NEIL YOUNG : FARM AID '14

1. Intro (John Mellencamp)
2. Heart Of gold
3. comes a time
4. pocahontas
5. standing in the light of love
6. mother earth (Natural anthem)
7. who's gonna stand up ?
8. rockin' in the free world

Label : no label

Venue : Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Recording Date : September 13, 2014

NTSC : 16:9

Length : 43 minutes

Review (Rolling Stone Magazine) : Twenty thousand music fans and farmers showed up to the Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday for Farm Aid 2014, where organizers Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews were joined by an eclectic list of performers in the effort to support small family farms, locally and nationwide. Now in its 29th year, Farm Aid has evolved into much more than a yearly benefit concert, but rather a year-round support system for small farmers and nonprofit groups. Saturday's festivities included a farming expo with seminars from and for local farmers, vendors and exhibitors, as well as food supplied by local family farms for the festival's Homegrown Concessions area. Many of the performers were deeply involved in the agricultural education element of the fest: Delta Rae's Brittany Hölljes led a discussion about connections between urban and rural farms. NOLA's Preservation Hall Jazz band did a briefing on the similar issues facing fishers and farmers. Wandering around the grounds could lead one to a snap pea "shell-off," a DIY pepper jelly session or to a tent where flower crowns were being woven. Workshops like "Sustainable Fishing 101" were available for those wanting to learn, and for the teenagers just wanting to get high and roll around in the grass, there was Dave Matthews. Here are some of our favorite moments from the big event. Farm Aid kicked off Saturday with a pre-festival news conference, during which all of the performing artists, Farm Aid officials, farmers and activists gathered onstage to talk about the issues facing small farmers today. In perfect laymen's terms, Neil Young conveyed the impossible and ever-changing problems with which farmers are faced underneath the current corporate agricultural system. Then, with typical flare, he called North Carolina Senator Richard Burr to stand up, alongside his other Republican cronies, and be held accountable by his surrounding community of farmers for voting against efforts to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowing unlimited political donations - which are what, ultimately, steers the corporate agriculture herd. "We love doing Farm Aid, but we don't love that we're doing Farm Aid," Young said, gesturing towards his fellow board members, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and the other advocates who have been around since the festival began in 1985. "This isn't a celebration; it's a mission," Young concluded, emphasizing that Farm Aid was there in support of the farmers, and that the music was just secondary. "It fracking matters!" wrly quipped Neil Young during an acoustic rendition of his new politcally-charged song, "Who's Gonna Stand Up?". His musical ponderings paired nicely with his fiery comments from earlier that morning, opening with "Heart of Gold", before making his way to "Comes a Time" and a few other familiar favorites. His mostly-solo-acoustic set was rife with environmentally themed tunes like "Pocahontas," "Angry World" and the stirring "Oh Mother Earth," gorgeously set to a tranquil arrangement of "The Water Is Wide" as Young played piano, washed in green and blue-hues while dueling harp solos floated over him.