Organized by legend Neil Young and his wife, Pegi, the Bridge School Benefit Concert is an annual, all acoustic, non-profit charity event held every October at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. All proceeds directly benefit the operations of The Bridge School.
•The day opened with a short blessing and intro set from Neil Young.
•Austin-based Gary Clark Jr. impressed with an early set that set the tone for the rest of the day.
•K.D. Lang played a short, emotional set with a strong voice and stage presence.
•Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers mixed comedy and bluegrass into a pleasing set. Comedy aside, Steve Martin is a more than competent banjo player.
•Foster the People delivered one the strongest sets of the day. They performed hits including “Houdini” and “Pumped up Kicks,” incorporating xylophone and tubular bells to round out their sound in this acoustic setting. On Saturday, Mark Foster revealed it was a challenge adapting their electronic-oriented music to the required acoustic sound, but it was ultimately a rewarding challenge.
•As good as Sarah McLachlan is, I cannot hear her anymore without thinking about this:
•The Flaming Lips enlisted Reggie Watts for their set and ended the night with a cover of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” Reggie accompanied Wayne on vocals with a little help on the lyrics from his iphone. Or he was tweeting.
•Jack White brought out his all-male band on Sunday to play tracks from his latest album Blunderbuss, his collaboration with Danger Mouse Rome, and the White Stripes classics “We’re Going to to Be Friends” & “Hotel Yorba.” Saturday night saw the all female band perform with White, and they played their slower-paced songs like “Love Interruption” & “Blunderbuss.”
•After hearing about Saturday’s Guns n’ Roses performance, I expected the worst on Sunday. Axl got his act together and delivered a 40-minute set that actually sounded pretty good. They finished out their set with Neil Young playing Neil’s “Don’t Let it Bring You Down.”
•Neil Young previewed a few songs from his upcoming album Psychedelic Pill. As per custom, the night ended with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” that brought out almost all the artists from the day, minus Jack White.
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