Farm Aid 2026: Willie Nelson and Neil Young Close Night with Multiple Guest Turns and Group Sing-Alongs

# Overview Farm Aid 2026 in Virginia Beach ended with a broad, collaborative closing set led by Willie Nelson that included Neil Young, members of the Nelson family and many of the day's performers. The final segment mixed originals, covers and multi-artist sing-alongs that closed the benefit concert on an inclusive, communal note.

# Closing moments with Willie Nelson and Neil Young Willie Nelson invited a number of performers onstage for the show-closing sequence. Lily Meola opened the segment with "Will You Remember Mine." Lukas Nelson joined his father for a duet built around Pearl Jam's "Breathe," a pairing the two had previously recorded for the 2012 Heroes project. Micah Nelson led Nelson's band through his Particle Kid song "Everything is Bullshit." Neil Young then joined for his song "Are There Any More Real Cowboys?"

The sequence ended with an extended group section: Nathaniel Rateliff, Margo Price, Lily Meola, Turnpike Troubadours and other performers backed Nelson and Young for sing-along renditions of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?," "I'll Fly Away" and "I Saw the Light."

# Notable collaborations during the day

• Jesse Welles brought out Mon Rovîa for a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down."
• Mike Campbell performed with his Dirty Knots project earlier in the day.
• Ty Myers invited Mickey Raphael, Willie Nelson's longtime harmonica player, for the Nelson/Waylon Jennings tune "Write Your Own Songs."
• Nathaniel Rateliff shared songs with I'm with Her, performing "Standing in the Rain Boys" and "Endless Horizon."

# Dave Matthews' segments and guests Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds opened their regular Farm Aid segment by inviting I'm with Her — Aoife O'Donovan, Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz — to join them for "Papertown," a new original Matthews recorded for the film of the same name with Watkins and Sierra Ferrell. Later in Matthews' set, fiddler Jake Renick Simpson (associated with Lukas Nelson's band) joined for "Crush" and "Ants Marching." Simpson later sat in with Dave Matthews Band at a subsequent festival appearance.

# Margo Price, Jesse Welles and other set highlights Margo Price opened a day segment by joining the Wisdom Indian Dancers for "The Lord's Prayer." She closed her own performance by bringing Dave Matthews and Jesse Welles onstage for a cover of Blaze Foley's "Oval Room." Jesse Welles' presence on the bill included multiple collaborative moments beyond the Tom Petty cover.

# Broader program notes John Mellencamp and Neil Young delivered separate career-spanning sets earlier in the day. The festival followed Farm Aid's usual format of mixing solo sets with collaborative moments and one-off pairings, using guest appearances to connect artists across folk, country and roots-rock traditions.

# What this meant onstage The event favored short musical conversations over extended solo showcases. Artists repeatedly traded turns and joined each other for covers and originals, creating a final hour that read like a rolling jam session tied together by Nelson's and Young's appearances and communal gospel songs.