|
by Julian Spivey Farm Aid 40, the annual music festival benefiting America’s farmers, took place at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, Sept. 20. Due to my life schedule, I only got to see the primetime portion of the event, featuring the Farm Aid board members: Margo Price, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Willie Nelson (with a surprise set from Bob Dylan thrown in). That portion of the show was broadcast on CNN, which unfortunately included commercial interruptions during some of the performances. Here were my favorite performances from Farm Aid 40 …  Screenshot 10. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Bob Dylan Bob Dylan’s set was pretty unintelligible, which seems to be a common criticism of his concerts over the last many years. Hiding behind his piano – he doesn’t seem to ever play guitar anymore – and wearing a black hoodie that further disguises him, it’s almost like he doesn’t want to be doing this anymore but doesn’t seem to have anything else to do but this. His final song, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” one of my favorites of his career, is my choice for his best of the night with a piano-driven, jazzy version of the song – which was originally a country-folk number – giving a different take on it than what we’re used to. 9. “Small Town” by John Mellencamp I’ve seen John Mellencamp live in concert within the last two years, and he sounded a little rougher on Saturday night at Farm Aid than he was last time I saw him in person. Typically, other than Willie Nelson, he’s the Farm Aid artist most willing to perform “the hits” at the festival, making his set one of the best and most anticipated of the evening – that was no different this year – it just didn’t sound as good as in recent years. “Small Town,” Mellencamp’s 1985 top-10 hit, is the perfect song for a benefit show for farmers, the bedrock of so many small towns across this nation. 8. “Southern Man” by Neil Young Neil Young, who has often given my least favorite set at Farm Aid over the last few years with sets leaning away from his hits, definitely had something to say this year with everything going on in this country. Leave it to the Canadian to be the most honest about life in the U.S.A. His pointed 1970 song “Southern Man” was one of many highlights of his set, especially with the much-needed line many today should listen to: “don’t forget what your good book said.” 7. “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats set came before the primetime portion of the evening, so this – my favorite song of theirs – was the only one I had the pleasure of seeing. CNN aired a couple of performances from earlier in the day, while waiting for the primetime portion to get going, and this was one of them. It’s not the most raucous performance I’ve seen of “S.O.B.” by the band – I’ll never forget the awesomeness of their TV debut on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” – but it’s always a fun song, nonetheless. 6. “Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds I thought about going with “Grey Street” for my Dave Matthews representative on this list, as I really dug the performance of a song that’s probably well-known to loyal Matthews fans, but one I hadn’t paid much attention to in the past. But the charm of “Ants Marching,” Dave Matthews Band’s 1995 song that’s one of the biggest of his career, always captures me. Matthews and Tim Reynolds, showing off their guitar skills with great accompaniment from violinist Jake Simpson, was one of the performances during the evening that would’ve had me shaking it down had I been in person at the event. 5. “Big Crime” by Neil Young Neil Young began his Farm Aid set on Saturday night with his newest song, “Big Crime,” a protest song about President Donald Trump and his recent “crackdown” on crime in Washington, D.C., in which he called in the National Guard against his own citizens. “Big Crime” includes such lyrics as: “Don’t need no fascist rules/don’t want no fascist schools/don’t want soldiers walking on our streets/got big crime in D.C. at the White House,” as well as “No more great again/no more great again/got big crime in D.C. at the White House.” It was nice to see somebody fighting back. 4. “Rain on the Scarecrow” by John Mellencamp If there was ever a theme for Farm Aid, I think it would be John Mellencamp’s 1985 song “Rain on the Scarecrow,” which takes on the farm crisis of the ‘80s that led to the initial Farm Aid, and in many ways has never relented in this country. “Rain on the scarecrow/blood on the plow” is such an evocative phrase, and “this land fed a nation, this land made me proud” is the perfect encapsulation of how important farming is and why we should care. 3. “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” by Margo Price Margo Price’s “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” is a great theme for anyone, including farmers, who are being brought down by those in charge in this country. She performed the song earlier in the week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” before a bunch of bastards got together and removed him from television for speech that was idiotically deemed offensive. The key line in the song for me is: “don’t sell your heart to no businessman/he’ll sell it back next time around,” something I think both musicians and farmers can identify with. 2. “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young There was no performance at Farm Aid 40 that energized me more on Saturday night from my couch at home than Neil Young’s 1989 anthem “Rockin’ in the Free World,” especially coming directly after his pointed protest toward President Donald Trump with “Big Crime.” The government can continue its crackdown on all sorts of things, including free speech, but I’m confident we’ll keep on rockin’ in the free world well into the future. 1. “Last Leaf” by Willie Nelson Willie Nelson at 92 years old is still playing the headlining and longest set of any of the iconic artists at Farm Aid. There would be no Farm Aid without Nelson, and as the years go by, it’s unfortunately more and more likely each passing Farm Aid will be his last. This is why I found “Last Leaf” to be the best, and certainly the most touching performance of the evening. Nelson’s 2024 album Last Leaf on the Tree touched on mortality more than any other record in his career, and on Saturday night he performed the Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan written “Last Leaf.” The most touching line was: “I’ll be here through eternity/if you wanna know how long/if they cut down this tree/I’ll show up in a song.” It felt like Nelson acknowledging it might be his final Farm Aid. It also let us in on what we already knew … Nelson’s body of work will live on long after he’s gone. If you would like to donate to a worthy cause, please visit farmaid.org.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |