At the 34th annual Farm Aid; Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Mathews and friends joined forces again for a roundup and rally in support of the family farmer. What started out as a battle cry in 1985 to the plight of the family farmer, many of whom were foreclosing on loans and being taken over by corporate farms, has also taken on the organic food movement in its wake. At Alpine Valley, just outside of Milwaukee, political action tables and educational forums were set up vying for the concert attendees attention. This is why the festival has been put on year after year, to get the word out while the music forms the perfect silhouette for the plight of the family farmer.
Nathaniel Rateliff, Jamey Johnson, Tanya Tucker, Promise of the Real, Margo Price, Luke Combs and Jamestown Revival (who were a last-minute replacement for the Osbourne Brothers), rounded out the bill adding their Texas based harmonies to the mix. The headliners did not disappoint.
Neil Young played a stellar 45-minute set. Opening with the barrelhouse piano of “Are you Ready for the Country” from Harvest, he then took on the wicked ways of Monsanto on “Workin’ Man” with Promise of the Real providing backup. The acoustic ballad “Harvest Moon” took us back to the fields and long summer nights.
“Throw Your Hatred Down” from the 1995 album “Song X” with Pearl Jam was a fast-paced blowout to the current powers that be in Washington. “Rockin’ in the Free World” was a ballsy set closer of monstrous grunge and squall to the rain gods that dumped their goods on concertgoers most the of the day. Young and Promise of the Real hand delivered the full-blown tour de force of howling guitars and pummeling drums for their set closer complete with a couple of false endings and power chorus sing along ending their knockout set.
John Mellencamp played a set of his big hits that took us back to the heartland. Combining fiddle, folk guitar and loud backbeats his songs go back to a simpler time. On “Rain on the Scarecrow,” one of the songs that jump-started the movement in 1985, the band morphed into a hard driving unit of protest rock that Mellencamp sang with the same urgency today as he did in 80’s.
Farm Aid board member Dave Matthews along with Tim Reynolds, played an acoustic set of seven numbers. On the whimsical “So Damn Lucky” their sounds molted into one as Reynolds weaved his notes up and down the fretboard coloring Matthews frenetic and fast paced strumming. Jamey Johnson added some outlaw country to the fest. Combining hard luck stories of country life drinking and the powers of
redemption on “Can’t Cash my Paycheck,” his set with guitarist Randy Houser sitting in was a mellow paced and contemplative one that fit in well. Nathaniel Rateliff’s full tilt boogie of sanctified soul and his band The Nightsweats (whose gotta be one of the hardest working ones in show business), stomped thru songs like a gospel fused unit schooled on the rock and soul Stax records of the sixties.
Country frat boy Luke Combs set put the fun factor back into country. Working the stage like an average typical everyday countryman, Combs’ performance was one of the highlights of the day. He even shotgunned a can of Miller Lite onstage, crushing it as he guzzled down the last drops as photographers in the photo pit ducked for cover.
Tanya Tucker, who played at the first Farm Aid in Champagne, Illinois, thanked Willie Nelson for inviting her back and sang a tight set of her classics that ended with her big hit “Delta Dawn.” Margo Price who has played the last couple of Farm Aid’s, looked radiant up there in a flowing white dress and the proud mama that she just became. She joined Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real with British singer Yola for a fiery version of “Find Yourself.” They ended their set with a version of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s version of “Carry On” from the “Deja Vue” album. Brothers Lukas and Micah Nelson’s harmonies soared on it while the band knocked out a funky rhythm that got everyone up dancing.
86-year-old Willie Nelson, who sounded great closed the night. He opened up his set with “Whiskey River.” They ended it with the grand finale of “Will the Circle be Unbroken/ I Saw the Light/I’ll Fly Away” as most of the artists reappeared onstage including beatnik multi-instrumentalist David Amran, Jamey Johnson, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff and Neil Young who strummed guitars and sang on the chorus’s hootenanny style ending yet another fabulous Farm Aid!
Willie Nelson setlist:
Whiskey River (Johnny Bush cover)
Still is Still Moving to Me
Texas Flood ( Larry Davis cover-Lukas Nelson on lead vocals)
Down Yonder (L. Wolfe Gilbert cover)
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (Ed Bruce cover)
It’s All Going to Pot (Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard song)
Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die
My favorite Picture of You ( Guy Clark cover)
It’s Hard to be Humble (Mac Davis cover)
I Saw the Light/ Will the Circle be Unbroken/I’ll Fly Away
We would like to thank Annabelle Sheely from Farm Aid for the credentials to review this years show.
