Blues' Reviews: Bridge School Benefit Night 2 (10/26/08)

No, the apostrophe is NOT in the wrong place! At long last - the joint review that we promised of the benefit show we went to almost a month ago. Better late than never, eh?

Comments from Mr. Blue will be in regular text.

Comments from Mrs. Blue will be in italics.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Wow. I can't believe it's almost been a month since we were up in Mountain View toasting in the hot late afternoon sun. Bridge School is one of the few shows where I don't mind sitting in the lawn area. What's so great about this show is the diverse group of people that are in attendance - young, old, college kids, married couple with kids, frat boys and sorority chicks, grandparents, etc. I heart Bridge School...it's for a good cause, the music is great, and it's a perfect excuse to go up to the Bay area to check out all the other wonderful nearby places.

She's right about all the things that made Bridge School so special and unique. I love the fact that everyone does an acoustic set - no matter what. There's got to be a real temptation to sway away from it like KROQ did with Acoustic Christmas as I imagine some acts are quite resistant to the idea. The diverse crowd is definitely a plus as is the kickback atmosphere. There's no worries that a mosh pit is going to break out six feet away. I don't even feel concerned that a fight is going to happen - a rarity in almost any crowded situation anymore. The lawn is very chill, very kick back with people just enjoying the music and having a good time. Sure, you get your share of people who drank a little too much but that happens. In the two shows we've been to there, I've never seen a fight or anyone throwing up and in the end, that's good enough for me.

We arrived in the lawn a few minutes before the show started. As I mentioned earlier, it was hot, so after getting situated, I went to go grab some ice cold beers. When I got back, the show had started and this part gets cloudy for me (must be the ADD) because I don't remember much about the first band, Cat Power. And that's all I have to say about that.

It MUST be the ADD - or all the secondhand pot smoke. Shows at Shoreline are odd - especially all-day shows. You get scorching hot during the day and freezing cold after dusk. I wore jeans to prepare for the cold so I did my very best Huck Finn impression by rolling my pant legs up to my knees while it was hot. We had spread out a sleeping bag to sit on [most people bring blankets or what have you to stake their claim on the lawn] and were trying to inch it close to the people in front of us so that no one would walk in front of us. It was a failed effort despite my many attempts to make a minefield by strategically placing backpacks, shoes, and other obstacles in their paths. As mentioned earlier, the lawn at Bridge School is a host of different ages and personalities. In front of us was a family [two parents, three youngish kids] - behind us a group of older folks in their 50s who apparently come quite often from the conversation we had with them. Everyone was very cool and we had conversations with them all at some point during the day.

Somewhere in here there was a stellar display of lawn etiquette as the folks behind us asked first if we minded them smoking cigarettes - then opted to go elsewhere to smoke them so not to disturb the kids in front of us. A little later, they asked if we minded them smoking weed. When we assured them we didn't, they asked if we wanted some. Now THAT'S lawn etiquette. For the record, I didn't partake. I've always been a little iffy about that particular concert activity with strangers.

The show was actually opened with some kind of traditional Native American hoop dance. Whatever. It was kinda cool but the symbolism seemed to be lost on most. One of those little charming things about Bridge School is that all the kids sit on stage behind the bands. Pegi and Neil Young always take the stage to start the show to say a few words about the school to keep everything in perspective of why we're all there. From there, Neil played a couple songs before introducing Cat Power.

Cat Power is a bit of a mystery to me. The folks behind us were very excited about Cat Power as apparently it was one of the woman's favorite bands. I've heard a few covers by them that I dug but nothing that really made me stoked to see them. Nothing I saw at the show changed much of that. They did have an awesome cover of "Fortunate Son" with Neil that I thought was the highlight of their set. That also could be because it was the only song in their set that I recognized - go figure.

The first spot on the lineup is incredibly difficult for any band. The crowd is still trickling in, the sun is bright and scorching - if a band with a slower setlist hits the stage, it gets really tough for them. For what it's worth, Cat Power was much, much better in the spot than the band [who I can't recall] who went on in that slot a couple years ago but I still didn't really enjoy the set that much.



(Sidenote: it has taken Mr. Blue about five minutes to write all of his paragraphs thus far, whereas it has taken me like an hour for my piddly blocks of text. Needless to say, I will not be giving up my day job to become a writer.) Next up was Wilco. What I remember so vividly as Wilco was playing was the father and son in front of us playing with Batman and the Hulk action figures. It was very cute. Wilco was awesome...they played "What Light" which was really cool, but I was really sad and disappointed they didn't play "Jesus, etc."

