Neil Young’s Bridge Benefit Lineup

Neil Young, No Doubt, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother, Sheryl Crow, Gavin Rossdale, Monsters of Folk, Jimmy Buffett, Adam Sandler. Well, 5 out of 10 ain't all that bad.

By Fred Mills

News arrives this morning that Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert, set to run this year on Oct. 24 and 25 at its usual spot (Mountain View, CA's Shoreline Amphitheatre), has disclosed the roster of performers.

On both nights, Neil Young, No Doubt, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother, Sheryl Crow, Gavin Rossdale and the Monsters of Folk will play, while Jimmy Buffett will do Saturday only and Adam Sandler will appear Sunday.

Tickets go on sale Sunday, September 20, via Live Nation (www.livenation.com). For full details on the show as well as the background on the Bridge School, go to their official site.  

Admittedly, this makes for one of the event's spottiest ever lineups - it's hard to imagine a hardcore Neil Young fan having any desire whatsoever to see mainstream cheese like No Doubt, Gavin Rossdale (maybe a Bush acoustic set, hmmm?) or Chris Martin. Bets are that all Monsters of Folk fans in attendance will hit the concession stands during those artists' sets, too. But if the idea is to fill up seats and raise money for charity, it's hard, and possibly meanspirited, to complain about Young's choices. The presence of No Doubt and Martin on the bill should tip the attendance scales pretty handily. And Buffett will ensure that old-timers uncertain about whether to fork over the bucks will want to queue up for at least one evening; Sandler, likewise, will rope in the Gen Y crowd.

Meanwhile, check out this special, and touching, video announcement created for this year's show: