From the moment I read the line up I knew I had to go. There would be the music I grew up with - Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys) and Neil Young…bands from my grunge obsession years (Pearl Jam and Dave Grohl/Foo Fighters)…one of my boyfriend’s favorite bands who I had never seen (Dave Matthews)…and, the real reason I was going…my all time favorite, Trent Reznor (for those who don’t know, from Nine Inch Nails). I, like many other fans, have been following the rumors that he was to do an acoustic solo tour for years. I knew this would be my chance to see it, and I was going to pay whatever I could to get the best seats to be part of it.
So the general ticket sale was not satisfactory, and eBay was growing increasingly ridiculous as the weeks went on. I wanted tickets in the 100s, below row J. Yes, I am a certified concert snob. So I was buying tickets for something else on Ticketmaster, and I see this little ad that they will be holding an auction for BSB tickets. Basically, there are several ticket groups, and you bid an amount, and you are put into one of those groups, and if you stay there you win tickets within that row. All of them were in the first 10 rows. I watched that auction like a hawk and ended up with 7th row dead center (section 102, seats 9 and 10) tickets for $270 each for the Sunday show…way better than anywhere else. And, since it came from Ticketmaster and not some scalper (though, yes, Ticketmaster does suck), I do hope that some of that money went back to the benefit. Yes, I just went on about something you don’t care about…but I was really determined and excited about this ticket conquest. And I wasn’t used to having to work so hard to see Trent being a Spiral member and all….
When we got there, we were definitely the odd people out in our section - the only rockers around. Lots of families were there, and lots of tie die. But wow, what amazing seats! Devendra Banhart and ‘The Bridge’ band were playing, and I really did feel like we were at a mini Woodstock. Bert Jansch, who is apparently a master guitar player from Scotland, joined him onstage.
Next was Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Now I feel like I am back at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. When Neil Young came out to perform Country Girl with them at the end of the set, the crowd went nuts-o.
The next sequence was the ‘who are these guys’ sets. Death Cab for Cutie seemed to pleasantly surprise the audience. Donnie and I have been talking about the newish ‘nerd rocker’ trend - the guys who just don’t look like the music should be coming from them. LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio…there’s lots.
And next, the big who? wha? Trent Reznor!!! The seats had emptied around me. About 5 minutes or so before the set started, I could see him walk up to the sound boards on the right side of the stage. He was just standing there, watching the stage being set up, drinking a bottle of water. I thought that was really cool…for me, seeing live shows the biggest high I get is watching the bands walk out onto the stage, and imagining what that must feel like. So, I was really interested watching him just kind of stand there thinking about this set. And then when the strings started…I can’t really describe it. I have the String Tribute to NIN CD, so I had that to preface the experience, but it really did not compare. One thing that made the show so special was that it was daylight, which gave the whole thing an interesting ambiance. I could see every facial expression, all of the emotion. The song selections were great. The Frail, Something I Can Never Have, Piggy, La Mer, Adrift and at Peace, The Fragile, Right Where It Belongs, Non-Entity, Hurt. He sang Right Where It Belongs to the kids at the back of the stage. I thought he sounded really amazing that stripped down and live, going form the quietest of quiet parts to the loudest of anyone else who performed there. He moved from piano to a preprared piano to standing and dancing a little with a shaker, which I thoroughly enjoyed…You could tell at points in some of the songs where everything would normally blow up, he had to contain himself (as did I). He would started doing that hop and shake his head and then be still. He also talked quite a bit during the set, at one point even stating that he was nervous because he was out of his element. I saw two fellow fans sneak down into low seats for the set, and one girl even ‘rushed the stage’ at the end with a Will You Marry Me Trent (or something to that effect) poster, done appropriately in rainbow colors. She was promptly told to go away. The final song, Hurt, livened up the crowd a bit - perhaps they thought he was doing a Johnny Cash song.
blurry, but kinda cool
Next came the Foo Fighters. Last time I saw them I was really far away, so this was nice. I just kind of imagined Pat Smear and Dave Grohl jamming on Nirvana Unplugged. They are really liked by the crowd, especially due to Grohl’s people skills - he’s a good story teller and makes a lot of jokes.
Then Brian Wilson. Let me tell you, there is nothing like watching Beach Boys songs being performed to a California audience. Everyone was on their feet, singing and dancing along. It was fun. He looked a little stiff onstage, showing only momentary flashes of animation. But the rest of his band really made up for it.
Pearl Jam came on next, a band I had never been able to see before for one reason or another, and their set - though not what I expected - verified for me that I want to see a full length show. Vedder’s voice is really good. Highlights for me were Better Man and Black. He seems to be really involved in the Bridge School, talking extensively about a student who he had come to know over the years. We were also next to some crazy PJ fans, which always makes it fun.
Dave Matthews was definitley the crowd favorite - everyone was jamming along. The violinist really surprised me (note that I knew very little about them as a band). He has a great stage presence. NY came out and played a song at the end of their set that must have lasted 20 minutes….after having just seen Bob Dylan last week, Donnie and I joked about how the older musicians like the really draw out their songs (with Dylan, sometimes we didn’t even know what song it was until half way through). But they looked like they were having a lot of fun. Plus, I found it amusing as steam was rising from Dave Matthews head.
Lastly was Neil Young’s set, where I found the highlight to be the use of the broom as a sound effect during Harvest Moon. The finale sone, Keep on Rockin in a Free World, brought everyone back out on stage (with the exception of Trent and the Foo Fighters, who, by the way, were the only sets that Neil Young didn’t come out to play along a song with).
You can’t ask for a better time when you combine great live acts, a great cause, great weather, and great seats. Hopefully, the Bridge School Benefit will become an annual event for me.