willie's set included five songs, all pretty standard except for the fifth
which i think was titled my american dream. then everyone, including neil
(who was carrying a huge eagle feather) came out for the final 3 songs,
america the beautiful, a very spirited (and for farm aid finales, very
original) move it on over, and a medley of on the road again/i saw the
light. neil was stage right, next to the stage host, actor matthew
mcconegheah (sp) who was dancing up a storm with one of the indians. so neil
quietly moved to a row back and hung out with gillian welch for the rest of
the show.
as far as this farm aid goes, i have to give credit to CMT. they actually
showed complete sets without cutting away. probably the best televised farm
aid for the last 5 or 6 years. job well done.
there were some sound problems, especially with the groups, like mellencamp,
and willie and some of the earlier artists. matthew macconegheah was okay at
first, but a little of him goes a long way. he lost all credibility with me
when he told john mellencamp he was his biggest fan and the reason he was
hosting farm aid this year.
as far as the acts themselves, i thought they were all entertaining, even
keith urban who started things off. in years past there were acts i couldnt
take at all, but this year i thought everyone was pretty entertaining.
of course still a far cry from farm aid 1, which had over 40 performers,
including bob dylan, roy orbison, beach boys, don henley, tom petty, bonnie
raitt, van halen, randy newman, billy joel, bb king, on and on and on. i
dont think we'll ever see another FA quite like that. i have it on tape, but
it transferred from beta, and has some some severe quality problems. too
bad, would have made a great vcd!
joe
