Bridge School Benefit Concert 2004

photos by Tim Mosenfelder

News on Neil Young

UPDATE - Oct. 24, 2004: Reviews are coming in from the first day of the Bridge Benefit Concert. See below for updates, setlists, photos, reviews and links. Also, see Neil News for updates.

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The 18th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert will be held on October 23rd (Saturday) and 24th (Sunday), 2004 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.

Here's the finale Sunday 10/24, 2004 lineup:

2.00-2.15-----Pegi & Neil Young
2.15-2.40-----Tegan & Sara
2.50-3.20-----Los Lonely Boys
3.35-4.05-----Sonic Youth
4.20-4.50-----Ben Harper
5.05-5.35-----Chili Peppers
5.45-6.00-----Eddie Vedder
6.10-6.40-----Tony Bennett
6.55-7.30-----Paul McCartney
7.30-7.40-----Bridge School Film
7.55-8.30-----Neil Young
8.30-8.40-----Finale

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Day #1 - Saturday: 10-23-2004, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California - Bridge School Benefit 18 Day #2 - Sunday, 10/24

Neil Young

Neil's Day #1 photos, setlist and MP3 & FLAC link now posted.

From Expecting To Fly's post to Rust:

"I attended the Saturday BSB show, it ended around 1am; very late for this East Coast boy who flew in the day of the show. But it was a great one.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Neil pull out Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It in his opening set. Before the song, he introduced it as a song he has not sung yet, a song he didn't do on the album. I was hoping that he would do Barefoot Floors, but I recognized right away with the opening chords that it was going to be DIHTCROASI (wow, the abbreviation is even long.) It was cool to hear, I'm not real sure how it's going to sound on recordings. Let's just say, I'll bet Neil wishes he would have rehearsed it a few times more.

The main set was great, typical of the last few benefits he's done, but this is the first time I've caught this Neil/Pegi acoustic thing. Very nice set with many songs from the Comes A Time album. Vedder joined Neil and Pegi for Harvest Moon. A highlight for me was the very cool way Neil plays Pocahontas on this "benefit tour." Love it.

McCartney's set was fantastic. Everyone was up during his entire performance. Like the Adopt-A-Minefield benefit, Neil sang lead and played with Paul and his band for Only Love Can Break Your Heart during Macca's set. This sounded GREAT!

Overall, a very memorable BSB show.

Thanks to all the Rusties I saw and met for helping make this a very memorable experience, particularly Chuck Naughton (thanks for the lanyard, man), Mary "Black Quenn" for some great conversation, and Paul Tomita for joining me/helping me get to the 100's for Neil and Paul. But it was great seeing everyone!"

UPDATE: More Neil related Thoughts

Some more impressions from the Saturday show:

-The Red Hot Chili Peppers did a pretty cool cover of Lotta Love. They said they were covering Neil's version instead of the version on the radio (Nicolette Larson's.)

-Speaking of Nicolette, before the song Comes A Time, Neil said something like "Let's do this one for Nicolette, Pegi" and they performed a very nice version of the song.

-I was mesmerized by the version of Pocahontas. I just loved the guitar pounding sequence and like the way he sings this way way better than the way he was doing it in '99 or in the Unplugged performance from '93.

-McCartney's band is great! And his set was very entertaining. As previously reported, he brought out Neil to sing lead on Only Love Can Break Your Heart and I thought it sounded really good and it was wonderful to see Neil and Paul together. Neil also played on Hey Jude but frankly it was difficult to hear his contribution to the song. It sounded great though.

I was very fortunate to have attended this wonderful benefit concert.

Expecting To Fly

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Eddie Vedder

Eddie Vedder's setlist from Red Mosquito:

soon forget
betterman
hide your love away
masters of war


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Sonic Youth and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals

From Contra Costa Times review by Tony Hicks:

"What followed was perhaps the best act of the night, star power aside. It was surprising, considering the bill and format, but Sonic Youth excelled, despite being a group dependent on the noisy plinking of electric guitars, fueling their garage rock-jazz jam fusion. Guitarist Thurston Moore summed it up: "This acoustic scene's a weird scene, man."

Nevertheless, it was inspired. Instead of depending on the sustaining electronics of electric guitars, superb players Moore and Lee Ranaldo used harmonics, wildly bent notes and percussive, muffled strings to replicate material, mostly from their last two records "Sonic Nurse" and "Murray Street." Perhaps knowing they can be an acquired taste (but absolutely delicious once they find a groove), Moore dedicated "Stones" to the Bay Area's own Jerry Garcia before embarking on a wild ride of quiet dynamics turning to white noise and back again.

If Sonic Youth didn't take the musical purity prize Saturday, it went to Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals. Between Harper's soulful voice and the blues-heavy guitar of former Black Crow Marc Ford (especially on "Where Could I Go"), the band got some of the best crowd response by wading hip-deep in blues and reggae, which may or may not have had something to do with the sudden onslaught of, er, "organic" aromas suddenly wafting overhead, mixing with the rain."

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Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney set: "Baby You Can Drive My Car", "If You Were Here Today" (in tribute to John Lennon), "Michelle", "Yesterday", "Only Love Can Break A Heart (with Neil Young), "Get Back", "Let It Be", "Lady Madonna" & "Hey Jude".

Hyla posted on Red Mosquito:

"McCartney ended the night. He played at least 10 or so songs, I kinda lost track from the insanity of getting to see a motherfuckin real live Beatle in person. I swear when he came on and his first song was Drive My Car I went nuts like one of those kids at the Ed Sullivan theatre way back in the day. It was so goddamn cool. He had a good quip after singing Let It Be .. "let it be can mean a lot of things, this year let it be Kerry!". And of course he ended with Hey Jude, which was magical. Neil got into it and sang with Paul as Paul was jamming at the piano.

Best show of my entire life! :)"

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Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers setlist:

By The Way, Lotta Love, Otherside, Parallel Universe, Road Trippin, Desecration Smile, Brandy, Under The Bridge, They're Red Hot

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Day #2 - Sunday: 10-24-2004, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California - Bridge School Benefit 18

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From Tom's Sugar Mountain setlist archive, here's Neil's set from the Sunday concert:

1. Sugar Mountain
2. Do I Have To Come Right Out And Say It?
3. Long May You Run*
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4. Pocahontas
5. Harvest Moon*+
6. Journey Through The Past
7. On The Way Home
8. Human Highway*
9. Old King*
10. Comes A Time*
11. Four Strong Winds*
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12. Only Love Can Break Your Heart^
13. Hey Jude (w/ everyone)

Neil Young - vocals, guitar, banjo, grand piano, harmonica
Pegi Young - background vocals*
Eddie Vedder - guitar, background vocals+
Paul McCartney and Band^


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From this year's International Rust Fest here's a group shot from Miron's Photo Gallery.



Good times with lot's familiar faces & names! Looking forward to 2005!

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Last year's 2003 Bridge School Benefit Concert

photo by Locator
Stills, Young & Crosby

Last year's 17th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert was held on October 25th and 26th, 2003 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.

For setlists, photos and links, see Bridge School Benefit Concert 2003 page.

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And here's the weather forecast for the San Jose, CA area:

Also, see the Link of the Moment page for other Bridge Concert resources and the Shoreline Amphitheatre website.

Bridge School Annual Benefit - Concert Reviews, Photos and Setlists

Reviews of Neil Young Concerts

A Neil Young Archives - Thrasher's Wheat