'Love builds a strong Bridge' at the Bridge School Benefit

LOS ANGELES (Bridge School Forums Website) - For the first time in recent memory, audience goosebumps at the Bridge School Benefit had nothing to do with the weather.

After a couple of subpar years, the first of two weekend shows on Saturday returned Neil Young's annual gathering of his rock star friends to the pinnacle of Bay Area musical traditions.
There was humor, affection and a whole lot of great playing. And, as if that wasn't enough, the weather was startling in its perfection.

In its 17th year, the event is fairly resistant of criticism anyway. The cause (the Hillsboro school for children with developmental disabilities) is absolutely airtight. One simply sees things at this show they don't see anywhere else.

This year's talent gathering was back on par with the late '80s and early '90s, when organizer Neil Young got people like Bruce Springsteen and Elton John to appear. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Willie Nelson, Pearl Jam, Wilco, Incubus, the Indigo Girls and Dashboard Confessional all had their moments. As if scripted, the performances got better as the show went along (outside of a fairly average Incubus), leading up to the CSNY reunion.

The highpoints just kept coming:

CSNY falling back into an obvious comfort zone that comes with four old friends enjoying each other. Among their assorted material, they pulled out the rarely-played Buffalo Springfield classic "For What It's Worth." No matter how old those four throats get, they still produce sensational music -- and they are exponentially better when put together. All four pulled out guitars for Young's gorgeous "Harvest Moon" before Nash moved to the piano for "Our House." As good as Young is on electric guitar, the all-acoustic format spotlights Stills and his fast, almost Spanish-like runs on the fretboard. This year's version of the grand finale, during which Young pulls about half the bill's other musicians onstage, was a peppy "Teach Your Children." Young's standard and brief opening solo set included "Sugar Mountain" and "Comes a Time."

Willie Nelson's entire set, played only with his famous beat-up acoustic guitar and harmonica player Mickey Raphael (who also joined in on Young's solo set). Nelson was made for this kind of format; the lack of a backing band gives his superb fingerpicking the emotional space to soar. Nelson rolled through favorites "Crazy," "Always on my Mind," a funny, lyrically twisting "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," among others. He also threw in two Hank Williams covers, a moving "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," and a crowd rousing "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)."

Bridge School regular Pearl Jam showed its versatility and maturation into America's most reliable big rock band. Coming on the heels of a fairly regular set from Incubus, who merely took the electricity from its regular songs, Pearl Jam re-constructed its music with big chords behind singer Eddie Vedder's weighty voice. The best part of Pearl Jam's set was, as always, the warmth between singer Eddie Vedder and the Bridge School kids, seated at the back of the stage. He dedicated "Last Kiss," to his "girlfriend" Mary, who now attends UC Berkeley. "I told her we need to stay in better touch," Vedder said, turned toward the giggling girl. "She said, 'I'm not good at writing back.' So we're going to have to work on that." Vedder, who showed up with bleach blonde locks, also singled out his friend, Al. "He grows a better beard than me," Vedder said, before launching the band into a huge version of Johnny Cash's epic, "25 Minutes to Go." After a driving "Daughter," they covered the Ramones "I Believe in Miracles," before unveiling a new song, the chunky mid-tempo rocker "Man of the Hour."

Incubus was the one band that, despite being good players, just didn't find a groove. Singer Brandon Boyd sort of stood awkwardly next to very capable guitarist Mike Enziger and delivered new songs and a cover (at least he said it was a cover before he sang while holding up a lyric sheet ... though it wasn't clear exactly what song it was). The second song "Wish You Were Here," was easily the best-received and best-delivered of the band's semi-short set.

The Indigo Girls fit in perfectly, mostly because their sound depends on chunky acoustic guitar, gorgeous harmonies and driving, great hooks. They set a rapid pace early on with the superb "Closer to Fine," and never let up through a too-brief set featuring a new song, "Get Out The Map," and "Galileo," during which they brought out David Crosby for harmonies.

The Counting Crows and Wilco were also great choices for this bill. The local boys in the Counting Crows relied, as usual, on the voice and personality of singer Adam Duritz, who bounced through the reliable "Mrs. Jones," "Rain King" and "Long December," among others. Wilco was more loose than usual, ditching a lot of the so-called experimental stuff in favor of straight ahead, alt-country songs like "One by One," (though they did play the subtly brilliant "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart").

This bill was so effective, even the pop-rock of Dashboard Confessional worked pretty well, though much of what it does is mapped out acoustically anyway. The clean vocals of hearthrobby singer Chris Carrabba sounded great through a short set, highlighted by "So Beautiful." It wasn't a bad warm-up for such a good night.