The Bridge School Benefit Concert Mtn View 2007

[lisaskye]

Sundays Show....
I am not there, I just returned from the airport in San Diego and relaxing when my phone rings and it is Miss Yvon.......
and the boys singing from Shoreline, show on Sunday, right now,  they were singing "Just one thing": so pretty to hear live. That will really make new fans, I am smiling,
thanks Miss Yvonn  Love you much.

Luv Dawg

[mfd11]

The set from tonight:
It Beats 4 U
Lowdown
Off the Record
The Bear
Just One Thing
Gideon
One Big Holiday

[Ive got an EVIL plan babe]

A live recording of Wonderful (The Way I Feel) was leaked on this site some time ago.  However, I think it has since disappeared.  I believe the recording was from the Rudyard Kipling show.  Hopefully a new recording will surface soon.

[dragonboy]

Enjoyed reading your review bbill, thanks 4 posting  :)

[lisaskye]

One Big Holiday Unplugged, Oh My God!!!

[pbuck]

Sunday's Set List (all acoustic)

It beats for you
Lowdown
Off the record
After Dark
Just one thing
Gideon
One big holiday

[BH]

So did Carl have an acoustic guitar?  Or was he playing the slide guitar?  What about Two Tone?  Regular bass?  Where they all sitting down?  Details please!

[lisaskye]

From lawn it was hard to tell the details but here what I saw.
Jim has a mustache and side burns,
They all had guitars,
Carl had the slide guitar
Patrick had a small platform for his guitar kit
Bo had a stand up piano, just like Neil would play.
The band stood up with the exception of Carl and his slide.

they looked great on the big screens.

[the_wizzard]

Shit, I just wrote this great post on my trip...and I accidently erased it!   I don't see it in the posts, so...oh, well...

I just got home from a great trip to SF.  The weather was great, the traffic forgiving, and our seats ROCKED!!!!!!

Highlights for me was "Bermuda Highway" and "Wonderful (the way I feel)".  The chorus of the latter has been stuck in my head all day today (love it).  It was the first time I got to hear it (thanks for sharing boys) and it is just beautiful.  Of course, it was acoustic, so I am excited to hear what it sounds like plugged in.  All I can say is that it sounds like a song you have known your whole life....upon the very first time hearing it.  It is very catchy, very melodic, very MMJ.  I cannot wait for the new album  ;).

Other highlights was Neil doing "Northern Lights"  (just rocking and beautiful and well, great!).  As well as Metallica opening their set with a cover of Rare Earth's "I Just Want To Celebrate"!  Fucking awesome!  I am glad the band got to come out to the audience to experience that set (they had to be close, as we were within spitting distance in front of the box seats).  Metallica was a great show

I couldn't ask for better seats....section 102 smack dab in the middle.  Our seats were row Q, but we moved up to row J for MMJ's set.  The boys look good, sound good, and the energy was high.  And yes, I can confirm, no beard!  I did some major "seat dancing" and couldn't help but to jump up to my feet after every song to give them a standing ovation.

I just can't believe that I do not know when I will get to see them live again....

"I feel so wonderful...
Wonderful.....
Wonderful the way I feel...."

[sweatboard]

Yeah, that song just makes you feel.......well, WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!  Simple, yet very effective.

[sweatboard]

Awesome...can't wait until someone puts up a recording...hopefully they had more luck than you did at the Superdrag show.

:(  Really.  Some things are just not meant to be.  

[buymycar]

Sunday's Set List (all acoustic)

It beats for you
Lowdown
Off the record
After Dark
Just one thing
Gideon
One big holiday

After Dark?  It was The Bear.

Just back from night 2.  Just One Thing was so beautiful tonight.  Bo played on Neil's pump organ.

My main fear was that they would just repeat last night's show, but as you can see, they only repeated Gideon.  They varied their set between the two nights more than any of the other bands.

They represented themselves so well over the two days that is the Bridge School Benefit marathon.  They should be proud of themselves.  They got a huge ovation from the crowd this afternoon.

Thanks MMJ!

[sweatboard]

They did it agian?  :)

[ms. yvon]

AHHHHHH!!!!

what a great dose of the magic these men make!

bbill, wizzard and lisaskye's reviews captured the mood to a t!  today was so lovely in san francisco, my mood so light and the coffee so good, i almost didn't make it back to shoreline for day 2.

almost...

some background fun facts:  i grew up in san jose.  i remember when the shoreline was built, and spent some of my formative concert going years there dancing on the lawn, and doing what one does when enjoying a grateful dead show or three.   ;)

the bay area is beautiful in the fall.  i know that holds true for just about everywhere, but the clear skies, giant elm trees and a side trip to streetlight records directly from the airport put me in a nostaligic mood.

the shows.  the shows.  the shows.

i'll do day two:

i was able to trade my lawn ticket in at the box office and upgrade to a pretty rad seat.  i knew i would have to leave the show early in order to get home, so i didn't get the tres swanky seats, but sect. 201, row G.

the boys were dressed for the warmer weather today.  t-shirts, sneakers...

i forgot to bring a pen in, but used a text feature on my phone to keep a set list.  who knew?!  

when i was considering taking a miss on today's set, i thought the set might be the same as yesterday's.  as soon as "it beats" started i started laughing out loud.  WHAT was i thinking?   ;D  the only song that they played both days was gideon.  
on gideon bo played what looked like a pedal powered organ (like a player piano.  i could be way off the mark here.  might have just been normal organ pedals.)  either way, it was GORGEOUS, a bit victorian, TALL and sounded lovely.  this special piece o'equipment might be why they played gideon both days. STELLAR!!  quite a bit of singing with my head thrown back during this one...  :D

the set today was dynamite.  after it beats, the woman next to me asked who they were.  she said she'd never heard them, but as soon as jim started singing she took notice.  (what she said was, "i thought i was listening to robert plant.")

have to say:  it beats, otr, gideon and obh put me over the top.  that they played acoustic arrangements of these and they WAILED! was too too much.  *swoon*  i tried to keep it under my breath, but i know i was muttering "hot dog!" and "fuck!" when they bust these out.

really.  One Big Holiday.  Acoustic.  holy hell.

during the set i could hear people all around me saying the name of the band, telling each other who was playing as they all tuned in.

at a break in the music, jim greeted the crowd, again thanked the kids and the school for inviting them to be part of the event.  he said (paraphrasing), "day 2.  yesterday we kept having our minds blown.  we were in...a vortex...of...mind...blowing...ness."  this got an appreciative laugh from the crowd.

and how about this:  STANDING OVATION at the end of the set.  STANDING O!!

i was so happy to see the crowd respond so warmly to the band.  the music and the absolute sincerity of jim saying how the band was honored to be part of the event seemed to touch people.  and not in a "bad touch" way.

i sat there in the afternoon glow.  thrumming with that terrific and stunning set.  i chatted with a couple behind me about the band.  they asked if they were usually an electric band, etc.

i stayed for the first 5 min of john mayer.  if i was  a john mayer fan i could have ridden that wave, but really.  i didn't want to hear anything else for awhile.  i milled around the venue for a little while, then realized that whether or not i stayed, i would have to miss tom waits to get to the airport.

so.

disc 2 of okonokos took me to coffee-->gassing the rental car-->hairport.


made a much earlier flight home on stand-by.  my neighbor picked me up, i treated him to a burrito, and i am home.

so so glad to have made this trip.

lisa, terrific to see you and phil again!  next time these boys come to southern california, i'll keep an eye out for you!

liz, i wore my "ba-ba-bananas-nanas" shirt today.  still hoping for a new years show  *fingers crossed*


AHHHH!!  THEY SOUNDED SO FINE!  damn.

side note:  i think all of them were sporting facial hair. kind of hard to tell with patrick.  maybe he was clean shaven...hmm.

[lisaskye]

Thanks Yvon, welcome home.  you are a smart one..
":i forgot to bring a pen in, but used a text feature on my phone to keep a set list.  who knew?! "

Thanks for the call to let me hear them sing.  How wonderful you are.  Luv Dawg
;D

[Elizanne33]

Here are a few pics I took:







It was a great show. Seeing MMJ get a standing ovation was very exciting. It made me very happy for them. It felt a little strange to be watching them perform on the big screen, maybe it's a glimpse into the future for MMJ fans. At one point the camera had a view of Patrick drumming and there was a boy on stage behind the drums with a drumstick, and he was drumming along too. It was very cute. Overall their performance was wonderful. Jim's voice was right on, their energy was high as usual, and the crowd reallly seemed to dig them.

Just a couple of comments on other performers. I don't think Regina Spektor could be any more adorable. She seems like such a sweet girl. Beautiful and a wonderful talent. I was surprised that I enjoyed John Mayer's set. Not really a fan, but he was alright. Tom Waits, what can I say, entertaining! Of course Neil Young was great as was Metallica. Unfortunately I missed the last bit of Metallica's set and the finale because I left a little early. I think my favorite moment of the night was when Jerry Lee Lewis performed. The whole audience was on their feet dancing and singing. That was really a lot of fun to see.

[BH]

Thanks everyone.  Well done!

[redmosquito114]

I went both days, was so happy I did. Thanks to Eddie for getting MMJ to show up, simply beautiful and amazing.

Day 1
Best way to explain day one was what Jim said the second day, "I felt like I wrapped in vortex" I could not explain it better myself, for 35 minutes they just sucked you in. The setting was perfect for their set too, the sun was setting it was dusk and his voice haunted the air.  Best song of the night was Bermuda Highway, though other songs got me jamming this song had such a simplistic beauty to it. We were all laughing at Patrick b/c it looked like he had smaller drum sticks then usual but at the same wanted to unleash the inner Animal within him. Also I really liked Jim thanking the kids who had left pictures for them. I definitely felt like MMJ had an understanding of what Bridgeschool was all about.

Day 2
Day 2 aka Jam Day, wow what a performance. Where Day 1 was serene and simplistic. Day 2, was a jamming good time. I totally believe it was because of the weather but none the less I am glad I didn't miss Day 2. The Animal was unleashed and the kids were totally enamored by him. One kid with a red shirt had a drum stick and was playing along and the kid next to him couldn't stop clapping the entire time. I would love to have the picture they had on the tv of Patrick playing with the kids behind him. They played The Bear! wow! One Big Holiday! WOW! Just so great.

Only bummer was Neil did not play with them but thats ok. The one thing that came from this weekend the most, they need to tour posthaste.

[ms. yvon]

elizanne, thanks for the pix!  

you can see the organ to bo's right.  wow!

"i'm playing it over and over in my head...."

[Nikkogino]

Jim looks like Nacho Libre...awesome.