Neil Young backtracked on his takedown of ‘corporate’ Glastonbury – but he was right
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Before walking back the decision, the ‘Heart of Gold’ singer-songwriter said he was turning down a headline slot at the 2025 festival because it was under the ‘corporate control’ of the BBC. He wasn’t exactly wrong, writes Louis Chilton... but it’s complicated.
Neil Young has had it with the gold rush. The Canadian singer-songwriter, 79, had been strongly tipped to headline Glastonbury Festival this year, his first appearance since 2009. In a statement on his website this week, Young confirmed that the rumours were legit, before dashing fans’ hopes. “We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in,” he wrote. “It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”.
While the “Heart of Gold” musician didn’t specify what demands the BBC had made, many assumed the dispute had to do with televising Young’s set. (For his 2009 headline performance, Young negotiated an agreement whereby only five of his songs would be broadcast on TV, thus “retaining the mystery” of the live event. Other artists, such as David Bowie and Elvis Costello, had previously insisted on similar deals.) And then, just two days later, there was a reversal: Young released another statement, saying that there had been “an error in the information received”, and his 2025 Glastonbury performance is now set to go ahead. It’s welcome news for Young fans and festivalgoers at large. But the impact of the (admittedly vague) criticisms he made might not dissipate so quickly.
