In a matter of a couple of days, musician Neil Young has changed his mind about being hired for the 2025 edition of the Glastonbury festival. First it was no, now it is yes.
Although the lineup had not yet been made public – as this veteran festival has the habit of doing so late, in spring, since it expects the majority of its audience to come regardless of the groups -, Neil Young revealed that during the negotiation upon his hiring, he himself decided to back out.
The reason, confusing and poorly explained, is that he had realized that the festival was “under the control” of the British public broadcaster, the BBC. In a message published on his website and which he has now deleted, he noted that he and his band, The Chrome Hearts, had been asked to “do a lot of things” in which they were not interested.
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my favorite outdoor concerts. “They told us that the BBC is now a partner of Glastonbury and they wanted us to do things that we were not interested in,” the artist revealed. Young indicated, in justifying his decision, that “it appears that Glastonbury is now under corporate control.”
However, the BBC has been collaborating with Glastonbury since 1997, providing the broadcast of some concerts. Already in his 2009 performance, Neil Young objected to the BBC broadcasting his entire concert, and only gave permission to broadcast five songs on public radio and television.
This Friday, Young described the decision not to play at Glastonbury as “an error in the information” he had received, according to a brief message published on their website. “I had decided not to play Glastonbury, a festival I have always adored. Happily, the festival is back on our itinerary and we are looking forward to playing,” he added.
With the phrase “we hope to see you there”, the Canadian artist unilaterally confirms his presence on the Glastonbury 2025 line-up, although the festival has not done so.
A similar change of mind was experienced regarding his decision to include or not include his repertoire on Spotify. After withdrawing his albums in 2022 due to the presence of a denialist podcast on the platform, all of his albums were available again despite the fact that The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is still there.
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