Dave Matthews shares Farm Aid bill as Neil Young returns Sept. 26
dave matthews is on the Farm Aid bill in Virginia Beach on Sept. 26, and Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts will use the same date to return to the concert stage. The show lands at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater after the group’s last live appearance at the Painted Turtle benefit in October 2025.
Willie Nelson said, "Family farmers grow our food and strengthen our communities. And when farmers struggle like they are now, communities feel it too," adding that the event is coming to Virginia "to stand with the farmers and fishers who feed Hampton Roads and beyond — and to grow a food system that works for everyone."
Virginia Beach adds a new stop
Farm Aid will come to Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater on Sept. 26, with ticket sales beginning that same day. The Virginia Beach date gives the benefit concert a new coastal setting while keeping the format intact: a large multi-artist lineup built around Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, dave matthews, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff.
Young will share the bill with those board members and with Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, Mon Rovîa, I’m With Her, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola and Chris Pierce. That size of roster is the draw here: Farm Aid remains a board-driven event, not a single-artist stop.
October 2025 still matters
Young and the Chrome Hearts have not played live since October 2025, when they performed the Painted Turtle benefit. That gap is the practical wrinkle for anyone tracking the band’s activity, because it follows a summer in which the group cancelled plans for a European tour.
The return also gives Farm Aid a more current musical hook than nostalgia alone. At last year’s 40th anniversary show in Minneapolis, the event already showed it could pull the board together alongside outside names, and Young’s set there included "Big Crime," "Rockin’ in the Free World," "Long Walk Home," "Be the Rain," "Southern Man," "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)," and "Old Man."
Farm Aid since 1985
Farm Aid began at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, on Sept. 22, 1985, and has been held practically every year since. The Virginia Beach date extends that run with a lineup that puts Young back in front of an audience and places dave matthews in one of the event’s core slots.
The immediate takeaway is simple: this is the first live checkpoint for Young and the Chrome Hearts after a quiet stretch, and the Farm Aid booking gives that return a built-in audience of board members, legacy names and newer acts on one stage.
