Waiting in line we got to hear sound check which included Harvest, World On A String, and Scattered, so I was surprised to hear the actual set.

Campaigner!!!! When he got to the end and sang "Even Richard Nixon has got soul" a few times, he threw in "Even Mohammed Ali has got it. David Briggs had it."

Helpless had additional lyrics by Patti Smith.

What a great show. Everyone was great! Including a surprise performance by Pete Townsend.

Gotta catch a few hours sleep before going back for more.

Great show! Neil started with a long version of Natural Beauty. Not as familiar with this one as I should be. Then Hayden: "no comment", as I was in the bar. Then a surprise guest: Pete Townsend, who played six songs solo acoustic.

Then Cowboy Junkies. Pretty good, including a version of a song by another Canadian: Powderfinger. I thought Patti Smith was great!! Some songs from her new CD and a couple older ones.

David Bowie was very good. At one point he was looking down at his lyric sheets, just as Townsend had done, then sang a line from a Who song then went on to say how Pete was an inspiration to a lot of younger musicians like himself and without him....

Pearl Jam was great!! They sounded very tight and Eddie was in great voice. They even did There He Goes, which I now believe must be about Neil.

Neil and Crazy Horse came out. There was that Jolly Roger flag over the drum kit. Neil said: We call this set Songs You Never Thought You Would Hear Acoustic. At the end of Campaigner with Billy singing SOUL over and over, Neil sang "Mohammad Ali has got... David Briggs had it..." Helpless had some extra vocals by Patti Smith.

Great show. I will be back for more tomorrow.

Oh yeah, a few other items:

• When PJ came out Eddie said 'I just told Neil I have a real bad stomach ache...just kidding, I feel fine everybody feels fine." At one point Eddie mentioned Neil and Pegi and said "I would walk across the Earth barefoot for those people."

• Pegi introduced NY @ CH by saying "These are the people Neil has probably played with the longest. Billy, Ralphie, and Poncho."

• Pegi mentioned that the Bridge School has a new website at: http://www.bridgeschool.org.

Pete Townsend was an unannounced special guest at the Bridge Benefit tonight. He's in town doing to Quadraphenia shows this weekend so it was an easy shot to pop over early and sing for the kids. His set included: The Kids Are Allright, I'm A Boy, Behind Blue Eyes, and Drowned, plus a couple of others I'm too tired to recall right now. For me, his set and and The Horse get best of show this year- although Pearl Jam played well-I guess I'm not a fan of theirs.

Neil and the Horse were AWESOME -- they played great!!!! Superb version of Campaigner with "even Muhammed Ali has it, David Briggs had it" lines added.

For the last song Neil always invites everyone out to "help out". This year the last song was Helpless. Some woman in white came up to Neil and embraced him and was dancing and clapping right behind him until she was suddenly hustled offstage!!!!! Unlike most years where the guests sorta singalong on the chorus, Patti Smith made up 2 extra verses to the song right on the spot. Neil seemed to get right into that spontaneity by coming over to her mike and doing the chorus with her. It was fine.

Oct. 19, 1996 -- the 10th Anniversary Bridge School Benefit Concert. It was cold but it was awesome.

There have always been performers who outshined some of the others by putting on a really rousing or emotional set. In 86, 88, and 91 a former Crazy Horse member, not well known, blew the crowds away with his solo performances. Melissa Ethridge in 93. 94 was fairly even, with Neil & the Horse kickin' ass, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers doing a nice solid set, and the kids loved Pearl Jam (who were better I think on that year's Sat show, than the Sunday show).

And WHO could be this year's surprise performance?

Neil opened the evening up with a nice Natural Beauty. Seem like he was in a really good mood and was into the music. Hayden, from Canada, did a rather nice set of ~ folkrockers. Then the special guest: Pete Townsend. Great oldies stuff:

Kids Are Alright
I'm A Boy
Legal matter
Let My Love Open The Door
Behind Blue Eyes
Drowned

Cowboy Junkies: Powderfinger stuff was okay and mellow.
Paty Smith: wonderful, nice voice.
David Bowie: not my fave songs, nor spiders or mars mentioned.
Pearl Jam: seemed like a good performance for them.
The Horse: kicked ass!

Note that The Losing End was on the written setlists in the slot where Cowgirl In The Sand was played.

A great show overall, but f@#@ was it cold!

It was a packed house, and traffic to the show heavy. I thought we were gonna be late but we made it to our seats w/ 7 minutes to spare. And we met afew rusties we knew and a few we didn't.

Here's my spin on the night of surprises, and I hope everyone understands that music hits everyone differently, and what some folks saw as great others did not:

Neil opened with a surprise, playing Natural Beauty, a long version at that!

Then Neil gave the stage to Hayden. I wasn't impressed with this guy's set. But he wasn't as bad as Mazzy Star a few years back.

After Hayden's set my wife and I headed to the totem pole to meet a few friends. On the way back to our seats, the lights went out, and we heard a big ovation from the crowd, when we got back inside I looked toward the stage and, WOW -- Pete Townsend. Pete played an awesome set including my all time favorite, Behind Blue Eyes. Pete's set:

(see reviews above)

Next up, The Cowboy Junkies gave a great acoustic set, and even threw in a version of Powderfinger, which I felt they ruined. But other than that I enjoyed their set.

Then came Patti Smith, my wife enjoyed her very much, I was not impressed with this washed-up has-been's set. She appeared to be loaded and I really could have gone all night without hearing her mashed set. Yes I know there are alot of Patti fans on the list but this is merely my opinion.

After Patti was done howling, David Bowie came out and did a stellar set. He played some of his greatest tunes, though I would have liked to have heard some Ziggy Stardust stuff. The European flavor added to this years' show was great. And these guys (Bowie and Townsend) were real talkative and seemed to be having lots of fun. Besides Neil's set I think it's a tie for second for the next best performance between Bowie and Townsend.

After Bowie's set was Pearl Jam's set. Overall a good set I guess. They played some stuff you hear on the radio and the crowd liked 'em. I myself don't get into Pearl Jam so I can't tell you what they played. I bought their first album a few years back and bet I've only listened to it twice.

Neil and Crazy Horse stole the show giving us some surprises and a killer set. I was hoping for more but it was after midnight and my wife had to work at 5:30 am, she was glad it was over as we had a 45 min drive home. Neil's set went like this:

• Cinnamon Girl - acoustic and short but a great version to say the least.
• Cortez, the Killer - Another awesome version of this epic classic.
• Campaigner - What a surprise! A long version and a few lines in the end that gave me goosebumps!
• Scattered - Great acoustic version, And my favorite of the set, I was hoping he would have played this at Concord last month I was happy to hear my favorite Broken Arrow tune.
• Human Highway - I loved this period of Neil's music, and love hearing him play this stuff.
• Mr Soul - Probably my all time favorite Neil tune, I love all versions of this one!
• Cowgirl In the Sand - Another surprise, and done well acoustic. Another fine version of another classic.
• Helpless - a beautiful tune always and would have been better if Patti Smith wouldn't have ruined it with her rambling thoughts that didn't fit in this song.

But another great Bridge show supporting a great cause. And let me thank Ciaran (fontaineblue) for doing another fine coordinating job on the Bridge rust rows. It was great to finally meet him and his wife. And a big thank you to all of you on the list for making this a wonderful place in cyberspace. Let's keep it that way!

Sunday Show Reports

Great show, but Neil might have been a tad tired...he was better last night. Patti Smith was even better than last night -- added a couple of '78's including Benediction which was mind-blowingly-awesome. Bonnie Rait did three songs (4?) ending with For What Its Worth. Very nice. Maybe all Bridge performers should sing all Neil songs!

Neil did Campaigner almost exactly like last night, except he used "Patti Smith has soul" as an ad lib. We cheered.

Well, we're real tired, so good night.
Neil three times in four weeks (counting Concord and 2 Bridges).

Neil opened with Natural Beauty again.

No Pete Townsend today but the surprise guests were Billy Idol and Bonnie Raitt. They each played three songs. Billy included White Wedding and Bonnie included For What it's Worth. She intro'd this by saying, "This is a song I learned a long time ago. At least I hope I learned it because I am about to play it... We'll see how it goes."

Patti Smith's set was one song longer and the additional lyrics in Just A Boy today were completely different than last night's. PJ was great of course. At the end of Daughter instead of singing part of Song X Eddie sang part of Tommy.

Neil's set was almost the same as last night except he substituted Big Time for CITS. Before BT he was tuning his guitar and said to the band "Yeah OK we'll play that other one." At the end of Campaigner he sang "Mohamad Ali has got... Patti Smith has got..."

Goodnight.

Sunday's show was a real delight starting @ a little past 2pm in the sun. Pegi came out with James Forderer, one of BS cofounders and a brief history of the School was given and introduction of the students who were present on stage. A couple of the kids were 'talking' using their communications computer and I could hear the beeping of keyboard entries. At least that's where I thought the beeping was coming from.

Got the pleasure to sit in the front row for the 1st 2 hours with *DREAMER* Eric. Another nice Nat'l Beauty opener, then Hayden who did a wonderful cover of a Leonard Cohen song on the piano. And he told some funny stories about his microphone mentioned in the LA times review. Good set. He's got some potential.

