Forty years ago, at the Live Aid festival in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, it took Bob Dylan just a few moments to set in motion the music industry’s longest-running concert for a cause — Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid.

Dylan took the stage at JFK Stadium late in the day, just past 10:30 p.m., accompanied by Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, each with acoustic guitars. (They were preceded by Mick Jagger and Tina Turner’s incendiary duet.)

Opening with two seldom-performed songs from 1964, “Ballad of Hollis Brown” and “When The Ship Comes In,” Dylan then said, in an off-the-cuff manner: 

“I hope that some of the money that’s raised for the people in Africa, 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 that the farmers here owe to the banks.”

“The question hit me like a ton of bricks,” Nelson recalled to his biographer David Ritz in Billboard in 2015. The musician was on the road that day, watching Live Aid on his tour-bus TV. 

“Farming was my first job,” he told Billboard. “I picked ­cotton. I pulled corn. I knew firsthand what it meant to farm. I knew damn well how tough it was. My farm roots are deep-seated in the soil of my personal story.”

So are the roots of Nelson’s philanthropy. In his small hometown of Abbott, Texas, where he attended the United Methodist Church, “we had a ­collection box, and even though we were ­struggling financially, I knew there were folks with far greater struggles. As part of a ­loving community, I was taught the moral responsibility of ­helping those in need.”

Like Dylan, at that time, Nelson also had been following the news of the family farming crisis that was devastating the heartland of the United States. Prices paid for crops had plummeted. Banks were foreclosing on farms, throwing families off land they had worked, often, for generations. Small towns, dependent on spending by local farmers, were reeling.

David Senter, a fourth-generation farmer and co-founder of the American Agriculture Movement, recalled that time for “Against the Grain,” the Farm Aid podcast.

“The farm crisis was a terrible, expanding tragedy for rural America,” said Senter. “We lost 50 percent of the total family farmers during the crisis. Three-hundred-and-sixty-five farmers a day were going out of business during ’85. We brought a couple of thousand farmers to Washington in March of ’85 and we had a rally on the steps of the Jefferson [Memorial]. We had 365 white crosses [bearing the names of farmers] who had committed suicide or been foreclosed on. And we drove them on the Mall and made a graveyard in front of U.S.D.A.,” the headquarters of the United States Department of Agriculture.

In 1985, Nelson’s booking agent was Tony Conway of Buddy Lee Attractions. For a history of Farm Aid published for the organization’s 20th anniversary, Lee recalled that, in August of that year, Nelson was playing the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., when the singer said: “I want to do a concert for the American farmers. I want to see if we can do it here in Illinois, just someplace where we can get a stadium.”

“Willie asked me, ‘Do you think you can get a hold of the governor?,’” he recalled. “I made a few calls and got a call back saying [then] Governor Jim Thompson was on his way to the bus.”

Nelson told his idea to Thompson, Lee said, and the governor made a call to secure availability of the football stadium at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill., for the one day open in Nelson’s packed autumn touring schedule — Sept. 22, 1985.

Nelson recruited Neil Young and John Mellencamp, who later became the first fellow members of the Farm Aid board. (The board expanded in 2001 to include Dave Matthews and again in 2021 to include Margo Price — who had grown up on a farm which her family lost in 1986, during the crisis which led to the creation of Farm Aid.)

Farm Aid: A Concert for America was put together with the unthinkably short lead time of six weeks. It raised more than $7 million for the nation’s family farmers and featured performers including Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty — and Bob Dylan.

A front-page story in Billboard, under the bylines of Paul Grein and Kip Kirby, reported that the Jam Productions of Chicago, which help mount Farm Aid, used the same 60-foot diameter, circular, two-stage set that had been used at JFK Stadium for Live Aid.

The Billboard story reported that Nelson wrote the first check on the Farm Aid account to the National Council of Churches in the amount of $100,000 for food pantries to help feed farm families in seven states: Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio and Kansas. “In addition,” Billboard reported, “Nelson notes that the toll-free 1-800-FARMAID phone lines will remain in operation for one year.”

