Willie Nelson is bringing one of American music’s longest-running benefit traditions to Virginia Beach. Farm Aid 2026 takes over Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater on Saturday, September 26, with Nelson & Family leading an all-day bill built around music, food and support for family farmers.
The lineup includes Farm Aid board artists Willie Nelson & Family, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff, along with Turnpike Troubadours, Lukas Nelson, Ty Myers, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, Jesse Welles, Sierra Ferrell, Mon Rovîa, I’m With Her, Amythyst Kiah, Lily Meola, Chris Pierce and the Wisdom Indian Dancers.
Farm Aid Comes to Virginia Beach for the First Time
Farm Aid says this is the festival’s first stop in Virginia Beach and its fourth festival in the Commonwealth. Previous Virginia editions were held in 1999, 2000 and 2014 in Bristow.
The event is much more than a concert. Farm Aid combines performances with HOMEGROWN food, farmer briefings, agricultural experiences and advocacy around the economic pressures facing family farms. The organization says that since 1985 it has raised more than $90 million to support programs that help family farmers remain on the land, strengthen local food systems and expand access to family-farm food.
A Heavyweight Lineup With a Virginia Connection
For Virginia music fans, the pairing of Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews on the same bill makes the day a major regional event. The festival also places Virginia and Hampton Roads inside Farm Aid’s larger story about food, farming and community.
What Fans Need to Know
Farm Aid lists doors at noon, with music beginning shortly afterward and continuing until approximately 11 p.m. Organizers have also announced live broadcast and streaming coverage through CNN, SiriusXM, nugs and FarmAid.org for fans who cannot attend in person.
A free Farm Aid Family Reunion event is scheduled for Friday, September 25 from 6–11 p.m. at Neptune’s Park during the Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend.
Amplifier Take: Farm Aid’s first Virginia Beach edition is one of Hampton Roads’ biggest music events of the fall because it combines an unusually deep artist lineup with a mission that reaches beyond the stage. At 93, Willie Nelson remains not only a touring headliner but the center of a music institution he helped create more than four decades ago.