Billy Idol was GREAT!!!!!!!!!! Not familiar with him but I loved his set. He said he had tied died undies on under his leather pants, so I yelled "Proove it!" But he didn't.

TREE it!

I really liked the mellow Cowboy Junkies and knowing their version of Powderfinger, I really liked it. Not as the same song as Neil. I hated it when I 1st heard it, but I listen to it as not the NY song and it really grew on me. Loved that accordion.

Bonnie Raitt, I enjoyed this set more than her electric set a few years back.

David Bowie, I guess I must be a minority here, as I thought his 1st 2 or 3 songs were a bore. He got better as his set progressed, but just didn't do anything for me. My least fave act of all the performers.

Pearl Jam, was I though better on Sunday and maybe it was because I was becoming more familiar with their material, or maybe Vedder was better. PJ fans? I really enjoyed them, found myself swaying to their sounds. The bass, was great sitting right by the speakers. Could feel it in my chest.

The best acoustic group I've ever seen live has got to be Crazy Horse fronted by Neil. They rocked!!! Got up close to them (I'd been seat bouncing & was threatened by security to get thrown out -- F.A.!!). Leave it to the Rusties to stand and dance and get rowdy!

This was one of the happiest looking Neil I've seen. Pegi was really enjoying herself rocking to Idol, Townshend, her hubby, etc.

The Bridge Concert was not only a great musical evening and day but many wonderful reunions. Rusties, OPLers, & Nilsgrinners. A very happy reunion I must say. One more year...well maybe shorter for the next Neil-Rust fest. I feel so fortunate to be in the Bay Area and get to see Neil so often. I know it must be frustrating for some other Rusties in other parts of globe not to get to see Neil so often. (But you do get a former Crazy Horse member more frequently than us West Coasters).

I think the ONLY thing that could have made this better was an appearance by Jack Nitzsche & Nils, who both were with the Horse on the 1st solo album and were on Neil's TTN Tour. Maybe next year...

Loping the evening away,
cits

Let's see here...quick thoughts...

Got to the show late; heard Natural Beauty as we made our away along the pathway from the parking lot to the entrance. I figured that with my luck, he'd probably preceded it with a one-time-only Here We Are in the Years. We'd just barely made it inside the gates when Hayden came on, and there was hardly any gap between him and Neil so I mistakenly assumed we were hearing a new Neil song. Whoops again.

We got to our seats, sat there about five minutes before realizing that the sun wasn't going down anytime soon and we didn't really care about Hayden one way or the other, so we went out exploring again.

We missed the Cowboy Junkies altogether. I'm not proud of this, it just so happens.

Didn't miss Billy Idol. What the heck was his "San Fransisco Pickup Line," exactly? And would someone PLEASE inform performers at the Shoreline that they are in Mountainview, NOT San Francisco? I remember Perry Farrell talking about being in San Francisco at the first Lollapalooza. I guess all the Bay Area's the same to them...

I was proud that I actually recognized every song in Bowie's set, including I Can't Read from the first Tin Machine album (which, of course, I love). I also got the distinct impression from the PJ fans sitting directly in front of us that they had no idea The Man Who Sold the World isn't actually a Nirvana song. I weep for the future.

Bonnie was a nice surprise--not as nice as Pete would have been, but you take what you can get. And, you know, I have to feel sorry for Stills, since one of his best songs (imho, of course) keeps getting attributed to Neil, like at the RnRHoF show...

I enjoyed PJ's set well enough, and wasn't at all surpised when half the crowd left. Did I say I weep for the future? Hell, I have my doubts for the present--some very grown-up people leaving our row after PJ asked why we were still sitting down. Not sure if they were being serious or not, I said we were waiting for Neil. They insisted that the show was obviously over and Neil wasn't going to play, because the house lights were up. I'm telling you, this guy could have not sounded more smug--how foolish of me to assume that somone else was going to perform! The lights are on! I considered explaining to him that the lights were on because if they weren't on it would be pitch fucking black, but, you know, after a while explaining the obvious to the moronic gets old. I simply agreed with him that yes, it was plain as day that Neil wasn't coming on and the show was over and remained seated.

My good mood pretty well strained at that point, Neil's set was great. Cinnamon Girl and Cortez were a little ho-hum, but Campaigner and Human Highway more than made up for that. Kim's evening was made by Mr. Soul, oddly enough her all-time favorite Neil tune.

I found Helpless just a ltitle disappointing--nobody really seemed to be into it, and I was particularly surprised that neither Eddie nor Patti were out. (Unless I just missed them, which is possible.)

Anyway...it was fun...

Hip Drag Queen

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