Live Review: Farm Aid in New York City

The musical foursome who helped bring the 22nd annual Farm Aid benefit to the heart of New York City last weekend probably have a much better idea about the kind of workday the average American farmer puts in. By 11 a.m. Sunday (9/9), Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Neil Young were perched before the press discussing the upcoming concert and the important messages they hoped would resonate with its urban--but far from urbane--audience.

And 12 hours later, as the final notes of Nelson's "On the Road Again," echoed across Randall's Island, it appeared the message was received. Close to 25,000 fans who came to Farm Aid bearing a taste for healthy food, strong political debate and diverse musical styles left the show well equipped to sow the seeds of information Farm Aid was serving up back in their own home towns.

No matter where you turned at the spacious Randall's Island venue, you were reminded of the critical importance of family farmers and the outright rejection of factory farms as a viable food supply alternative. Throughout the vendors' concourse, activists from Missouri to Vermont chatted up the environmental destruction associated with those massive facilities, and the health-compromising chemicals and hormones inherent in many of their products.

Even Mr. Young himself railed at the gratuitous energy consumption required to get South American tomatoes to Northern California supermarket chains, instead of just raising those tomatoes right there on local farms and in backyard gardens.

Besides a few choice musical collaborations of historic proportion, Farm Aid 2007 also made history in New York. The longest continuously running rock festival in America was billed as the first event of its kind in New York to exclusively offer local, organic and family-farm foods at its concession stands.

Sure, those looked like corn-dogs, but in reality the "meat" was soy-based tofu, and the pizza was baked on natural flat bread, with free-range chicken and spiced with salt from two countries boardering the Dead Sea.

The concert kicked off just after noon, with Nelson and Mellencamp introducing opener Jesse Lenat, the son of a Pennsylvania cactus farmer who crooned a couple of heartfelt folk ballads to what seemed like just a few hundred early birds dotting the grounds. Nelson returned to the stage to welcome his sons Lukas and Micah and their band 40 Points.

It was interesting to hear the next generation of Nelsons, who may very well carry on the legacy of Farm Aid if Willie ever considers retirement. Lukas provided vocals that embodied his dad's nasal timbre, with the band pumping out its own brand of alt-country as well as a cover of The Band's "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)."

What might have seemed the oddball entries--multi-Grammy winning polka king Jimmy Sturr and Hasidic rapper Matisyahu--flavored the musical mix very effectively, with Sturr getting the growing crowd swinging to Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash," segueing into Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down To Georgia." Matisyahu kept things hopping with his own unique brand of reggae-laced rap, at one point delivering a powerful message about getting one's hands back into the soil as a means of refreshing the bond between people and the planet we all live upon.

The Ditty Bops delivered an entertaining set that ranged from straight-ahead folk to their Andrews Sisters-on-Red Bull be-bop, and Montgomery Gentry certainly fired up the folks who sang along to the abbreviated set with beer-fueled abandon.

The Allman Brothers Band's personnel included the most sought-after musicians of the show, with Greg Allman sitting in with Willie Nelson on a stark "Midnight Rider," before being joined by Warren Haynes and Dave Matthews for "Melissa." Haynes also put in his own solo set highlighted by his cover of U2's "One," and his own Allman contribution "Soulshine."

Fellow guitarist Derek Trucks did triple-duty as well, contributing a set from his own band, joining Mellencamp on "Paper In Fire," but saving his best blistering slide work for the Allman Brothers' turn. That subsequent set rolled out like a blues-fired freight train, especially on the amazing back-to-back renditions of "Whipping Post," "Statesboro Blues" and "One Way Out."

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds started out somber with "Lie in Our Graves," and "Grave Digger," but flipped the switch with a refreshingly simple take on "Ants Marching." The incomparable Reynolds was at his best on that popular number, admirably replacing the cacophony of Dave's stellar backing band with his six-string dexterity.

Mellencamp apparently spent most of the day re-working a handful of his most enduring hits with his band backstage, and the effort paid off. "Small Town" became an upbeat shuffle, and the bluesy, straight-ahead rock beat replacing the acoustic-flavored "Pink Houses" provided a nice envelope to share lead vocals with guest Susan Tedeschi.

The artist once dubbed "the Dylan of the Heartland" effectively re-worked a Woody Guthrie standard, "From Baltimore to Washington," into a stinging anti-war commentary, and debuted two new offerings: "If I Die Suddenly" and "My Country."

For all the variety, it was the Counting Crows who provided one of the two high-point sets. "A Long December" showcased frontman Adam Duritz's plaintive falsetto, and the Crows' "Rain King"/"Thunder Road"/"Rain King" medley paid tribute to a certain Boss from New Jersey, whipping more than a few fans into ecstatic spinning dervishes.

The other most memorable performance came courtesy of Neil and Peggy Young, who gave the remaining crowd a late-night taste of what it must be like to hang around the Young homestead. Accompanied by Ben Keith on Dobro guitar, the trio transformed the cavernous stage at Farm Aid into an intimate back porch, with the Youngs spooning and cooing like newlyweds.

"Beautiful Bluebird" was a testament to simplicity with Neil's almost childlike lyrics, and "Too Far Gone," into "Homegrown," had much of the crowd swaying to the easy beat and singing along.

Willie Nelson returned for a final time to end the night surrounded by his family and fellow musicians calling out in song for a "Peaceful Solution" before whisking the dwindling crowd down the "Whiskey River" as Farm Aid 2007 came to an end nearly a full hour after its scheduled closing time.

Click here for to see photos from Farm Aid.