Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts haven’t made a live appearance since the Painted Turtle benefit in October 2025 and cancelled plans for a European tour this summer. Now, the band is set to make their return to the concert stage on Sept. 26 when Farm Aid comes to the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach.
Young shares the bill with his fellow Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price, and Nathaniel Rateliff. The roster also includes 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. Ticket sales begin Sept. 26.
“Family farmers grow our food and strengthen our communities. And when farmers struggle like they are now, communities feel it too,” Nelson, who co-founded Farm Aid, said in a statement. “The challenges farmers face threaten their livelihoods and put all of us at risk. We’re bringing Farm Aid 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.”
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The original Farm Aid was held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, on Sept. 22, 1985, with a stacked bill that included Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Johnny Cash, John Fogerty, Bon Jovi, Don Henley, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Roy Orbison, and Eddie Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. It’s been held practically every year since then. Last year, the benefit celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025 with a show at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis that featured every member of the board in addition to Kenny Chesney and Billy Strings.
At that show, Young and the Chrome Hearts played “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.” Several of those songs appear on their recent live album As Times Explodes. They also have a new studio album, Second Song, due out sometime later this year.
