Sunday, September 30, 2012

Farm Aid 2012 – Hershey Park Stadium






An annual event making it to it’s 27th year, Farm Aid supports local family farmers to aid them in keeping their land and thrive in a tough economy. Concert goers can find it easy to get wrapped up in the music and forget this day is for a cause. But each musician speaking about the benefit made us all realize we were there for something more than a day of entertainment, we were there to help local families survive on the land we live on. Overall the fans enjoyed the day and the sell out crowd took in every moment of the music, but perhaps not the venue.

Packing 29,000 people into Hershey stadium was something left to be desired by the concert promoter. The small and narrow walkways under the bleachers housed most of the beer and food vendors as well as the bathrooms. When you left the field you knew you were in for a long wait. 1 hour beer lines made for a miserable crowd experience and not to mention the 1 hour bathroom lines as well (Yikes!). Trying to navigate through the crowd in these areas left us frustrated. But thank goodness for the incredible line up, because when you entered the field and left the madness behind, it seemed like none of that mattered and all the stress melted away.

The afternoon started at 2:00 PM with Dale Watson, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (Willie Nelson’s son), Pegi Young and the Survivors and ALO. I casually caught these acts in the parking lot on Sirius Radio’s Farm Aid channel – Willie’s Wheelhouse. We entered the stadium as Jamey Johnson strummed his first song. He did well and had a solid set. I have not ever previously heard his music but enjoyed it as I relaxed and took in the scene. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals came out blazing after Jamey Johnson’s slower blend and were joined on Stage by Willie Nelson for “Ragged Company” and finished up their short five song set with “Medicine”.

Jack Johnson opened with “Better Together” and “Home”. If you have ever seen him live you know what to expect. Jack is consistent and flawless as Jack always is. He commented on his wife sitting in the front row “making him nervous” and made the fans sigh, “awe”.  I love how his family tours with him and he mentioned many times that several of his songs were written about her. He went down his list of greatest hits, which made the hippies in the crowd roar and dance, and yes I was one of them. He finished his set strong with “Bubble Toes”, “Banana Pancakes”, “Flake” and “Mudfootball”.
Kenny Chesney, was well…Kenny Chesney. White shirt, ball cap, and jeans so tight he must have just pulled them out of the dryer. I was a little bummed he did not sing “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”, especially this being Farm Aid, but he choose to perform other hits such as “Beer In Mexico” and “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem”.

Now the highlight of the evening was Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds. Absolutely stole the show. Being a huge DMB fan, I have seen him about a dozen times, so I can say with confidence I have never experienced him like this. He opened with “Gravedigger” and I was enthralled, I think I even had tears coming down my face at one point. And my question to the music writers of the world, “Why hasn’t Tim Reynolds ever made the list for the top 50 guitarists of all time?!”  He took his acoustic guitar and turned it on its side, manipulating every string and sounding like a classically trained Spanish guitar player. He made their acoustic set spark something deep within them as musicians and us as fans watched in amazement.  They continued wowing the stadium with “Stay or Leave”, “Don’t Drink the Water” and “Funny the Way It Is”. Then Dave took us all to another level of sexy with his stripped down version of “Crush”. I swear I saw a dozen women lighting up cigarettes after this intense love song, including myself. Matthews and Reynolds took us home with “Mercy”, “Dancing Nancies”, and “Some Devil”, sealing up their set and made us all think this was the end of the night. I forgot we still had the founding fathers of Farm Aid to see!

John Cougar Melloncamp opened with “Authority Song” and sounded rough. He is an American music legend that has toured the nation for years and I think it may be wearing on him. By the time “Small Town” was performed, I thought he was not going to make it to the end of his set. Kenny Chesney boyishly joined him on stage, with his hand in one pocket and appeared to forget the lyrics. After half way through his segment, Melloncamp did warm up and killed the end of his set with “Crumbling Down” and “Pink Houses”, a definite crowd pleaser to the point that everyone sang in unison, “There's a young man in a t-shirt|Listenin' to a rockin' rollin' station|He's got greasy hair, greasy smile|He says, "Lord this must be my destination."

 Neil Young and Crazy Horse…what can I say but I have never been a fan. However, as an advocate to music I respect their talent and their status of being American icons, but I was a little lost during Young’s set. There were hardly any lyrics and each song was mostly instrumental, in other words all jam without the bread. When he did sing, he missed the microphone so many times it was hard to make out the lyrics. Closing his set with “Like a Hurricane” (over 15 minutes in length), Young repeated the line “I wanna love you” over and over again. I think I fell asleep in the middle of the arrangement at some point and when I woke up I noticed most of the bleachers were empty. The crowd had dissipated and called it an evening.

Finally, a little after 11 PM, the man himself took the stage, Mr. Willie Nelson. Quick and classic this old favorite did not disappoint. Singing in his familiar voice, he took the stage looking as he did 20 years ago, with a full beard and long braids. Nelson opened with “Whiskey River” and “Beer for My Horses” and later talked through his performance of the Patsy Cline favorite “Crazy” like spoken word. The highlight of his set was when his son joined him on stage for the Pearl Jam cover “Just Breathe”. Nelson and his son have such similar singing styles it became hard to tell who was the melody and who was the harmony. He closed the evening with The Blackwood Quartet and The Bee Creek UMC Choir for “I’ll Fly Away” and “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die”.
The day came and went and I witnessed many American musical icons, which I would not trade anything for in the world. As a whole I thoroughly enjoyed myself and wished I could have shared this experience with all my friends that could not make the trip. I can only hope Farm Aid will release a DVD of the concert not only to share and relive my experience but to provide support for a worthy American cause. To support local farmers, please check out their website www.farmaid.org to see how you can donate. And check out their YouTube site for Live performances.

Check out full set lists here 

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