jazzfromhell's official unnofficial report on Neil Young's Annual Bridge School Benefit, act by act. For those who haven't heard of it, it's an annual show Neil Young puts together for the Bridge School, a center he and his wife put together for children with cerebral palsy (both of their children attended, one still does). The show usually has about five to ten acts, everyone must perform acoustically.
Neil Young (opening) - Breezed through three songs, two of which featured Emmylou Harris and one of those featured Native American friends of Neil's, who drummed and danced. As my friend's dad accurately said, the Native Americans probably would've looked pretty hokey/exploitative done by anyone other than Neil Young. Done by him though, it was pretty damn majestic.
Los Lobos - Great, played for about half an hour. More of their traditionally styled music, what with no electricity and all, which I think is way better than the more contemporary sounding stuff. One of the best portions of the show.
Bright Eyes - I have no idea why there's even a name for this band, they might as well call it Conor Oberst. The whole act (at least, the act they did here) centered completely around him. Anyway, it was pretty good, but the whole thing sounded like a bunch of Wilco covers, not only stylistically, but this guy's voice was just like Jeff Tweedy's. Also, it seemed like he was trying to use as many extra instruments for no reason other than looking diverse. He had about five band members who switched instruments just about every song, the set included use of timbales, clarinet, trumpet, flugelhorn, bongos, marimba, and more. They didn't have major parts in the songs, either.
Good Charlotte - Oi, musically atrocious. Awful music to begin with, even worse acoustically. If you think the guy's voice is annoying in the first place, it's even worse when it's just his voice and acoustic guitar. They also did the kind of thing where they take parts meant to be played electrically and directly transcribe them to acoustic guitar, which can sound disastrous, as it often did here. There set was also very, very long. However, they were very good spirited about everything, and were very nice to the Bridge School kids, so it wasn't a complete disaster.
Emmylou Harris - Very nice music, although it all sounded kinda similar. Still, though, very good. She played with some guy who I didn't know, and then had Linda Ronstadt (didn't see this coming) come out and sing for a song. Not much to say here, just a generally good act.
Norah Jones - Ok, I can't figure out why anyone would consider this music jazz. Maybe she just didn't play any of her "jazzier" stuff at this particular show, but what she played wasn't even close to jazz, more folsky, countryish. It doesn't swing or anything, let alone feature any improvisation, other than the occasional phrase-length guitar or piano solo. She has a very nice voice, and it was a pretty good segment overall (although it also went on for quite a while).
Jerry Lee Lewis - Oh yeah, we're thumpin' now! My favorite part of the show, Jerry's still got it, not as strong as 40-50 years ago, but still damn good. Pedophile or not, he plays a mean piano, and he's still got a pretty strong voice. My only complaint was that this part was a bit short, and that it was turned down kinda quiet when the amps should've been at 11. However, I understand that for the first point, he's 70+ years old and might not be able to hold out for a long set these days, and as for the sound being too low, there're 20+ kids with cerebral palsy right behind the musicians, and I guess and understand that it might have been uncomfortable for them to have the sound extremely loud (this may or may not be the case, I only know the general facts about cerebral palsy, nothing too detailed). Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and Great Balls of Fire were fuckin' great, would've been better
John Mellencamp - God, if I had gone today (Sunday) instead of yesterday I could've seen Dave Matthews instead of this guy. I'm not a huge Matthews fan, but he'd be way better than this crap. Not only is Mellencamp basically a big Springsteen rip off in the first place, who's basically built a career off of two hit songs (both of which I've heard way, way, way too many times), but goddamn it, his music just sucks. It all sounds the same, and isn't good to begin with. Now, thank God that he didn't play Jack and Diane or Hurts So Good, but if there was one thing that could've been just as bad, it would be playing some shitty anti-Bush songs, which is exactly what he did. Seriously, the two he did were stupid, not funny, and annoying. Thankfully, the set wasn't too long and he got his untalented ass off stage.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - If they've ever had an easy act to follow, it was here. Beating the shit out of Mellencamp's shitty "protest" ditties with some real protest songs (Ohio, For What It's Worth), these guys would've had a field day stealing the show if the Killer weren't around. Everyone except for Stills is still in prime condition, Stills' voice is a bit shot but they didn't pin any major vocal duties on him, and he made up for it with guitar. It was also an interesting choice for them to play Neil Young's "Old Man", considering all of these guys are pushing sixty, if they aren't already there.
Damn good show, and for a great cause. I have nothing but sympathy for these kids.