Forty years later, Farm Aid carries on. The organization has raised more than $80 million to support programs that help family farmers thrive. It has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the widely known assessment organization for philanthropies.

Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Matthew and Price will headline this year’s anniversary concert on Sept. 20 at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, on a bill with Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles and Madeline Edwards.

Transcending the crisis which sparked its creation, Farm Aid’s mission today is “to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America,” the organization states on its website. “We’re best known for our annual music, food and farm festival, but the truth is we work each and every day, year-round to build a system of agriculture that values family farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities.”

And Dylan, who has been sharing headlining status with Nelson on this summer’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour, made a surprise return to the Farm Aid stage in 2023 at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana.

Joined by members of The Heartbreakers — whom he first performed with at Farm Aid in 1985 — Dylan walked onstage without any introduction, and played a short-but-intense set of “Maggie’s Farm,” “Positively 4th Street” and “Ballad of a Thin Man” against the stark backdrop of a silhouetted windmill.

His connection to Nelson, to Farm Aid and the cause he first highlighted at Live Aid 40 years ago remains unbroken.

Just about every major hard rock band of note — or at least a representative or two — made it to the stage on July 4 for what was billed as Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath‘s final-ever gig. The celebration of all things Ozzy at Villa Park in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England featured sets from Metallica, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Tool, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and many more, led by musical director Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

One conspicuous absence was Mötley Crüe. The veteran metal band that helped kickstart the hair metal revolution of the 1980s was nowhere to be found at the Back to the Beginning show earlier this month, and now Nikki Sixx is explaining why. When a fan wondered if “Motley Crue wasn’t invited to perform at Black Sabbath’s farewell?,” asking if Sixx “would have liked to have been there?,” the 66-year-old bassist gave a simple, if slightly vague answer.

“We have been having health issues within the band,” Sixx replied. At press time it was no known which member of the group is ailing and a spokesperson for the band had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional information.

Shortly after answering the fan’s question, Sixx — who had a near-death experience in 1987 after a night of drug-fueled partying with members of Guns N’ Roses and Ratt — posted a longer note about his own health. “As some of you know I take my health extremely serious. I work HARD and i’m not interested in dying from work and BS STRESS .I work up my blood twice a year and WE’RE focused on always evolving health my goal,” wrote the musician who recently celebrated 24 years of sobriety.

“Just got back today’s newest results and considering some misadventures in the past this 66 year old pirate ship looks ready to go back to sea,” the note continued. “I have a wonderful wife, 5 golden children and a beautiful granddaughter. Do you think any part of my past indulgences Is worth destroying the beautiful life I built? Never. This is it. Either get your shit tighter or die a slow death crawl.We all die, some just give up sooner….I’m planning on cracking 100. That will piss off the critics.”

In April, the band bowed out of their scheduled May 17 appearance at the Boardwalk Rock Festival in Ocean City, MD due to a medical issue affecting singer Vince Neil. A month earlier, they announced that their Las Vegas residency at the Dolby Live at Park MGM — originally scheduled for March 28-April 19, had been pushed back to September due to a “required medical procedure” Neil’s doctors had suggested.

“To all the Crüeheads who were looking forward to see us this Spring, I’m truly sorry. My health is my top priority so I can bring you the awesome shows you deserve, and I can’t wait to return to the stage,” Neil told fans at the time. “Thank you for all the well wishes that keep reaching me. Your support means more than you know.”

Check out the exchange about the Back to the Beginning show below.

Metallica have never taken kindly to people using their music in ways they don’t approve of. The latest example is the Pentagon, which was forced to delete and then repost a video featuring Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth boasting about the administration’s ramped up effort “unleashing American drone dominance” after the rock group objected to the unauthorized use of one of their biggest hits.

