Is there anything more fun than Neil Young's annual Bridge School concert at Shoreline Amphitheater? I don't think so, and the whole lineup (not uncharacteristically) was GREAT last night!Neil opened with "I am a Child" and closed the show with rousing renditions of old favorites like "Heart of Gold," "Old Man," and "Unknown Legend." Good stuff, and he was playing 'em like he did when I was a teenager, which is pretty impressive, considering he's old as the hills. (I say this with impunity because I'm pretty friendly with those hills myself!) Of course, he looks like them and I don't...heehee
My favorites among the other performers were Sarah McLachlan, Jack Johnson, and Death Cab for Cutie. Sarah's voice is even more exquisite in person, with so many shades and colors that she truly does take your breath away. Incredible talent!
Casual Jack managed to make me feel like I was happily sunbathing at the beach even though I was (still pretty happily) freezing at the venue.
As for Death Cab for Cutie, those guys made my Friday night, October 25th, 2008 life so worth living (and so un-death-cab-like) that I couldn't help wondering how on earth they picked their not-so-cutie name. I guess the art of paradox is not dead.
Oh, and Norah Jones played too...mostly country. She was palpably nervous, which surprised me, and I was a little disappointed in the stiffness of her performance. (Or maybe it's me that was stiff...and not just from the cold, either. It's hard for me to relax when the artist doesn't.) Still a talented and very lovely woman, though.
Best part of all was that my husband and I attended the concert with our son and his friends, which sorta brought us back to our younger days, as did the sickly sweet smell wafting down on us from the nether regions of the lawn area. Yuck. Didn't like it then; don't like it now. Guess some things never change.
Some things do change, though, like the lives of kids with special needs who attend The Bridge School. They do some great work there, and one of the best things about going to this annual concert is ensuring that their work will continue, even in this economy.
One final thing that changed last night: the age of my eldest son, aka the biggest Neil Young fan ever. I wish he could have closed out his "turning 33 day" with us at the concert yesterday. I honestly can't think of anything he would have liked better...And nothing I would have liked better, either. Happy birthday, Matt!
3 comments:
Do you remember what Norah played? Please post a setlist if you can! Thanks...
I love bridge school so much. Remember when I came up with my friends and we all went together? That was such a fun trip. We'll have to do it again soon!
Sure. She played two Johnny Cash songs. One was "Cry, Cry, Cry" and the other one (the better one of those two I thought) was about a bulldogger. Another country song she sang was a Hank Williams lyric that she had recently put to music. She then played Come Away with Me, but not with the piano. She sort of "countrified" it. In fact, she was on guitar for all but two of the set. Two other women backed her up on guitar and bass. She also sang Lonestar. My favorite song she played was "Sinkin Soon," which was on the piano. She was GREAT on that.
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