22nd Annual Bridge School Benefit - 10.26.08 - Mountain View, CA.
Posted by Brian Berry on 10.30.2008
Neil Young's annual benefit brings Smashing Pumpkins, Jack Johnson, Death Cab For Cutie, and more for unplugged performances in California...
Since 1986, Neil Young and his wife Pegi have used their music industry pull to assemble music’s biggest acts for their annual two-day concert benefiting the Bridge School: an assisted learning campus for students with severe disabilities. The Young’s son, who is now an adult, once attended Bridge School.
Past performers of the benefit include rock juggernauts like Paul McCartney, Green Day, The Who, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and Metallica. The concert is characterized by short acoustic performances, multiple appearances of Neil Young sitting in on sets (as well as performing a set of his own), Bridge School students watching the concert from behind the stage, and an overwhelmingly cheerful atmosphere.
It’s not uncommon for bands to make repeat trips to Bridge School. Of this year’s sold out 2nd day performers, only Cat Power and Josh Groban hadn’t performed at a previous show. Also on tap for the day were Neil Young, Smashing Pumpkins, Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, Death Cab For Cutie, and Wilco.
Because there were so many repeat performers, the event lacked the buzz of just about every preceding year. 2007 was spilling over with hotly debated acts: Metallica, Tom Waits backed by the Kronos Quartet, and My Morning Jacket (a last second replacement for Eddie Vedder) being the most buzzworthy of the lot.
The most talked about band for this year was ZZ Top, who agreed to perform on day 1 but cancelled a week before the show citing “scheduling conflicts” (rumors range from them opting to play a paid gig and using the weekend to write new songs).
Through the gates just before 3pm, Cat Power was closing up her set with a bizarre, poorly synchronized duet of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” sung along with Neil Young.
Wilco followed 15 minutes later with songs borrowing heavily from their folk based Mermaid Avenue sessions with Billy Bragg. Despite only a couple Wilco staples, most notably “I’m the Man Who Loves You”, the usually experimental pop-rock band fit well into an unplugged setting. Frontman Jeff Tweedy received a lot of laughs from the crowd when Neil Young joined them for their finale: Tweedy mimicking Young’s high pitched vocalizing complete with over exaggerated facial expressions while covering the legend.
One of the day’s better sets came from Death Cab For Cutie, who performed a “greatest hits” set of sorts, playing all of their radio hits. Death Cab sounds much better with their instruments toned down, as their greatest assets are Ben Gibbard’s lyrics/vocals. They also benefit from a shorter time slot versus full-length shows: their sound is a little too samey to sustain over an hour of non-stop material. Highlights included “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” and “Soul Meets Body”.
Smashing Pumpkins ended the “alternative rock” half of the concert, with accompaniment from a fine-tuned string section. Surprisingly, they didn’t play any of their huge ‘90s radio hits until the finale. Despite this set back, Corgan, drummer Billy Chamberlin, and the “new” Pumplins performed a good set of songs…until Josh Groban took the stage in what was easily the most surreal moment of the day.
Groban, the musical theater-esque singer who has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. alone, joined the Pumpkins for the closing song, “Disarm”. Unless laughter, confusion, and horror were the expected outcomes then this coupling was completely unsuccessful. His showy voice overpowered the instruments in the song (and Corgan’s backing vocals), which is a shame because Corgan’s wavy, often understated singing is essential to the strength of “Disarm”.
Josh Groban’s full set followed. First, the good: Groban was gracious to the Bridge School kids and signed autographs for them. He is also a major contributor to benefit concerts and charities so it’s hard to hate the guy as a person.
As for the bad: his set saw a mass exodus for the bathroom. Concertgoers throughout the day were overheard discussing how the young singer didn’t fit in with the rest of the show. What’s more surprising is that even though Groban’s sold more records in the past 5 years than any other artist on the bill, he was also the least known performer to the crowd.
His vocals were turned up so loud and his voice was so overpowering that as the set went on, more and more grimacing fans left the stage area.
Surprisingly, Norah Jones performed the strongest set of the day. Known for her jazzy vocals, the gorgeous songbird donned a new, short haircut and a new sound: country-folk. Jones was joined on stage by a female bass player and banjo/guitar player while Jones manned the piano and a secondary guitar. She acquired many new crushes with her playful, joking attitude and constant smile. Highlights included the hit “Come Away With Me”, two Johnny Cash covers, and the highlight: a cover of Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.”, which sounded just as good, if not better, than the original.
The most popular act of the day was Hack, err, Jack Johnson. He can’t sing, he can hardly play guitar, most of his songs sound the same, and his songwriting is elementary at best but somehow he is one of the biggest concert draws in the United States. There isn’t much to say about his performance because nothing happened. “Bubbly Toes”, “Banana Pancakes”, blah, blah, blah…
Closing act Neil Young had some making up to do after performing one too many songs off his 2007 album “Greendale” at last year’s Bridge School Benefit. The legendary performer closed out the show with a solid set of hits, including “Old Man”, “Heart of Gold”, and the excellent new track “Just Singing a Song Won’t Change the World”. After a day’s worth of adequate but not mind blowing performances, I think the elder statesman of the festival realized he owed a solid set to send fans home smiling.
The 411: Neil Young's annual benefit show saw Death Cab For Cutie and (surprisingly) Norah Jones performing strongest while the weakest sets came from Josh Groban and Jack Johnson. Even on it's least interesting year, the benefit is a great afternoon concert with an overwhelming feeling of positivity.