The original clip was cued to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” but according to Rolling Stone, the Department of Defense had to take it down after a copyright complaint from the group. The press secretary for the DoD confirmed the action on Friday to Military.com writer Konstantin Toropin on X, writing, “This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted on our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica. The video has been taken down, corrected and re-uploaded to our page.”

At press time spokespeople for Metallica and the DoD had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

The two-minute video filmed in front of the Pentagon found Fox News host Hegseth boasting of the Trump administration’s removal of “bureaucratic red tape” in the manufacturing of military drones as a buzzing quadcopter carrying a memo for him to sign hovered near his head. “Here’s the memo we’re signing today, delivered via drone,” he said as he signed the piece of paper. The second version of the video has no soundtrack.

Donald Trump has long used music at his rallies and events without the consent of the artists, with many speaking out it over the years. From his first run for the White House in 2015 through his current term, Trump has faced backlash from musicians who objected to him playing their songs at his events, including Adele, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, the estate of Isaac Hayes — which sued trump for using the late soul singer’s “Hold On, I’m Coming” at rallies — as well as the White Stripes’ Jack White, Neil Young, Prince, R.E.M., Rihanna, the Rolling Stones and many more.

Ed Sheeran has played gigs in the largest venues all over the world, collaborated with major pop and hip-hop stars (Justin Biebrer, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Stormzy) and had his songs streamed tens of billions of times.

But on Sunday night (July 13) during the final show of his three-night run at Suffolk’s Portman Road stadium — home of his beloved Ipswich Town FC football club — Sheeran truly took it back to the start when he shared the stage with the singer who made him want to do this all in the first place: James Blunt.

“I rarely get nervous at gigs, I do this so often. I’m very nervous to sing this, because I’ve never sung this with him and this really is a dream come true,” Sheeran told the crowd as he announced Blunt. The two then launched into a duet on Blunt’s sentimental 2004 hit “Goodbye My Lover,” with Blunt taking the lead on vocal and playing keyboards as Sheeran strummed an acoustic guitar. “I’m quite emotional after that actually. That is top three favorite moment on stage ever. Ever,” Sheeran said afterwards.

Sheeran has long spoken of the huge impact Blunt’s music had on his own desire to write and perform songs and in an accompanying note on the video he wrote, “I saw @jamesblunt when I was 13 opening for @eltonjohn at Portman Road. I bought his album that day, then got obsessed. My dad took me to Cambridge junction to see him months after, and he became my favourite singer songwriter. His songs moulded me, his performing inspired me. I wanted to be him.”

He added, “I wanted to be him so much that I signed to the same management as him. I wanted to be him so much I signed to the same record label as him. I sometimes have to remind myself how much he means and meant to me, because we’ve been mates for well over a decade now. I’m godfather to his son. He’s one of my close mates.”

Sheeran said that he sometimes forgets he was once a 13-year-old boy who got obsessed with Blunt, covered his songs at a school talent show, went to a number of the fellow singer-songwriter’s gigs and has transformed from being just a fan to a both a fan and a friend, which is “super weird” when he thinks about it.

“I asked him to do the final night at ipswich because of that gig 21 years ago where I saw him at the same venue,” Sheeran explained. “And I asked him to sing my favourite songs of his tonight, because he, and the song, mean so much to me. Thank you James for coming today. I know you finished your South American tour two days ago, and you should be resting, but you flew to ipswich to sing with me. And it meant the world.”

The “Bad Habits” ended his note with a reversal of the old saw about meeting your heroes. “Don’t meet your hero’s, unless your hero’s are James Blunt,” Sheeran wrote. “Love you mate.”

It was a magical weekend for Sheeran all around, as he also got to collaborate with another one of his formative influences, British boy band Westlife, who joined him on night one for a joint performance of their 1999 hit single “Flying Without Wings” during the run that included support from Myles Smith, Tori Kelly, Busted, Skye Newman, Dylan and Maisie Peters.

Check out footage of the performance and Sheeran’s note below.