Bridge School Benefit

Bridge School Benefit 2006/10/21 (photo taken from nin.com)

The 2006 Bridge School Benefit took place on October 21 and 22, 2006, at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. The Bridge School Benefit is an annual benefit concert organized by Neil Young and his wife to raise money and awareness for the Bridge School, which provides education and support for disabled children and their families.

These concerts were unique in that they were the first (and so far only) solo acoustic concerts for Trent Reznor, though he also appeared solo for three songs at the ReAct Now Hurricane Katrina Benefit in 2005. He was backed by a string quartet, playing a selection of Nine Inch Nails songs, including instrumental pieces.

In a 2020 interview[1], longtime NIN booking agent Marc Geiger said of the show, "I remember him doing the Bridge School Benefit for Neil Young, he played with a string quartet, and we were in tears. Neil Young came back into the dressing room and said it was the most powerful, most innovative performance that had ever been at the Bridge School. That's kind of what Trent does, and that's what I take from him."

Notes

• Reznor turned his back to the crowd and sang to the students and their parents during "Right Where It Belongs." In addition, he utilized small egg-shaped shakers during "Piggy." This was on both nights of the concert.
• Bootleg recodings of this concert exist, but no official release has been mentioned. Although Martin St. Pierre's Homepage mentions that he has been in the studio and recorded the whole project with Reznor. As this project contains the song "Non-Entity" that was only officially released in March 2009, it is assumed that this could be a NIN future release.
• "The Fragile" and "Hurt" are available as part of the digital-only album The Bridge School Collection, Vol. 4 on Apple's digital music service, iTunes.

Lineup

• Vanessa Freebairn-Smith: Cello
• Ana Lenchantin: Cello
• Pablo Motta: Upright bass
• Trent Reznor: Vocals, piano, small percussion
• Martin St. Pierre: Violin, sitar, arrangement

Stage Set-Up

The stage set-up for both of these performances was very basic. Bridge School students and their parents got to sit at the back of the stage to view the performance. Lights shone on Reznor and the string ensemble while large monitors above and around the stage projected the performance.

Setlist

This setlist was the same for both shows:

1. "The Frail"
2. "Something I Can Never Have"
3. "Piggy"
4. "La Mer"
5. "Adrift And At Peace"
6. "The Fragile"
7. "Right Where It Belongs"
8. "Non-Entity"
9. "Hurt"