Farm Aid 2009

A few months ago, Margo found out that she might be able to go to Farm Aid. It moves around to a different place each year and this year it was in St Louis which is not too far away. Well, in fact she found out she was going to go as a work trip. She would have a booth for her work at the event. And she got two passes to the event. Guess who volunteered to go along. Since this was a work trip for Margo our gas, hotel, and food allowances were paid and we got the passes for free. Pretty sweet. So, on Saturday morning we drove to St Louis. That evening we had to check in and set up Margo's work's booth. We also got our "Exhibitor" passes for the next day. The concert was being held in the Verizon Amphitheater which holds about 20,000 people, some seats are actual seats and covered but most are on the grassy knoll. The next day we had to be there early to put the finishing touches on the booth so we got there around 10am. The common concert goers were not allowed in until 12:30 and the concert started at 1pm. During this early time while Margo was setting up her booth, Josh decided to wander around. I checked out what other organizations had booths, food options, vendors, etc. I then decided to check out the actual seating area. Our exhibitor passes just allowed us to sit on the grassy knoll not in the expensive seating but I was ok with that since as I mentioned before it was FREE. While I was walking around they were doing sound checks on stage which I really was not paying attention to. Then someone started singing and I recognized this voice as the voice from my favorite band. That's right Dave Matthews. He and Tim Reynolds were warming up. I went down to the main seating area and there was an event staff guy there. I asked if I could go down front and listen in to them warming up and he said YES. So, I went down to the front row and got to listen to Dave and Tim warm up for like 20-30 minutes. I was so close I could almost touch them with a ten foot pole. I was so very excited and happy. I don't know why it was such a thrill for me but it really was. He sang a few songs and they worked on the mics and sound. One thing I discovered it that he is really funny. In between singing he would be talking to the sound guys and stuff and cracking jokes. It was great. I took some pictures and a few videos with my picture taking camera. Here are a few of them. They are not great quality because these were taken with our cheap camera that fits in my pocket.



Here I am with a cheesy look on my face


Here is a short clip I took of them playing during their sound check and warm up


Here is another clip of Dave saying something funny. While they were doing the sound check Dave noticed that every time his forehead got close to the mic it would feedback. So he kept doing it over and over, it was really funny, you can see him doing it in the video. During this clip he says that, sometimes I hit my head against the microphone and it scares the sh*t out me, then I try to cover up and do a little dance. It was cracking us up, you can even hear us cracking up.


The main concert was really good as well. It was cool to get to hear a bunch of bands at one place. The concert lasted about 10 hours total. That is a long time of drinking for some of the concert goers who got really drunk on $9 each beer. It was a long day but well worth it. The bands I enjoyed the most were Wilco, Lukas Nelson, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Phosphorescent, and Neal Young.

Here is a list of the complete lineup with a few of my thoughts about each.
The Blackwood Quartet - they are southern gospel which is not my fave but they sing really well together
Phosphorescent - I really like their new folk kind of sound
Will Dailey - not very impressed, unoriginal popular tv music type stuff
Ernie Isley & the Jam Band - one of the Isley Brothers, it was a fun set and cool to hear some of the old songs
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Willie Nelson's son, was actually unexpectedly pretty good and he has a really cool voice, enjoyed him a lot
Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses - he was pretty good as well, kind of a folk rock
Jamey Johnson - country singer, kind of an older style, not to bad for country
Gretchen Wilson - I don't really like new country music especially the kind she sings
Wilco - I really like them as a band, their show was pretty good
Jason Mraz - he is ok, a little to excited and wanting everybody to dance for me
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - really, really good, it was just the two of them playing acoustic guitars, Tim is amazing
John Mellencamp - I appreciate his contribution to music and some of his songs are pretty good but he was a dork. Trying to be way too cool instead of just playing his music
Neil Young - I really enjoyed hearing him. He was really funny as well. I need to get some more of his music and I would like to go to a concert of just him.
Willie Nelson - a legend and still really good as old as he is. His music is not something I get really excited about but he is a legend.

I definitely recommend checking out Farm Aid if you ever get the chance. I hope I get to go again.

This is a crowd shot during the concert


And here is a pic of the stage during the concert


Here is one more video for you during the concert when Dave was playing. I did a little crowd pan as well that may make you a little nauseous.