Mellencamp, Matthews steal Farm Aid spotlight

Bloomington was well represented at Saturday's 16th Farm Aid, as local rockers John Mellencamp and Three Minute Mile were onstage at the Verizon Wireless Music Center to benefit farmers across the country.\nOnly a week after performing to nearly 30,000 fans over a two-night stint at the same venue, Mellencamp stole the show again at Farm Aid 2001 with another solid performance.\nMellencamp, who co-founded the event with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, said he was glad to bring back Farm Aid to his home state.\n"This is the second time we've come to Indianapolis for Farm Aid," he said, "and I think one of the reasons we came back here was such support we got last time."\nMellencamp put on one of the best sets of the evening, blazing through most of his hits like "Small Town," "Jack and Diane," and his latest single, "Peaceful World" off his new album Cuttin' Heads, that will be released Oct. 16. His wife Elaine also helped host the event on Country Music Television, which broadcast the concert.\nThree Minute Mile had short notice to prepare, but warmed up the crowd on a side stage before Acoustic Syndicate took to the main stage.\n"When we were in Los Angeles this summer we sent in a demo and press kit, and we were supposed to find out about this about a month or two ago," said guitarist Mike Stocksdale, a senior. "But we only found out we were playing last Tuesday."\nThree Minute Mile beat out more than 150 other bands who had applied for the gig.\n"We were pleasantly surprised by how well we were treated," he said, noting that he was stopped several times by fans after the set. "The best thing I think was the exposure with the fans. People were there from all over the place, and we had our banner up and we met a lot of people afterwards, so hopefully they'll remember who we were." \nWhile Stocksdale and Mellencamp brought along their entire bands, Dave Matthews opted for a simpler setup. \n"There's so many of y'all out there, it makes me feel kind of small," he said, standing alone with only three acoustic guitars on stage. In what may be a sign of things to come (Matthews currently has several solo shows planned in the coming months and many have speculated he may be leaving the band), he proved that he doesn't need his bandmates to put on a stellar performance.\nMatthews sampled from his latest release with the title-track "Everyday," "I Did It," and the ballad "The Space Between."\nIt was the final two songs that proved to be the highlight of the evening. Mickey Raphael, harmonica player to Nelson, joined Matthews on the slow country ballad "Grace is Gone" before launching into a cover of the longtime crowd favorite "All Along the Watchtower."\nVeteran rockers Neil Young and Crazy Horse also gave an inspiring performance, ending with their anthem "Rockin' in the Free World." Young, who autographed one farmer's tractor earlier in the day, stressed the need for support of our nation's food growers.\n"Family farmers are the fabric of this country," he said. "As we lose the family farms, we lose the towns, we lose the rural areas ... as we go around in the tour buses we see the changes."\nMatthews, who was appointed to the Farm Aid Board of Directors at a press conference before the show, also emphasized the need that farmers face.\n"I think at this time, since the tragedy on Sept. 11, we think more about what America is," he said. "It's not about giant corporations swallowing up our small farms, it's people waking up in the morning and loving this land and loving the people inside of it and wanting to make it a strong and healthy country," he said.\nThe total amount of money raised from this weekend's concert has not been figured yet, but Farm Aid officials said some proceeds would go to restoring farmers markets destroyed in the terrorist attacks last month. One company is donating 5,000 pounds of organically grown meat to those affected by the attacks.\nIndiana farmers have received $202,000 from Farm Aid proceeds since 1985.