The Bridge School Benefit VIII in 1994 is one of the most well known of this annual event because of the hysteria surrounding the appearance of Pearl Jam in their Vitology days.  Such was the demand that a second concert added.  This new release is Neil Young & Crazy Horse's set closing the second of the two shows.  Zion use a clear excellent complete soundboard recording that is very detailed and vivid.  The only minor flaw of the tape is the slight right channel bias for the vocals and guitar. 

The all acoustic set begins with a mighty cover of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower", but the bulk of the set is derived from Young's latest LP Sleeps With Angels.  Many people who attended the event said that, despite the excitment surrounding the talent on the bill, Young was able to steal the spotlight and win over the grunge crowd on the strength of his voice and guitar alone.  That power is comes through here with very effective versions of "My Heart", "Drive By" and "Hey Hey My My".  The focus though is upon the epic "Change Your Mind" where you can almost see the audience hanging on every word, every note, and every phrase.   

The final song isn't the expected "Rockin' In The Free World" but "Piece Of Crap" with contributions from the other performers.  You can clearly hear Tom Petty, Eddie Vedder and Al Jorgensen of Ministry taking turns spitting out the angry lyrics.  Bridge 1994 is another quality title from Zion and is definitely recommended.  The only way I could see this improved is if the entire benefit were released in a box set so we can hear the sets from all of the performers.  From all accounts Tom Petty's performance was great and both Pearl Jam and Ministry played very interesting acoustic based sets.  Since tickets were hard to come by and most of us couldn't travel to California, a set like that would be most welcome.