Bridge School Benefit

The Bridge School Benefit was an annual charity concert held in Mountain View, California, every October at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. The concerts lasted the entire weekend and were organized by musicians Neil Young and Pegi Young.Partial proceeds benefited the Bridge School, which assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. One of the thrusts of the program is the use of advanced augmentative and alternative communication and assistive technology.The very last concerts were held in October 2016. Live Nation had for years been demanding too large of a cut on tickets, and it eventually got to be too much (it was assumed by the public that after Shoreline's employees were paid, 100% of the remaining cash went to the school). This was on top of the payments made to the artists and crews, who the 25th anniversary movie says worked for free. Both things very much unbeknownst to the public, and The Bridge School continued to knowingly mislead fans.The first concert was in October 1986, and, with the exception of 1987, the concert had been held every year since. It was known for having a relatively high-profile lineup and strong performances, primarily due to Young's extensive connections within the music industry. He signed a contract with Live Nation requiring him to perform every year, and oftentimes he would opt to do so multiple times throughout the weekend. At times he would bring another artist on stage and do a collaboration of one of his songs with them. Young was known to play "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold" at some point during the concert. Generally, the performers used acoustic instruments.