Bob Dylan unexpectedly stole the show Saturday at the 37th Farm Aid concert, this one at the Ruoff Music Center in the Indianapolis suburb of Noblesville, Indiana.
Backed by three members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers -- keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer Steve Ferrone, and guitarist Mike Campbell, along with two members of Campbell's band, Dirty Knobs -- Dylan walked onstage unannounced towards the end of the show.
Playing electric guitar, which he seldom does anymore, he did three songs from 1965:
- "Maggie's Farm," which he hadn't done since 2009 and it was the song he did to close the inaugural Farm Aid in 1985 in which he was also backed by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
- "Positively 4th Street" - first time since 2013
- "Ballad of a Thin Man" - first time since 2019
This was Dylan's first performance with The Heartbreakers in 20 years, having previously toured with them. And it was a rare collaboration for Campbell, Tench, and Ferrone as they've seldom performed together in public since Petty’s death in 2017.
It was Dylan, who, while performing at Live Aid in 1985, talked about the plight of the American farmer.
"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."
This inspired Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young to organize the first Farm Aid that September, which Dylan played at. He was also part of the second one in 1986, but hadn't been back until Saturday.
Also on Saturday's bill were Farm Aid board members Nelson, Mellencamp, Young, Dave Matthews and Margo Price, plus Bobby Weir & The Wolf Bros. featuring the Wolfpack, Lukas and Micah Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Allison Russell, The String Cheese Incident, Particle Kid, and Ann Wilson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd who were part of Indianapolis Colts' owner Jim Irsay's band. Irsay also donated a million dollars to the cause.
Source: USA Today and Premiere