Neil Young withdraws from Glastonbury 2025

Neil Young has decided to withdraw from Glastonbury 2025 due to “excessive interference” by the BBC. The festival will return to Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset from June 25 onwards, but so far no artists have been confirmed for the bill, apart from Rod Stewartwhich will play in the Sunday afternoon Legends slot. Various names were hypothesized for the composition of the cast and as possible headliners, among these there was also Young: the rock legend confirmed that he had provisionally agreed to be in the lineup and has now withdrawn, explaining why. On his website Neil Young Archives said: “Me and the Chrome Hearts were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my favorite outdoor concerts ever. We were told that the BBC is a partner of Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way that we weren’t interested in“. “Looks like Glastonbury is down now a company audit and it’s no longer as I remembered it,” he continued.

Glastonbury has not yet commented on Young e’s choice It is unclear what demands the BBC would have made of the singer-songwriter. Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the Glastonbury Festival (with founder and organizer Michael Eavis), expressed her enthusiasm for the consolidated collaboration in 2022, at the signing of the renewal of the contract between the BBC and the festival: “It’s a joy to have the BBC and its brilliant team broadcast live from Glastonbury for the first time since 2019, continuing a partnership that has lasted since 1997. I can’t wait for Worthy Farm to once again fill with thousands of people and for the million more to enjoy performances from our stellar line-up, courtesy of the BBC, wherever they are.” As recalled in this statement, the synergy has deep roots: Young’s denial must therefore be linked to specific requests. The rocker headlined the Pyramid Stage in 2009: The then-set ended memorably with an extended “Rockin’ In The Free World” and a cover of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life.”