Sherman's Head

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Benefit


Went to the Bridge School Benefit tonight. For those not in the know, the Bridge School Benefit is an annual concert put on by Neil Young to raise money for the Bridge School, a school for children with severe physical and speech impediments. The concert is traditionally all acoustic and this year was no different. My sister, in her infinite talent for winning stuff, scored me two tickets and I decided to take Brett. I would've taken her but she had tix to a Jamie Cullum concert in Reno.

Now, a little review:

Neil and Pegi Young: They open every year with a few songs. Very sweet and good as always.

Devendra Banhart: Never heard of him until today and after his set I can say I'm not a fan.

Gillian Welch: Not liking her but not hating her either. Very slow, folky ballads. Not really my cup of tea.

Death Cab For Cutie: One of the bands I was looking forward to today. Have liked them since I got Transatlanticism a year or so ago. Plans solidified my love of their music. They did not disappoint and every song they did was well done. I only wish they had more time.

Trent Reznor: By far the biggest sleeper of the bunch. I knew it was going to be interesting to see how Trent's brand of layered electronic industrial music was going to translate into an acoustic performance. He blew me away with a creative use of a string quartet and his piano and vocal performances. It was definitely cool and quite creepy. Very much Trent's style but so much more organic in sound.

Foo Fighters: The Foo Fighters toured acoustically this year so I knew they wouldn't disappoint. They played exceptionally well. No complaints.

Brian Wilson: By far the most excited the crowd got through the show. Played mostly Beach Boys songs. Everyone was up on their feet and sang every song with the band. Good times.

Pearl Jam: The band I came to see. Eddie and the boys were great as usual and though the set was shorter than I expected it was still great.

Dave Matthews: Wandered about the Shoreline while Dave Matthews played. Never really been a big fan of his music. Sounded good from what could hear. Crowd response was very enthusiastic.

Neil Young: Was tired and decided to head out before his set and the finale.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Mayer

Can you believe it's October already? My October started out really good. I went to see John Mayer and Sheryl Crow perform at the Shoreline Ampitheater. Sheryl Crow rocked the house. I 've never seen her perform before and she was awesome. She could really belt out those tunes! She came out, rocked the house and came back with an unexpected encore cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" that brought the house down.

Mayer sounded great and with brilliant guitar work as usual. It was nice to see him back with DeLa, DRH and the band. I especially loved that he played, Heart Of Life, my favorite track from the new album, Continuum. On the way out, there was an unexpected surprise, they were hnding out posters for the show. It was a sweet souvenir of a great show. It also brought me back to those good old days when I worked at the Fillmore and got a poster at the end of the night.


John Mayer
10-01-2006
Mountain View, CA
Shoreline Ampitheater

Setlist:
Belief
Good Love is on the Way
Vultures
Why Georgia
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Daughters
Bigger Than My Body
Gravity
Heart Of Life
Waiting on the World to Change
No Such Thing

encore:
Dreaming With a Broken Heart
In Repair