The best moments hide, then erupt at Farm Aid. They do in nature, too.
But these moments need time and love in order to grow. And like everything else, they need money, too.
“We need money,” Neil Young said at the morning press conference on September 20, 2025, at Minneapolis’ Huntington Bank Stadium with Farm Aid board members and local farmers. “I don’t care where it comes from, just so as we don’t have to pay it back.”
I’m not going to rant on tariffs or any of that big beautiful bill bullshit. It’s very obvious the farmers in the United States of America aren’t benefiting from any of that now, nor will they in the near future unless there’s another “B” in play, and you guessed the one: another big beautiful band aid of a bailout. American farmers are currently crying out from across the land — from town halls to TikTok – they need money, and they need it fast.
And because of this, as we gathered for the 40th Anniversary of Farm Aid, there was a sense of urgency in the air. You could sense it in the music, too.
Margo Price, who made appearances all day long, and a board member of the annual event, closed her set with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” with help from Jesse Welles and Billy Strings. You all know the classic lyrics throughout the song, including:
His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks
The National Guard stands around his door
Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
What a perfect song choice made by Price.
Singer-songwriter Jesse Welles sparked the controlled fury early in the day with biting performances of “The Poor,” “Walmart,” and “War Isn’t Murder.” You may be familiar with Welles from his popular Instagram videos, but there’s a lot more here than just some viral success. He quickly won the audience over with his energy and clear ability to provide connection, which, again, was why we were at Farm Aid to begin with. No one can do any great thing alone, and judging from the lyrics of his songs, Welles isn’t having any of the popular excuses of why some find success and some don’t (hint: a level playing field does not exist). Find his songs now.
Waxahatchee featured Katie Crutchfield on lead vocals and guitar (and Spencer Tweedy on drums!), and her songs were some of my favorites of the day. The back-to-back magic of “Crowbar” and “Much Ado About Nothing” was about as thrilling as any early afternoon set that I’ve witnessed at a music festival. You know what I mean, the crowd is sorta filling in and waking up and there’s sometimes a tepid response. But Waxahatchee kept their set flowing at a perfect pace, never once losing the momentum they built.
When it was time for the Board Members (Willie, Neil, Mellencamp, Dave, and Margo) and Dylan to perform, you could already say the “price of admission” was settled. I could list so many early moments — Steve Earle performing “Copperhead Road,” Nathaniel Rateliff with a rousing “S.O.B,” Lukas Nelson and guest Sierra Ferrell covering Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend,” and Billy Strings’ “Gild the Lily” come to mind.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds had to follow Price’s aforementioned set, and they were more than up to the task. Their entire set felt like it was going 100 mph, especially when the closing “Ants Marching” hit the chorus. If you grew up in the 90s, you know it. What a moment for everyone inside Huntington Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
The moments kept happening. John Mellencamp satisfied the crowd early with “Small Town” and “Jack & Diane,” and Bob Dylan unsurprisingly performed in near darkness, with his hood on. Dylan did not allow any photos, which doesn’t bother me as a photographer. I mean hey, it’s Bob Dylan. His set opened with “All Along the Watchtower,” which of course sounded vastly different from the familiar recorded version on the album. The same goes for his final two songs: “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.” They’re arranged differently now, but that’s just an alternate path inside Dylan’s mind that we should all enjoy. The same goes for any artist, really.
Neil Young just wrapped up his long summer tour with the Chrome Hearts, and his set felt like a glorious angry encore to the shows he’s been putting on for months now. He opened with the new anti-Trump/anti-billionaire/anti-facist “Big Crime,” and you could tell Neil was pissed.
Don’t need no fascist rules
Don’t want no fascist schools
Don’t want soldiers walking on our streets
Got big crime in DC at the White House
There’s big crime in DC at the White House
You may not have been able to tell from the live broadcast, but this generated raucous applause from the 35,000+ in attendance. Young quickly went into one of his biggest hits, “Rockin’ in the Free World,” a song that Donald Trump actually played while riding down that stupid escalator and starting this ongoing nightmare. But I digress. Neil was absolutely amazing. I’ve seen over 35 of his shows, and the closing trio of “Southern Man,” “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black),” and “Old Man” ranks near the top of so many great moments he’s given us.
The night ended with a tender and hopeful set by Willie Nelson and Family. I do say hopeful because if you saw the looks that Lukas and Micah were giving his dad while they performed a cover of Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe,” well, you want to hang on to those moments as long as possible. I know we’re all on our phones trying to satisfy as many people as possible, every single day, but damn, it was so refreshing to hear Willie sing, “stay with me, let’s just breathe.”
It was well past midnight for the closing “I Saw the Light,” which featured most of the day’s artists on stage with Willie and Family for one final tune.
Stay with us, Willie. Let’s just breathe.
