LA Times: Gwen Teared Up While Onstage At Bridge School
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I heard many stories from fans about how compassionate Gwen was with the kids last night, and come to find out it was a very emotional night for everyone. She was apparently brought to tears after “Simple Kind of Life” last night. Taken from latimes.com, the show is getting great reviews and continues today at 2:00 PM in Mountain View, California.
The powerfully emotional backdrop of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts is evident in the faces of the nonprofit school’s disabled students and those of their families, which were flashed on video screens throughout Saturday’s 6 1/2-hour show.
On occasion, the performers’ feelings burst to the surface as well. Event co-organizer Pegi Young’s voice cracked at the outset of the show as she introduced each of the students who watched from a riser on stage behind the performers.
Then during No Doubt’s set, singer Gwen Stefani had to reach for a tissue after singing “Simple Kind of Life,” the song she wrote shortly before having the first of her two kids with husband Gavin Rossdale, who played his own set earlier in the evening. In that song, she wrestled with conflicting drives of career and motherhood, and looking into the faces of the children for whom the yearly fundraiser was launched back in 1986 — right about the time No Doubt got started — Stefani choked up.
“This is very emotional,” she said. The acoustic arrangements the band used — including a string quartet for about half the set — brought out the sweetness and vulnerability of that song, “Don’t Speak” and even the usually feisty “Just a Girl.” Apparently big girls do cry.
Another review taken from mercurynews.com, saying that this show was better than their stop in Mountain View last July. That’s powerful.
Next up was the newly reunited No Doubt – which, as a ska-pop band, seemingly faced the biggest challenge in trying to translate its music to the acoustic setting. As it turned out, however, Gwen and the guys would provide Bridge School ’09 with its signature set, one that many fans agreed was even stronger than No Doubt’s own electrified headlining shows in the Bay Area back in July. Going the unplugged route, Orange County’s finest somehow managed to make “Spiderwebs,” “Just a Girl” and other classics sound even more poignant and powerful than they did in their original incarnations.
