Chicago to host Farm Aid’s 20th anniversary benefit show
The Chicago area will be the site of the 20th anniversary Farm Aid concert, co-founders Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp announced Monday (7/11).
This year’s show is set to take place Sept. 18 at Tinley Park, IL’s Tweeter Center, the site of the first Farm Aid Concert in 1985. (The venue was known at the time as the New World Music Theatre.) Tickets will go on sale July 30, organizers said.
Besides Nelson and Mellencamp, this year’s Farm Aid show will also feature longtime supporters Neil Young and Dave Matthews. Other performers will be announced, according to a press release.
The anniversary concert will be preceded by a week’s worth of food and music events in Chicago aimed at drawing attention to the city’s efforts to promote foods grown on family farms.
Last year’s Farm Aid concert took place at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA, which is located about 35 miles southeast of Seattle, and previous shows have been held in Burgettstown, PA; Noblesville, IN; Columbus, OH; and Bristow, VA, among other farming regions.
Nelson, Mellencamp and Young staged the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Matthews, who has appeared on several Farm Aid bills, joined Farm Aid’s board of directors in 2001.
Organizers say that Farm Aid has raised more than $27 million over its history to support family farms.
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