Neil Young at Farm Aid 2008

In case you didn’t know, the annual Farm Aid show took place a little over a week ago (June 20, to be exact). The Pretenders, Jakob Dylan, and Arlo Guthrie were among the acts that performed alongside Farm Aid stalwarts Willie Nelson, John Mellancamp, and Neil Young.

Neil Young’s set was, by most accounts, sensational. Writing on Thrasher’s Wheat about Young’s version of the Beatles classic, “A Day in the Life,” a fan named Coby said, “I was amazed and blown away. This is what the show is all about, you bring it, and the emotion compels you. Compliments and applause. Touch that inner nerve and twist.”

Young has performed at all of the Farm Aid festivals, appearing either solo or with old band-mates Crosby, Stills, and Nash. “Just as rock & roll is loud and proud, so is Farm Aid,” Young is quoted as saying. “Farm Aid's greatest accomplishment, I believe, is in the spirit. It's the fact that we represent the spirit of the good fight, to keep something good happening. It just keeps getting stronger and stronger.”

Today’s music is a couple of tunes from Neil Young’s Farm Aid set this year. The show was broadcast in HD on DirectTV, so the sound is pretty clean. I found these tracks on a site called Big O, which often posts Recordings of Indeterminate Origin. Jump over there for the rest of the show as well as recordings of some of the other Farm Aid performances. A warning, though: while they post awesome stuff, Big O has pretty strict time limits on how long the tracks remain up, so don’t dilly-dally!

Powderfinger.mp3
A Day in the Life (Beatles cover).mp3

Labels: classic rock, covers, live music, Neil Young

posted by aikin @ 6:12 PM