This past Saturday I had the privilege of attending Farmaid 2008...for those of you who didn't get the chance to enjoy an entire day dedicated to sick tunes and the preservation of American Family farms all I can say is "you blew it".
Some people down wind were skeptical of our operation...
First off, preparations had been in the works for weeks leading up to the fateful day. Coolers had been located, chicken had been marinated in the perfect blend of spices, and leftover beers were horded like cheese by hungry rodents in winter. I gathered all of my Neil Young albums together and kept them in high rotation just to keep my mind sharp and my senses alert. I recollected on Willie Nelson's cameo appearance in "Half Baked", and on the last Dave Mathews Band concert I had attended in High School, where really all there was to recollect was that a girl puked on my leg and I had taken a shit in the woods.
We arrived at the concert in a roundabout way that probably took an hour or two longer than necessary. I cannot stress this enough...always leave adequate time to drive around aimlessly when planning to attend an all day festival of music. Also, you should be prepared to rock out to Pantera at any given moment. This was essential. There were no rookies among us so we arrived safe and sound at the parking lot and promptly set up shop.
The grilling and chilling went into effect early and often. We absorbed the sun and the good vibes and made our way into the concert just in time to catch the end of Kenny Chesney's set (note, this was no accident, I understand that Chesney has a huge following and sure I think his stuff has a time and a place but we weren't there to hook up with high school girls. Seriously, I swear to god.)
Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds were the first to go on stage once we arrived and they absolutely kicked ass. As I mentioned, I did not have the fondest of memories from my Dave Mathews Band experience 9 years ago. I had been expecting the entire band to be there but the acoustic pairing of Reynolds and Dave proved to be one of the highlights of the night. You couldn't help but be in awe of the sheer musicianship of these two guys. They even played some of the old DMB tunes that have been making high school girls wet for years, and satisfied LaRocque who intermittently burst out yelling "Play Jimi Thing" throughout the set.
And Then...
I've never met Bob Costas, nor do I want to.
Some rules of Rock and Roll:
1) Do not under any circumstances allow Bob Costas to give your intro before a performance.
2) See #1
The only thing more disappointing than having Costas take the stage at a rock show was the way he built up John Mellencamp who went out and returned the favor by not kicking ass at all. That is as nice as I can put it. I can't say that I have ever been a huge fan of Mellencamp's. His cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" is about as good as it gets for me when it comes to his stuff. Granted, he had a tough act to follow because Mathews and Reynolds had the place rocking, but his set was very blahhhhh. I looked over at LaRocque at one point and he said to me "Im bobbing my head right now but this isn't good." So true. I dont think many people were into the set, and just as he said, it was as though all the fans in the crowd were nodding their heads, not to encourage his playing but instead willing him on towards the finish.
The man I was there to see was Neil Young, plain and simple. He could have played for three hours and that would have been fine with me. He started his set off with "Love and Only Love" from 'Ragged Glory', an amazing album, and continued with rockers "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", and "Powderfinger" (I never expected to hear this one, so badass). Then came the obligatory Neil Young message song "Mother Earth", with Neil going solo on an organ. All I can say is that even as an enormous fan of Neil's it could have been worse. (Read: the Greendale Album) He then pulled out the acoustic for "Unknown Legend", and "Old Man", before returning to the electric to rock out "Get Back To The Country" and the performance of the night, his cover of the Beatles "A Day in the Life".
I guess Neil had been performing the song on tour in Europe this year...it was a remarkable cover and a very unexpected one at that. By the end of the song Neil had rid his guitar of all its strings and had propped it against his amp like the corpse of a slain enemy. Distortion hung in the air amid the screams of the crazed crowd and I knew then that I had been fortunate enough to drink from the Goblet Of Rock on this night. We had all been fully quenched.
Willie came on to close the show and sounded as good as ever. I don't know how he does it. As you can probably tell, I was there for Neil, but it was a pleasure to see Willie play even late in the night rushed against the dreaded 11 o'clock Comcast center curfew. All I can think of is how much weed and how many hot babes that old guy must have have in his lifetime. Keep rocking old man.
Overall the day was awesome. Great friends, great tunes, great cause. I got a sunburn and a headache and all of the blood in my body was pooled into my feet from standing all day and night on that god forsaken hill they call "the lawn". Lord knows people pissed on that hill, and lord knows that other people unknowingly sat in it. That is rock and roll I suppose, at least as far as I am concerned. If I forgot anything important it is because I am too thoroughly rocked out at the moment.
3 comments:
A couple very important points for our readers:
1) For the record, in that first picture I was trying to keep that smoke from getting to the people next to us. I was trying to be considerate in the name of farm aid. As you can see, by the second picture I realized it was a last cause. The smoke could not be contained.
2) Free range chicken fingers are not any better for you. They were just made from chickens that were not kept in cages. That is still good, don't get me wrong. But certainly something to keep in mind.
"By the end of the song Neil had rid his guitar of all its strings and had propped it against his amp like the corpse of a slain enemy. Distortion hung in the air amid the screams of the crazed crowd and I knew then that I had been fortunate enough to drink from the Goblet Of Rock on this night."
--More powerful and accurate than any other review of the concert that I have read. Pretty much that sums up the collective feeling of the crowd at that moment exactly. Well done sir.
was the average age of people there 40 plus?
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