According to Rolling Stone, the annual event, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, will be held on September 19th at FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island near downtown Chicago. In addition to board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, the show will feature Jack Johnson, Imagine Dragons, Kacey Musgraves, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mavis Staples, Holly Williams, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Insects vs. Robots and Blackwood Quartet.
“We organized the first Farm Aid concert in Illinois in 1985 to respond to the people suffering during the Farm Crisis,”Farm Aid President and Founder Willie Nelson said in a statement. “Thirty years later, in Chicago, we’ll bring together so many of the people — farmers, eaters, advocates and activists — who have made the progress of the Good Food Movement possible. At Farm Aid 30, we’ll celebrate the impact we’ve had and rally our supporters for the work ahead.”
Tickets for this year’s Farm Aid — ranging in price from $49.50 to $189.50 — go on sale Monday, August 3rd at 10 a.m. CDT at FarmAid.org.
Farm Aid is known historically for collaborations and one-time performances in an intimate setting. This year, Farm Aid had all of those qualities, and even included a major surprise. Pete Seeger, now 94, made an appearance at Saratoga Springs’ Performing Arts Center to perform two songs, “If I Had a Hammer” and “This Land Is Your Land” before a sold out crowd. Flanked by Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and John Mellencamp, Seeger encouraged all to help him sing, as he admitted he didn’t have much voice left. No one in the building seemed to care, as Seeger received one of the few standing ovations of the evening.
Aramark is Halliburton. A Dick Cheney company. Why Neil yould be proud of working with them is strange. For sure they are not “family farmers”.
Published: Monday, September 23, 2013, By Paul Post
Saturday’s Farm Aid concert, which included performances by Neil Young, John Melloncamp, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, drew about 25,000 people to Saratoga Performing Arts Center. >> Farm Aid concert-goers left a sea of white litter on top of the green earth the event’s organizers are trying to promote.
Sunnyside Gardens owner Ned Chapman donated pumpkins and flowers for Saturday’s sell-out concert and was dismayed at the scene he found Sunday morning when he went to retrieve those items from Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
The grounds also were strewn with countless beer cans from some of America’s biggest corporate giants. At the same time, Farm Aid mandated that all food concessions had to be from organic or sustainable family farms.
“It was a mixed signal,” Chapman said. “It became crystal clear that it was all about the money. That’s what it was.”
Farm Aid Communications Director Jennifer Fahy said, “Food and beverage at a venue is under the purview of the venue. Farm Aid makes an arrangement as part of our contract negotiations with the venue we play at each year to change out all the ingredients for concessions at Farm Aid so that they come from family farm sources. We are very proud to work with Aramark and Live Nation to accomplish this. This year we brought in additional vendors, such as the Taste New York tent, where concert-goers seeking beer could instead choose New York beers, wines and ciders that featured New York farm ingredients.”
The full line of performers, including headliners and Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews, donated their time and talents for the annual benefit concert, which raises money for the “Good Food Movement” that emphasizes fresh, locally grown food. This was Farm Aid’s first time in upstate New York since its founding 28 years ago in Illinois.
But Vincek Farm owner John Vincek of Wilton said, “They really should have promoted all the farmers, not just organic farms. Imagine trying to feed the whole country with early 1800s farming methods? There are too many people on the planet. You’ve got to embrace modern technology.”
Vincek, who donated hay and straw, said he was surprised at the event’s aftermath, too.
“It looked like a war zone,” he said. “These people are supposed to be about save the Earth. They had no problem throwing trash on the ground.”
Chapman is president of New York Flower Power, which promotes the state’s $400 million garden center and greenhouse industry. He is also a New York State Christmas Tree Growers Association board member.
Rocker Neil Young continues criticism of Keystone XL at Farm-Aid
Joe Pavia Sep 21, 2013 03:42:22 PM
Neil Young is continuing his verbal assault on the Alberta oilsands.
Young called the oil the dirtiest in the world this weekend at the annual Farm-Aid Concert in Saratoga Springs, New York.
He touched on Fort McMurray while telling a story about a cross-country drive he took in his electric car, bringing up the subject in support of farmers on the front line of climate change.
“The farmer wakes up in the morning and figures out ‘what the hell can I do with this mess now?’” he said. “This fuel is going to be shipped to China and Asia, don’t think this fuel is for America, it’s not.”
“The reason I am talking about that ugly situation is because the farmers again are the solution to the problem.”
Earlier this month, Young compared Fort McMurray to post-apocalyptic Hiroshima.
“They have the dirtiest oil in the world, where the Keystone pipeline is going to originate and cut through our country through our back lawns and through our farms all the way to a free trade zone in Port Arthur, Texas,” Young said.
Premier Alison Redford recently dismissed Young’s criticism, along with those of actor Robert Redford this month, saying it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone and that we need to have a conversation on facts.
“I’ve really got to question how people who are using energy flying on planes can make these sorts of comments and assume that they are going to have any credibility,” Redford said Tuesday.
Young called the oil the dirtiest in the world this weekend at the annual Farm-Aid Concert in Saratoga Springs, New York.
He touched on Fort McMurray while telling a story about a cross-country drive he took in his electric car, bringing up the subject in support of farmers on the front line of climate change.
“The farmer wakes up in the morning and figures out ‘what the hell can I do with this mess now?’” he said. “This fuel is going to be shipped to China and Asia, don’t think this fuel is for America, it’s not.”
“With Neil Young, expectations are useless.” by Jimmy McDonough, St Louis Post-Dispatch, 6 Aug 03.
Neil Young on Tour
Sugar Mountain setlists
Tom Hambleton provides BNB with setlists, thankfully. His website is the most comprehensive searchable archives on the Internets about anything Neil Young related setlists. Goto Sugar Mountain.
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
