Neil Young is back live. He will be on stage at Farm Aid 2024
It is confirmed that Neil Young will perform at the festival Farm Aid 2024 scheduled for September 21 in Saratoga Springs, New York.
He will be joined by his colleagues Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp And Dave Matthewsbeyond Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson with the Travelin’ McCourys, Charley Crockett, Joy Oladokun, Southern Avenue, Cassandra Lewis And Jesse Welles.
“We’re thrilled to be returning to New York,” Willie Nelson, who organized the first Farm Aid in 1985, said in a statement to Rolling Stone USA. “Farmers here have always found ways to innovate and contribute to their communities, even as they deal with uncertainty, extreme weather, and policies that favor corporations over people. Farmers need us to stand with them as they work to grow our future.”
With the exception of 2021 and 2022, Neil Young has performed at every Farm Aid since its inception. But his appearance at this year’s edition is even more significant because it will be his first concert after the cancellation of the summer tour with Crazy Horse. The tour had started in April, but the dates scheduled from July to September were cancelled due to illness (Read here).
“We will try to play some of the missing dates as time goes on, when we are ready to rock again!” the band wrote in a statement on Young’s website about the canceled shows. “We know many of you have made travel plans and we apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Your health comes first. We want to stay and make more shows and more albums for you… and for us.”
The idea of Farm Aid was born during the Live Aid (July 13, 1985), when Bob Dylan denounced the situation of the “Local farmers”, those small and medium-sized entities managed at a family level or as independent agricultural companies, which were at risk of closing due to mortgage debt. This thought stimulated Willie Nelson, Neil Young And John Mellencamp to move in their support. They decided to organize a fund-raising concert, which was held on September 22, 1985 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois in front of 80,000 people.
Each year (usually in September) Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp have taken charge of organizing the concert, which has become a traveling event that takes place annually in different locations around the United States. The 2023 edition returns to Indiana, which hosted Farm Aid in 1990 and 2001. This year it will take place in Saratoga Springs, New York. Funds raised from the event go to support programs that support local farms.
The 2023 edition of Farm Aid saw Bob Dylan return to the event’s lineup where it was missing from since the first edition in 1985.
