Four Hours Of Folk
Garcia and Weir, December 4, 1988
Four Hours Of Folk
I had to do a bunch of driving yesterday, and decided to listen to the entire Bridge Benefit show as I went around.
The whole thing is about 4 hours long. You can listen to it for yourself, if you like. It’s all on SHNID 141965, and the quality is absolutely outstanding.
Though I know this is a Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia focused project, I actually didn’t think the Garcia / Weir / Wasserman tracks were all that good. Wang Dang Doodle with Neil Young was a lot of fun, of course. However, the slow version of Friend of the Devil is kind of a buzzkill, Throwing Stones is one of those songs that gets worse with repeated listening, and Ripple feels a bit commonplace and predictable. I would have preferred Goodnight Irene, but that’s just me.
For me, Billy Idol really stole the show. Billy really has a great voice, and his personality stands out on all 6 tracks he performs.
Neil Young sounds good, and Nils Lofgren sounds absolutely amazing. The Bob Dylan performances are also top notch, which is important to note. There are a number of Dylan live performances that aren’t up to par, but this one is absolutely worth listening to.
However, Tom Petty felt a bit slow, Tracy Chapman felt even slower, and, sadly, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young put me to sleep.
This would have been a great show to see live, even if it did kind of run out of energy near the end. I recommend grabbing it and listening if you’ve got 4 hours to spare.