HOOD!!
Bridge 98 (10/17 & 10/18 1997)
Saturday was chilly and clear.
We were of course running late and
made it to Shoreline just in time for
Jonathan Richard.
Cool quirky folk.
Highlight was a song about him
dancing at a lesbian bar.
The low-light was the something about Mary
theme song
that had the yupsters swaying and singing along.
The lawn was packed and the only place
we could set a blanket down was
at the very top of the hill.
The chill got worse with the wind whipping
over the top of the hill. Fortunately the Barenaked Ladies
had us up
and dancing around. Cool pop band!!
Played a rap tribute to Neil
Young,
of course their hit single (one week, I think),
and a hilarious,
nearly country tune "If I had a million dollars".
They also did "it's
all been done before"
which is either a cover or an earlier hit.
On
Sunday they finished up with a medley
of 80's/90's tunes that included
the Safety Dance and Bittersweet Symphony.
I was unimpressed by Sarah McLachlan. Beautiful voice yes, but her show
didn't do anything for me that popping on a recording would.
To
exasperate her flat performance
she did the exact same set the following
day.
A good time to hit the beer garden.
Phish was seriously on.
Starting out the show with an a cappella bbshop
quartet
"Carolina" sung to the kids they set the tone.
They followed up
with a couple of new songs…
"Glistens" and "Beyond My Grasp". Imagine our
delight as they took off into "Possum"
(the bridge school kids really
seemed to love this one too).
Next Paige picked up a bass
(on Sunday
Trey was teasing him about looking funny with it)
and did "Blue &
Lonesome",
while not as emotional as the last time they did this,
but
much more polished.
"Freebird" a cappella was an absolute hoot.
They
really nailed the jam part with vocals alone.
"Driver" another new song
into
"Wading in a Velvet Sea" and then
"Harry Hood"!!
Playing acoustic did
not hamper their style at all!!
Neil came out and joined them on some
weird 6-string harpsichord sounding thing.
They wound up the jam
without the finish of Hood into "Helpless".
As in Farm aid, the boys were
in heaven
playing with NY and it showed.
Neil Young came out after a break and drove through a set
more than a
little reminiscent of Farm Aid.
"Throw your Hatred Down" opener into
"Heart of Gold".
He followed with a song that might have been
"A Song of
Love" and moved on to the piano portion of the set.
"Horseshoe man" on the
stand-up and
"After the Gold Rush" on the pump organ.
After a much too
quick "Old Man",
the boys from REM started popping out (sans Stipe) for
"Ambulance Blues".
NY left the stage and Stipe joined his bandmates for
a truly uninspired set.
I've never seen them so flat.
Even NY
joining them for "Country Feedback" couldn't bring life to the set.
They
finally hit their stride with the "Man on the Moon" closer.
By this time
it was 11:40pm…
the latest I'd ever seen music at Shoreline.
The following day started earlier and the sets were pretty similar
except of course for Phish who got to headline on the closing night.
REM did a nearly identical set Sunday, but it was infinitely better
than Saturday night!! Stipe threw in an "Everybody Hurts" that was nice
and the "Country Feedback" with NY was truly great.
Neil's set was more or less the same,
but he did open with "Hank to
Hendrix" which is always a treat.
Phish- Again the start was a cappella to the kids…"Hello My Baby".
"Billy
Breathes", "Piper", and "Roget"
followed somewhat uneventfully.
Next
followed "Loving Cup"…the key to the set.
Epic. A Neil song "Albuquerque"
(no Neil though)
and another song with Mike playing banjo "My Old Home
Place".
Not nearly as good as blue and lonesome though.
"Guyute" acoustic
was a trip and
a close second to cup as a highlight.
"Brian and Robert"
finished off the pure phish set.
Sarah McLachlan came out and sang "Sad
Lisa" with Trey.
Simply beautiful vocal harmonies.
Neil joined the frey
for
"Four Strong Winds" and "I Shall be Released".
REM's resurgence made the second night worthwhile
and then I got a set
of Phish on top of that.
Many Bert's were Bridged.
-Mark
