Bob Dylan made a surprise appearance at the Farm Aid Benefit show last night, performing three songs with a backing band that included Mike Campbell, Belmont Tench and Steve Ferrone of the Heartbreakers. The black-clad Dylan walked onstage without any introduction and played a short but intense set.
Playing electric guitar instead of the keyboards and grand piano he has favoured at his own recent shows over the past two decades, Dylan opened with “Maggie’s Farm” from his 1965’s “Bringing It All Back Home”. He then performed the 1965 single “Positively 4th Street” and closed another 1965 song, “Ballad of a Thin Man” from “Highway 61 Revisited”. He left the stage as quickly as he arrived, without saying anything to the crowd.
It was the first time Dylan had played “Maggie’s Farm” since 2009 and the first time he played “Positively 4th Street” since 2013. While he is famous for significantly re-arranging his most famous songs in concert, Dylan stayed surprisingly close to their original sound on these songs.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers served as Dylan’s backing band on his 1986 True Confession and 1987 Temples in Flames tours. Campbell and Tench were in the band at that time, Ferrone joined in 1994.
It was Dylan’s onstage comments at 1985’s Live Aid concert about American farmers needing financial assistance that inspired Willie Nelson to stage the first Farm Aid later that same year.
“I hope that some of the money … maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe … one or two million, maybe … and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks,” Dylan said. His question did not sit well with Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof. Angry that Dylan was taking the focus off the victims of the 1983-1985 Ethiopian famine Live Aid was organized to help, he labelled them “crass, stupid and nationalistic.” But Nelson felt differently. “The question hit me like a ton of bricks,”
Neil Young and John Mellencamp helped Nelson launch the now-annual event, which has to date raised over $64 million to support family farms and a sustainable food system. Farm Aid’s guiding board now includes Dave Matthews and Margo Price, and Saturday’s bill also featured the Grateful Dead’s Bobby Weir & the Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack, Lukas Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Allison Russell, The String Cheese Incident and Particle Kid. Also on the bill: Clayton Anderson, The Black Opry featuring Lori Rayne, Tylar Bryant and Kyshona, the Jim Irsay Band, featuring Ann Wilson of Heart, Native Pride Productions and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.
The Fat Angel Sings 