Live Reviews: At Farm Aid 40, an 18-act benefit concert visits MN for the first time

Farm Aid, the annual benefit concert for family farmers, is bringing its 40th anniversary show to Minnesota for the first time Saturday.

Some 35,000 people are expected to fill Huntington Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for a nearly 12-hour marathon of 18 musicians, culminating in headlining sets by Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Farm Aid organizer Willie Nelson. The concert is livestreaming at farmaid.org, and the final five hours of the concert are also being broadcast live on CNN.

Since its founding in 1985, the organization has raised about $87 million to fund farmer support efforts including an agriculture hotline to help farmers navigate both professional and personal challenges, plus grants to both farmers and food-system organizations.

“We were kids when we started this thing,” musician John Mellencamp said during an onstage panel discussion for media and guests before the gates opened. “And I’m so grateful that all you people come out and support Farm Aid every year.”

The fact that this year’s Farm Aid show is even happening is a testament to the power of union organizing, the organization’s co-directors Shorlette Ammons and Jennifer Fahy said onstage, referencing a labor strike against the U earlier this month that almost derailed the concert. Farm Aid expressed support for the striking Teamsters workers, and Willie Nelson himself reportedly intervened, calling Gov. Tim Walz to try to help broker a deal.

Besides listening to the live performances throughout the day, Farm Aid attendees can also visit the Homegrown Village, spread across an indoor concourse and outdoor area along the outside of the stadium. There, dozens of sustainability-focused and food justice organizations, including North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, Dream of Wild Health and the Land Stewardship Project, are providing information and hosting activities like printmaking and seed art.

Inside the stadium, the crowd was a bit sparse for opening acts Wisdom Indian Dancers — introduced and joined onstage by country singer and later performer Margo Price — and Madeline Edwards as attendees worked their way through the snarled traffic around the stadium and blocks-long entrance lines.

Stands were filling up by the time singer Jesse Welles took the stage with a Bob Dylan-esque vibe, followed by Eric Burton of the Grammy-nominated band Black Pumas. The day’s lineup is stacked, but at less than a half-hour apiece and somewhat clunky interludes as the stage is turned over between acts, these early performers had a bit of an uphill battle to get the crowd amped up.

That is, until Waxahatchee arrived. If there’s anyone with a voice powerful enough to command attention, it’s Alabama singer Katie Crutchfield, who turned up the volume and energy in the stadium with great tunes like “Can’t Do Much” and “Fire.” Country Music Hall of Famer Wynonna Judd sounded great, too, as she kicked the tempo up for the afternoon.

“See what happens when we all get together?” Judd said to a cheering crowd. “Music is a healer.”

The whole day’s lineup leans country-folk, as Farm Aid shows tend to, but the mid-afternoon took a delightful bluegrass-roots turn. Duluth’s Trampled by Turtles, the only local(ish) band in the day’s lineup, delivered a high-energy set, with Ryan Young just shredding the fiddle. Farm Aid frequent flyer Steve Earle, fresh off an induction into Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, popped onstage for a few quick songs, then Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats — fun and hyped-up as ever, with the frontman in a red “Stop Factory Farms” T-shirt and suspenders — played their hits before Earle came back with his mandolin for an unscheduled second stop. But Nathaniel Rateliff, man. The crowd loved him, and for good reason.

With a quieter, slower opening to his set, singer Lukas Nelson (son of Willie) threatened to tank the energy that had been building all afternoon. As if aware that might be the case, he enlisted surprise guest Sierra Ferrell to join him for the second half. Sure, Nelson’s voice is good enough, but even duetting his songs with Ferrell — probably one of the most exciting, idiosyncratic figures in bluegrass Americana music right now — wasn’t enough to prevent his set from becoming a bore.

Not to worry: Billy Strings came to the rescue. That man knows his way around some strings, I’ll tell ya. His lightning guitar work — alongside a mandolinist, fiddler, upright-bassist and banjo player who are not too shabby on their respective strings themselves — delivered a rollicking half-hour that gave the fans in the bleachers plenty to dance to.

And Kenny Chesney took the stage after him.

Anyway, next up is the first of the night’s six main headliners, Margo Price. (In all seriousness, Chesney was fine; a fairly straightforward set. Nothing to write home about, so I will not.) Following Price, to end the evening, Farm Aid is set to feature sets from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.

This article will be updated with reviews throughout the day.