Legendary rocker Neil Young has been a fixture at Farm Aid since he helped create the event way back in 1985. At the most recent Farm Aid, which took place in Hershey, Penn. on Sept. 22nd, Shakey played a set backed by Crazy Horse. Professionally shot footage of Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s five-song set from that evening has popped up on the official Farm Aid YouTube channel.
We’ve compiled a playlist of the five videos for your viewing and listening pleasure…
Back in September HT faves ALO made their Farm Aid debut during the 2012 edition of the long-running series of benefit concerts at HersheyPark Stadium in Hershey, Penn. The Californians were only given three songs, but they made each one count. All three tunes – Dead Still Dance, Speed of Dreams and Storms and Hurricanes were from their fantastic new(ish) album Sounds Like This.
Neil Young, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp came together way back in 1985 to organize the first Farm Aid concert with the aim of raising awareness “about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land.” Farm Aid has since become an annual affair and has raised more than $40 million over the years. The 2012 Farm Aid concert takes place on Saturday, September 22 at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Penn. featuring a lineup that includes the event’s founders, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and ALO. For the fourth time in Farm Aid’s 27-year history, Neil Young will be backed by Crazy Horse next weekend.
The fine folks of the Farm Aid organization have just uploaded Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s entire first performance at Farm Aid, which took place at the New Orleans Superdome on September 18th, 1994, to YouTube. Highlights include a well-jammed Down By The River, Willie Nelson lending a hand on All Along The Watchtower and the fitting Country Home from 1990′s Ragged Glory LP. We’ve put together a playlist, so you can easily watch the whole set…
While most of our readers may think of Farm Aid 1998 as the event where Neil Young and Phish came together, there were plenty of other acts on the bill at Tinley Park’s World Music Theatre including HT faves Wilco. Over the past few months Farm Aid organizers have been populating the festival’s YouTube channel with clips from throughout the 26 concerts that have taken place thus far. Today, Wilco’s entire five-song set from Farm Aid ’98 has been uploaded for our viewing pleasure.
The 1998 version of Wilco featured Jeff Tweedy on lead vocals and guitar, mainstay John Stirratt on bass, Ken Coomer on drums, Jay Bennett on guitar and multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach. Tweedy and Co. were a few months removed from the release of Mermaid Avenue, so it’s no surprise the five-song set featured three tunes from the Woody Guthrie tribute – Christ For President, Hesitating Beauty and California Stars – as well as a cover of James Alley Blues by Richard “Rabbit” Brown and Forget The Flowers from 1996′s Being There. We’ve compiled a playlist of the five videos…
The long-running annual benefit concert Farm Aid will come to Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Penn. on Sept. 22. This year’s event will feature board members Dave Matthews (performing with Tim Reynolds), Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson. In addition, Jack Johnson, ALO, Pegi Young & the Survivors and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real will round out the lineup.
The first Farm Aid took place in 1985 and over the years the foundation has raised over $40 million to benefit family farmers across the country. Tickets for Farm Aid 2012 will go on sale Friday, July 13, at 10 AM EDT and will be available at www.livenation.com, www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, GIANT Center Box Office, or by phone at 800-745-3000.
Farm Aid board members John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson will bring the organization’s annual benefit concert to Kansas City’s new LIVESTRONG Sporting Park on August 13. Mellencamp, Young, Matthews and Nelson are each set to perform at the one-day concert with additional acts to be announced in the coming weeks.
A pre-sale for Farm Aid Members starts tomorrow, May 12, at 11AM CDT through the event’s website. Tickets for the general public go on sale May 20 at 10AM CDT through Ticketmaster. Over the years the Farm Aid organization has raised more than $39 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.
After a spending three years inhabiting venues across the mighty Northeast, Farm Aid will once again return to its roots with a show in the Midwest at the Gateway City of St. Louis. The long running socio-political benefit concert will make its debut appearance in the Show Me state on October 4 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, MO.
As has become the custom, Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews with band will perform, with Wilco, Jason Mraz and Phospheresant also confirmed to play.
If you can’t make it to St. Louis, for what is sure to be a fantastic day of music for a great cause, than maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, influential live music site Daytrotter have announced a unique series of shows to take place in barns and attics in Iowa and Wisconsin. Dubbed the Daytrotter Barnstormer six of the sites alumni – including Local Natives, Catfish Haven and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – will head out on a five day tour with fans encouraged to caravan along to each of the stops.
There’s nothing like downloading free legal music from the internet and you’ve got plenty of options to choose from. But determining which free download portals rock and which aren’t worth the trouble is a time consuming endeavor. Luckily, our friends at Jamtopia have saved us the trouble with their list of five free music sites you’re not using (yet).
Download a recording of Saturday’s The Feelies show at NYCTaper
Toby Keith and Willie Nelson sign on for Comedy Central’s A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All on November 23
Finally, the L.A. Times’ profile of Frank Zappa’s widow – Gail, left us a little cold. The article spends only one sentence discussing her unnecessary war with the cover bands and websites that pay tribute to her husband’s career. She also rants against digital downloads because of the compression schemes used. While we agree that Frank would be anti-mp3, there are plenty of terrific lossless formats she should look into using to spread his music.
In a battle of two corporate behemoths, Live Nation continues to face off with Ticketmaster for the extremely lucrative live entertainment ticketing business. Live Nation scored a major victory in the latest round by making a five-year deal with a third corporate giant, SMG, to sell tickets at most of the SMG’s facilities.