Wilco was one of the bands that I was most looking forward to seeing live. I've been slowly digging them more and more over the past couple years so I was super-stoked when they were announced on this bill. Where Cat Power failed, Wilco succeeded. They took a person who didn't know many of their songs [me!] and managed to make me entertained by their entire set. From what I've learned after the fact, they even debuted a couple of new songs that I dug nonetheless. Since then, I also bought another song of theirs that they played at the show. The musical highlight of their set was the aforementioned "What Light" but just to add some variety, I'll go with the non-musical highlight of them saying they were from the "pro-America part of America." I maintain it takes a special kind of talent to make live music that someone doesn't know a highlight of the show. Wilco was definitely one of the highlights of the show for me.

As for me, Death Cab for Cutie was one of the highlights of the show. This was the fourth time we've seen them and they definitely didn't disappoint. I didn't really care for their latest single from their new album, well,at least not as much as their last album (which I loved) or older stuff (who doesn't love Sound of Settling?). And then they played "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" which always makes me teary-eyed when I hear it live.

Death Cab has never failed to put on a solid set for me. This wasn't my favorite set by them but they did hit all the spots that everyone expected them to - all the radio friendly hits that the KROQ crowd wanting to squeal for. What a difference two years makes though. When they played two years ago, I remember them getting a really flat reaction - even for the big hits. This time, they definitely seemed to be one of the bands that a lot of people were specifically there to see. I wouldn't really call them a highlight of the show for me since it was just more of the same ol' same ol' but I thought the set was solid and they contributed a quality set to the show.



I was really jazzed when I first heard that Smashing Pumpkins was going to play Bridge School. I've loved the Pumpkins since high school. For the Sadie Hawkins dance, I remember wearing this "SP" t-shirt with a red heart on the front and a bunch of text on the back that said,

"this is a smashing pumpkins t-shirt. rather than ask me why i'm wearing this ask yourself why am i reading this? the message is there is no message. one million souls tossing down their hard earned lettuce for a piece of the hot rock indie alternative pie. i've sold out. how about you? everybody's doing it even if they say they're not. don't ask me cause i don't know. rock saves. it's the next big thing. have you heard the next big thing? i'm part of the revolution. it's all coming down soon. hope you're there."

I loved that shirt. Plus, I remember listening to "Melancollie and the Infinite Sadness" on repeat my second year of college. The last time we saw them was back in 2000 in San Diego which was one of their last shows they played before they split up. Ahhh...good times! They sounded good, but I don't know what I was expecting...maybe them playing some of their old songs? Well, that didn't happen...until Josh Groban joined the Pumpkins on stage and sang "Disarm." That was cool, but then Groban left and then the Pumpkins left and I was left feeling incomplete and wanting more (of their old songs).

This was actually my biggest disappointment of the entire day. I had really high hopes for their set - in fact, they were the sole reason we picked going to Sunday's show instead of Saturday's. Right before they started their set, I said that my dream setlist would consist of "Today", "1979", "Landslide", "Drown", and "Disarm." I guess one out of five isn't bad but considering the rest of the set was all new songs, that was a problem. Unfortunately, the Pumpkins weren't able to pull off the Wilco thing of making you care about songs you didn't know. I really hate when bands decide they no longer need to play the songs that made them famous. It just comes off as incredibly arrogant to me - like their putting their "artistic integrity" above the people who made them. The "highlight", I guess, was the version of "Disarm" that they did with Josh Groban but even that, I wished they had done alone because the Groban addition did absolutely nothing for me. This was a turning point in the show for me because as I looked ahead at Groban, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, and Neil Young closing out the show, I had little faith that it was going to be good and was starting to feel pretty bummed.



Josh Groban kind of seemed like an odd fit for the bill, but I thought it would be cool to see him after seeing him in Jimmy Kimmel Live's "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" video. He has a fabulous voice and it was different for the crowd, but it was just okay for me, dawg. But I did find out that he wears glasses.

I'll echo that sentiment. I thought it'd be cool in the acoustic environment for Groban to bust out his crazy good vocal pipes for a set. But here's the weird thing. It's almost like he knew he was going to be an odd fit so he tried to overcompensate for it. He did a Simon & Garfunkel cover of a song called "America" that I absolutely adore but by him, it came off weird. He also did a cover of "Harvest Moon" which made the Neil fans happy but again, it came off weird because it's not the style of song that his voice is well suited for. I was hoping for a little "Mi Mancherai" but he strayed from the stuff that made him famous and ended up bombing for it. Probably the worst set of the show.



Up next was Norah Jones. She did an amazing job with her old songs, "Come Away With Me" and "Don't Know Why"; a Johnny Cash cover of "Cry Cry Cry;" and some new songs with her yet to be named band. A highlight of her set was when she played the piano and sang "My Dear Country" which is about election day.


The great thing about a festival-type show is that there is always an act that surprises you. Norah Jones was that act for me. When I saw her name on the announced lineup, I was really apathetic towards her playing. Even as her set was starting, I assumed it was going to be dull and sleep-inducing. But when all was said and done, the lovely Ms. Jones actually had my favorite set of the day. Between the great covers and the amazing renditions of her own work, I thought it was amazing from beginning to end. The Cash covers were amazing. There was a Hank Williams cover that was cool. Even the stuff of hers that I didn't know was the bomb. I'm prepared to make the very bold statement - Norah Jones saved the 2008 Bridge School Benefit for me.
Oh, and she also covered Wilco - doing "Jesus Etc." to a big crowd reaction.



Ah yes, I forgot about Norah Jones' cover of "Jesus, etc." which was awesome...I love that song!

Hmmm...what do I say about Jack Johnson? I like him, his songs, his melodies...I have a bunch of his cds, even the Curious George one, yet I'm not a huge fan. Does that make sense? I don't know...whatever. He had a good performance. I love "Bubble Toes" and was really happy when he played that. The family with the young children in front of us really wanted to see Jack Johnson, but didn't know that the concert was going to go on that long...in the end they stayed and the kids got to dance to Jack Johnson. Very cute!

So, I mentioned earlier that we had talked to our lawn neighbors throughout the day. Right before this set, I had stood up to stretch my legs and was chatting with the father of the family in front of us. He mentioned he had come to Bridge School years ago to see Springsteen which sounded absolutely amazing. He also mentioned that his kids wanted to come to the show to see Jack Johnson which finally explained who Jack Johnson's target demo is for me. Honestly, this was the set I was looking forward to the least. I'm not a big Jack Johnson fan - I've frequently joked about all his songs sounding the same. So, really, I can't tell you what else he played other than "Bubble Toes." There was one song that turned into a cover of the Stones' "Time Is On My Side" too. The set was okay but nothing really special to me. If I wasn't really wanting to see Neil this year, I would've probably been okay with getting the hell out of the cold weather at that point - the air was moist and our sleeping bag somehow became soaked from condensation.

The hard thing about doing a review of a show that was almost a month ago is that, well, it was almost a month ago and I don't know about all of you, but I can hardly remember what I did yesterday. So you can imagine how hard it is for me to do this review (and I even wrote notes during the show to help me write my part of the review and jump start my memory...yeah, that didn't work). So, now Neil Young is up on stage and he's the headliner. I am not afraid to admit that I am not a Neil Young fan and I really don't know his songs. I was somewhat cold, tired, a bit hungry, and our sleeping bag was soaked. I don't really remember his set and I don't even remember what songs they sang during the end of the night sing-along when the rest of the bands on the bill come out and join Neil on stage (which is usually really cool). I was just so happy that Sunday's show starts earlier than the Saturday one which means that it ends earlier too. All in all, it was an okay show with disappointments from Smashing Pumpkins and Josh Groban and highlights from Death Cab, Norah Jones and Wilco.

I, on the other hand, was really excited about Neil's set as I've grown more and more fond of his music since the last time I saw him. I've gone from really only knowing and caring about "Rockin' In The Free World" to really looking forward to a handful of songs. I can add a handful more [and have to my iPod] since then. Neil had an amazing set that the diehards who had sat through a long day to get to were very happy with. The end-of-show singalong wasn't as cool as when they did Rockin' two years ago but it was still fun to see everyone on stage having a good time. All in all, it was a damn fun show and a fun day overall. It lacked the star power of the '06 show we went to and won't measure up to it over time but I'm very happy we got the chance to see Wilco, Norah, and Neil which were the highlights of the day for me. I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to see Wilco and Norah in a smaller venue some day in the future.



In closing, I'd like to thank one and all for taking the time read through all this. I'd also like to thank my lovely wife for humoring me and putting this review together with me after nearly a month. I'm sure it's not how she wanted to spend an entire Tuesday night after work but she did it without a grumble.

Until next time!