run for my life and wait for their act to finish, away from the unbearable racket. How the hell do they dare take the name of a song by one of the greatest bands ever to call their band. I’m sure as hell Stanshall is turning over in his grave each time they play a tune.
Next was another highlight of the weekend: Trent Reznor with a string quartet playing music by Nine Inch Nails (!!!). Apparently, Trent assembled this group especially for this concert. What an amazing gift to the Bridge School. If I were Neil I’d be really honoured. His act was incredible and songs such as Piggy, Hurt and Right Where It Belongs were amazing in the completely new arrangements.
Next came a few acts that left me completely unimpressed. Foo Fighters, except for the very charismatic Grohl are totally dull. Brian Wilson’s band was amazing and their act managed to get the lazy crowd on their feet for a few tunes but Wilson himself was a very sorry and pathetic sight. He could barely sing half of the lines (the rest were sung by other members of the band), stayed sitting on his chair with his back curved like an old lady, was only moving his ankles up once in a few minutes as if there was a fan below him that let out an occasional draft up his shirt and managed I think one faint smile during the whole set. Pearl Jam were actually pretty good, but I’m just not a fan at all. I like their rendition of Dylan’s Masters Of War a lot and of course Black put me in a trance (which also means that I liked their Sunday show a lot more). Now... one thing I totally don’t get is all the hype around the Dave Matthews Band. What’s so good about them??? OK the musicians are very good, so? The music is painfully mediocre! So what if they can play if what they’re playing is totally uninteresting? Some critic once described a Coppola movie as a Big Mac cooked by a great chef. That’s exactly how I’d describe Dave Matthews’ music.
Now Neil... I don’t have much to say about his acts. His Saturday act was totally uninspired. Apparently he did almost exactly the same set as for Farm Aid, he put zero emotion in his songs and there were zero surprises. Only Harvest Moon and Homegrown put a smile on my face. It was the first time I heard these songs live but even those were more Farm Aid songs and a little out of context here. You could also definitely sense among the crowd that there was a lot less excitement than during the previous acts and by the time Neil was in the middle of his set, at least half of the people were gone.
Sunday was a little better for pretty much all the acts, Neil included. I was glad to hear Old Man, also for the first time and Ambulance Blues, although not among my favourite Neil tunes and poorly performed, was a nice surprise too. To sum it up, apart from Country Girl which was sublime and showed Neil in top form, on all the other songs, he sounded very tired and uninspired. His Sunday final act was among the shortest of all the artists and it really looked as if he was just eager to go home. Nevertheless, it was a great experience to assist to a Bridge School Benefit and live among all these musicians, children and parents for two days. It’s just sad to see that for some it looks like it became a sort of routine that they do because they’re used to do it. For half of the bands, the twentieth edition of the Bridge School Benefit wasn’t the first one and it showed. Only some of the newcomers showed excitement to be there, with the addition of Eddie Vedder whose devotion to the children looked amazingly genuine. On Sunday he dedicated some of his songs to children in particular and he seemed to have a really privileged contact with them. To see some of the children laugh when he was talking to them was one of the most beautiful moments of the weekend.
The next day I had some time left to visit San Francisco and so I did. I went to see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, walked around the Chinatown and the Italian village and (of course) took a ride in a cable car! At first I was reluctant to go because it seemed so banal to me. When I was a little kid I could ride cable cars whenever I wanted. But those cars are much older and have much more history than any cable I have ever seen. The guy who was pulling the break and the bell saw how fascinated I was by the rudimentary mechanics. At one point he said to me: “Hey! If you want to, you can pull the break yourself!” I was like a little kid in that car pulling the break and the bell each time the car stopped. From what I’ve seen, people in San Francisco are very nice to tourists and that’s very refreshing to see.
Back in the airport, I admired some of the old turntables in exhibition, which to a geek like me are a true delight, and I went to hop aboard my plane back to Seattle. Another Neil-trip was over.
