November 18, 2008

farm aid '05



related: i was at this show, sitting near the back of the pavilion & i actually remember thinking how cool it was that barack obama (who was already a rock star in chicago) had come out to introduce one of my favorite bands...of course, i couldn't really imagine just how cool it would seem to me three years later...anyway, i wish i could say the rest of the day was as memorable, but there were like twenty bands on one stage who played for about 30 minutes each (with the exception of kenny chesney, who must have played for over two hours), & the set changes were just as long...wilco & widespread panic both played great sets, as did emmylou harris & john mellencamp, but by the time willie nelson came out to close the show, most of the crowd had cleared out, & you could hardly blame them after almost twelve hours...the saving grace, however, was neil young, who put on an absolutely crushing performance, complete with strings, horns & backup choir...here's part of his set, taken from vol. 6 of the expansive perfect echo series...i have no idea why "when god made me" & "old man" (which were also played that night) didn't get included, but the version of "southern man", which sounded even more epic in person, & was easily the best moment of the entire day, is just incredible...listen for obama playing peddle steel.

download: neil young - southern man (09/18/05)
download: neil young - this old guitar (09/18/05 - w/ emmylou & willie)
download: neil young - one of these days (09/18/05 - w/ emmylou & willie)

related: farm aid '08
related: farm aid '98
related: farm aid '90

2 comments:

Unknown said...

nice find! I didn't even remember that obama introduced them!

Arnold Gregs said...

God bbless