Live Nation ticketing expects to sell 10 million tickets in their first year of operation which will probably start in the middle of 2009 when their current deal with Ticketmaster expires. That number should jump dramatically in the second and third year of operations for LN Ticketing. We haven’t heard the last of this war.
Let’s take another look at what’s happening elsewhere:
You can watch Farm Aid 2008 live on Direct TV’s The 101
One more item before we go: The Mirage in Las Vegas recently unveiled details of a $25 million facelift for their world famous faux volcano. The 20-year old landmark’s getting a slew of fireball-throwing devices that will be choreographed to erupt on cue with a soundtrack co-composed by the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart. For the Mirage’s sake, let’s hope there’s no rapping involved. [via The AP]
Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Neil Young will once again bring Farm Aid to the Northeast this September. Farm Aid’s 2008 concert will take place at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA, aka Great Woods, on September 20. Pre-sale tickets are available beginning Wednesday, starting at 11am EDT. FarmYard members will be able to login and attempt to purchase two tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. Look for more details later this afternoon at Farm Aid’s official site.
We couldn’t make it to Randall’s Island on Sunday, opting instead to watch the Patriots cheat up — er, sorry, beat up — against the Jets. But our friend Some Dude from Hits from the Blog attended the Farm Aid festivities in our stead…
The closest most New Yorkers get to a farm is the produce section at Whole Foods, so the idea of holding Farm Aid in the Big Apple seemed to have many people scratching their heads. But if anything, Manhattan is an island full of foodies and music lovers, so for the first time in its illustrious 22-year history, the organizers chose Randall’s Island to stage a day of music and social eco-activism.
In the days leading up to the event, four-packs of lawn seats were being offered at a discounted rate. So the big question really seemed to be: Could a concert headlined by the likes of red state favorites with blue state ethos draw a big enough crowd? The answer was a resounding yes.
We arrived mid-afternoon to find the grounds already packed with concertgoers and a shocking lack of NASCAR gear and beer cozies. I’m pretty sure the words “Dave Matthews” near the top of the bill probably helped along sales to the suburban, visor-wearing set. Read on for much more on Farm Aid…
Sunday is fast-approaching, and many of us are sporting Larry Craig Bathroom Boners in anticipation of what our favorite football teams will look like on the field this season. For many New Yorkers, though, the scene will not be Giants Stadium or a comfortable six-man couch with a table full of junk: It’ll be Randall’s Island, which hosts Farm Aid for the first time in its 22-year history.
But if you’re like me and choosing football over music, or if you’re just outside the tri-state area and can’t make it to the event, XM’s got your back:
For the third year in a row, XM will be the only place to hear radio coverage of Farm Aid, the annual music festival to benefit America’s family farmers. XM’s new channel “XMX” (XM2) and deep classic rock channel “Deep Tracks” (XM 40) will be on-site in Randalls Island, NY to broadcast live from Farm Aid 2007 on Sunday, September 9, featuring performances from Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and XM’s own Willie Nelson, among others. XM’s live coverage for Farm Aid 2007 kicks off Sunday, September 9 at 4pm ET on XM 2 and XM 40.
In advance of the live broadcast, beginning Saturday XM will be airing “Farm Aid Radio,” featuring some of the best performances from past Farm Aid concerts along with interview segments and songs by the artists headlining this years’ Farm Aid. The broadcast begins Saturday, September 8 at 12 midnight ET on XM 2.
Somewhat relatedly, did anyone else see Johnny Mellencamp on Bill Maher’s show this weekend? I hope his live performance is better than his tortured logic.
The next two nights offer a rare opportunity to see two of the best cover bands while cruising around New York City on a boat. Tonight, Give Us The Money Lebowski show off their jukebox-like repertoire, frenetic improvisations and sparkling wit on the 200-capacity Half Moon at 8 pm. Tomorrow night, Led Zeppelin face-melters Bustle In Your Hedgerow takes to the seas in honor of Rocks Off founder Jake Szufnarowski’s birthday at 11 pm on the 500-person Temptress. Both of these concerts should be, dare we say…epic.
The past two days have brought us a slew of interesting stories. Check ‘em out:
Bay area fans enjoyed a double dose of the Beastie Boys
The Washington Post brings us the inside story of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, who passed away 30 years ago this week
Sirius will launch the Grateful Dead channel at noon on September 7th with the airing of an unreleased show from 1974
SuperDee shares her thoughts on the Revenge of the Bookeaters
It’s always fun when Willie Nelson is the most intelligible guy on stage: “On Sunday, September 9 at Randall’s Island in New York City, Gregg Allman will perform a special acoustic set with Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews, Farm Aid announced today. The unique musical collaboration will add to the stellar lineup at Farm Aid 2007: A
HOMEGROWN Festival, the organization’s first New York concert event.”
Farm Aid organizers officially planted its 22nd-annual installment of the festival on New York’s Randall’s Island back in June. That much we already knew.
Okay, not so much: Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds and The Allman Brothers Band are scheduled to play full sets. They’ll be joined by Counting Crows, Matisyahu, Guster, The Derek Trucks Band, Warren Haynes, Supersuckers, The Ditty Bops and Montgomery Gentry.
That’s a pretty solid fucking lineup [full of white people] for a random Sunday in September. It’ll take a star-studded roster to get fans off their couches on the first Sunday of the NFL season, but I think this may just do the trick.
