The first thing I need to mention is how WARM it was. Before this weekend, I
had been to 8 separate shows at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. Only at Pearl
Jam in June of this year did I NOT freeze my butt off. "Bridge School" has
always been synonymous with "wear warm clothing" for me, since it always
takes place in mid-to-late October at a venue by the bay. So, I brought a
hooded sweatshirt, hat, gloves, and my warmest winter coat on my trip this
weekend. It was unseasonably warm and Trish didn't think I needed the coat,
so I left it in the car but took the sweatshirt, hat, and gloves. I barely
needed the sweatshirt on Saturday and didn't wear it during the show at all
on Sunday. (It was a little bit cool afterwards when we were hanging out by
the totem pole on Sunday, so I put it on then, but made do just fine in a
short-sleeve top the rest of the night.) It was warm while the sun was up,
but not hot, and really nice after it got dark. It makes a BIG difference in
what you're willing to tolerate, musically and otherwise, when you're
comfortable in your environmental surroundings.
Text message I sent to four people on Saturday when Dashboard Confessional
came on:
"Hmm...Dashboard Confessional, to garlic fries, or not to garlic fries? That
is the question."
I got two responses back, both of which were enthusiastic votes to get
garlic fries. However, I had just eaten and thought it was the polite and
fair thing to do to give Dashboard a chance. It wouldn't be right to say
"they suck" without having some evidence to back me up, you know? Their
sound mix certainly sucked, and I'm not a fan of the music in the first
place. They played that "screaming infidelities" song, which I can see only
as a big JOKE thanks to my first experience with it. The teenage girls and
young emo boys were a visible presence during DashBORED, as I now think of
them. Sorry to the fans out there, but DC just doesn't do anything for me.
Wilco -- Kyle, I know you dig them, and they weren't bad or unlistenable, I
just didn't get much out of their performance. They played a song on Sunday
that was cool, kind of a longer, drawn out one with an intense finish, but
nothing else about them really struck me. At least their sound was mixed a
bit better than D.C..
After this, my show buddy Debra and I switched seats with two women so they
could sit next to one of woman's daughter and her friend. Ran into my friend Glen
very briefly on our trip from our old seats, and heading down the
aisle to our new seats I heard my name called out and turned around to see
Mark. Got a nice, big hug and made plans to meet up during one of the
breaks.
Counting Crows came on after that. They were decent. The sound mix was
getting better with each act, which made a difference in how much I enjoyed
them. Dashboard was just LOUD and muddy, but things got cleaner after that.
After the Crows I met up with some friends from a message board I'm on, and
accompanied them to get some food/drink. We hung out near the totem pole
during the Indigo Girls, and I saw Mark, Katrina, and Gardner.
I went back to my seat for Incubus and again, on my way there, I hear my
name called out and I turned around to see Mahlon, and old Pearl Jam buddy
from 1995-1998. I said, "why am I NOT surprised to see you here?!" Dude
lives in Ottawa but
I swear to you I have seen him at almost every Pearl Jam gig I've been to in
California for the last four years. So, we hugged and chatted briefly.
Talked about that old conflict between time, money, responsibility, and
wanting to take off to go see concerts. He said that he's never regretted
the money he's spent to see shows, but he's also lived just fine with the
decisions he's made to stay home sometimes, too. "I missed Vegas in 2000 and
it didn't kill me." (The show in Vegas in 2000 was on the 10th anniversary
of their first show, and while not exactly one of the greatest shows they've
ever played, it was still a fun and special night.) Very well put. There's
going to be special shows all the time, and you're not going to be able to
go to all of them, but you will see some, and for that you need to be
thankful. But anyway, it's always quite nice to see Mahlon. He was sitting
with Art and Maggie, who were there with their daughter, Shelly. Maggie and
Shelly ran into Mike McCready earlier that day at the gym. (!!!!!!)
Incubus --I know they're pretty popular with "the kids." I may have heard
one song of theirs, but I know very little about them, other than the fact
that their lead singer has many woo girls in his wake. They weren't bad, but
the treat for me in their set was a cover of "Teardrop," by Massive Attack.
I LOVE that song and never dreamed I'd hear performed by anyone,
ever. I thought they did a decent job with it, and gave them props for
attempting it in the first place. Very brave!
After that came Pearl Jam, and I know I'm biased but it just seemed like the
crowd was much more "abuzz" during the break before their set. I don't know
if Bridge just attracts a lot of Pearl Jam fans, or if the general Bridge
School Benefit-attending public has The Love for them since this was their
6th year performing at Bridge. It just seemed like there was a notable
difference in how many seats stayed filled, how enthusiastic the crowd was,
etc. But again, I do admit to having a bias, here. =)
They opened with "Masters of War." This would have been a complete shock if
they hadn't performed it in Seattle last week, but it was still a treat
because the only other performance of it had been 11 years ago at a Bob
Dylan tribute concert. It is one of the most intense songs I've ever seen Ed
perform and it was incredible to witness it live. Wowee. That right there
made the trip worth it in my eyes. (and ears.)
Yeah. Just...yeah. Opening with that set the bar high, but alas, the #2 song
was Daughter. There's this group of songs you can bet good money that you
will hear whenever they play Bridge, and Daughter is one of them. I always
hope for something a bit more daring, but I know what I should realistically
expect, too. So, inside I briefly rolled my eyes, but I sang along with
every word, too.
We got a number of covers that night, four of them, I believe, and three
originals. The new song, "Man Of The Hour," doesn't do much for me. "Black"
is another song in that "Songs You Know You'll Hear At Bridge" group. They
covered a Johnny Cash song, "25 Minutes to Go," and that was entertaining.
They also did the Ramones' "I Believe In Miracles." They played that on the
tour this year, but this was reworked and a bit slowed down. Fun to hear,
though. To close the set we got that damn "Last Kiss" song. Puke, puke,
puke...except, it's a little hard to get cynical about it when Eddie
dedicates it to "his girlfriend," Maricor, a former Bridge School student
who is now in her third year at UC Berkeley. The way her face lights up as
he talks about her...well, it's just really hard to be hatin' on "Last Kiss"
when it brings someone so much joy, knowwhatImean?
After PJ's set, Debra needed to take off to make the trek back to Sac'to,
and I met up with people at the totem pole. I hung out there during Willie
Nelson while Trish and Jared watched his set, and when he was done we took
off to head back to Hollister.
(October 27, 2003)
