This year’s Bridge School Benefit has been canceled, and longtime host Neil Young will no longer be affiliated with the event.
On Wednesday, the Bridge School posted on its website statements from both Neil and his ex-wife Pegi Young about the cancellation. While Pegi told readers to “Stay tuned for updates as we begin to shape what the next steps will be,” Neil announced he was walking away from it.
“After thirty years of hosting the Bridge School Concerts, I would like to say thanks to everyone involved,” Neil Young wrote. “Of course, I love the students most of all because the light in their eyes tells me we have been doing the right thing for the last thirty years.”
Neil Young added at the end of the letter that he would no longer be hosting the event due to “personal reasons,” though he would still be involved in fundraising.
The long-running concert series at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheater has become, to use Young’s words, “part of the Bay Area landscape.” The first show in 1996 featured Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and the following lineups continued to be star-studded. Over the years, the concert raised millions for the school, which helps children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. Neil Young has two children with cerebral palsy.
