Neil Young, Tom Waits, Metallica Highlight Annual Bridge School Benefit

Although it lacked the all-star collaborations of years' past, Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit was still full of surprises. Featuring sets by the likes of Young, John Mayer, Tegan and Sara and Jerry Lee Lewis, this year's event (which took place Saturday and Sunday at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, California) did not disappoint, despite a last-minute cancellation by Eddie Vedder, who was replaced by perennial Bonnaroo heroes My Morning Jacket. The undisputed highlight of the concert was Tom Waits, who was backed by the Kronos Quartet during his half-hour set. Headliners Metallica took a break from working on their next LP to frustrate/confuse/entertain the audience with odd covers of Rare Earth ("I Just Want to Celebrate"!), Nazareth and Dire Straits songs, while interspersing some selections from their own albums. To revisit the Bridge School event yourself, check out our photo gallery.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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