For a long time I’ve thought it would be fun to go to The Bridge School Concert. Lots of big name acts in short sets, kind of like an artist sampler. I told Anne about it and she began checking for tickets.

When it was announced, the only seats available were $70. $70!?? That’s too much for a concert I thought. A few weeks later the lawn “seats” were released and Anne snapped up two without even waiting to confirm with me about it.

Last Saturday was the concert. We had just enough time after our Segway ride to get home, grab some food and chairs, and head over to Shoreline Ampitheater. That’s a venue we had never been to, but wanted to since we’ve lived here. Another place to check off the list, I guess.

Parking was quite a distance away on the SGI campus (they’re still around?), but we had nice walk with our beach chairs and food to the concert. It was a pretty hot day – up in the 80s. Our spot on the lawn – pretty much dead center left, right and up and down – was uncomfortable while we waited an hour for the concert to start.

I had heard that the lawn seats at Shoreline are pretty good; I’d tend to disagree. We couldn’t see the stage really at all. The incline seemed to be too low for really anyone to see except those at the very front. If anyone was standing in front of us, we definitely couldn’t see. I guess that’s why they have all the big projection screens.

At 4 pm, the concert started with a blessing by an indian chief. It was then that I started to really understand the audience here. Lots and lots of hippies. This was this concert to benefit the severely impaired kids who attend The Bridge School and there were no corporate sponsorships anywhere. Just a bunch of hippies getting together for a concert where they have a raffle to raise money. Crikes, even Woodstock had corporate sponsorships. Note to self: when planning a charity event, target groups of people who have lots of disposable income.

Neil Young started off with a short set. I only knew “Long May You Run”. Then some guy I’ve never of who looked like Jesus played off. His backup band had no name.

Gillian Welch was next. Never really heard of her either, but I guess she’s out there. Neil Young came out for the last song to keep everyone interested. Gillian actually looked a bit annoyed that Neil showed up and usurped her.

The most annoying thing for us was the 20 minute-plus set changes between acts. I’ve never been to a concert where bringing a book is a good idea.

Next up was Death Cab for Cutie, which I thought Anne would enjoy. She did. It reminded me that we hadn’t put in any new music on our iPod in at least a year, and it sure would be nice to hear music from 2006 here in October.

Around this time, people around us started smoking. I’m not really used to secondhand smoke anymore, moreso in California. Even moreso when it’s not from cigarettes. Most of the people smoking it were way older than us. When we got home we both had painful headaches.

More bands: Foo Fighters did a lame 3 or 4-song set, most of which I spent waiting in line for some $4 french fries. Pearl Jam was good but would have preferred that they didn’t substitute “Crazy Mary” for “Last Kiss”.

Trent Reznor admitted that he had no idea how he was going to do an acoustic concert. He showed up with a couple of cellists and and violinist. He played everything about 4 times slower than normal. It was weird. He did turn around and perform one of his songs facing the bleachers of Bridge School kids though, which was cool. Thankfully, it wasn’t “Closer”.

Brian Wilson really got the crowd going with classic Beach Boys song, but I felt bad for him. He was old and his voice surely wasn’t what it used to be. His backup singers did all the
falsetto for him. A couple of times he missed his cues and looked confused as he sat on a stool behind the microphone. He did last through 10 songs though. I just think that he should just go home and rest at 64 years old.

I thought Dave Matthews would be great to see, but by now I was just so damn tired I didn’t care. The lawn was completely full. There were no aisles, just a sea of people. As the night went on more and more people showed up and we were packed more and more tightly in. To get in or out you had step through a gauntlet of sleeping and otherwise disoriented people. If it wasn’t for the group in front of us that had decorated themselves with glow ropes, I probably would have never found my way back in the dark.

Dave’s throat was sore, so he jammed endlessly instead. That’s normally, fine, but not when it’s not 11:30 pm and I’ve been sitting in a beach chair for 9 hours. Get on with it.

We lasted, then started gathering our things at midnight as Neil Young’s set change proceeded. We waited near the exit for a few minutes and then he came on. We stayed for a few songs and felt like we had enough after he played “Harvest Moon”. We started the long walk back to the car while we could hear the concert conclude with “Rockin’ in the Free World”.

My conclusions: I’ve never been to a concert before that required you to bring your own furniture, 2 meals and a change of clothes. Yeah, there’s festivals like Cochella, but you’re actually staying there and there’s multiple stages. Here you’re in one spot – for 10 hours. Next time, $70 bucks doesn’t sound that bad for seats. It would be a lot more comfortable and we can show up an hour or two in, skip the bands we don’t care about, and still get the same seats.