Glastonbury headliner Neil Young may not be included in the BBC’s coverage of the festival.
After the iconic Canadian musician expressed his disapproval over the BBC’s involvement in Glastonbury, it’s still unclear how much, if any, of Neil Young’s headline performance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage will be broadcast. Neil Young will perform with his band The Chrome Hearts on Saturday, 28 June, but his set has been excluded from BBC’s schedule for that day.
The singer’s issues with the BBC go back years. The last time he played Glastonbury, in 2009, Young and his team only allowed 5 songs to be broadcast. According to Mark Cooper, former executive producer of the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage, this decision was made to ensure the exclusivity of a live show. He says: “They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist.”
“You probably won’t find too many Neil Young performances available freely on TV or online. He generally prefers the audience to find his albums.”
In December of last year, Neil Young pulled out of 2025’s Glastonbury festival after learning about the extent of the BBC’s involvement. He said in a now-deleted post to his website: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs. 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.”
“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to see us the last time!”
“We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”
However, Neil Young reversed this decision shortly after, posting to his website: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury Festival, which I always have loved.
“Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing. Hope to see you there!”
Neil Young recently kicked off his ‘Love Earth’ world tour with The Chrome Hearts in Rättvik, Sweden, last Wednesday (18 June), and will wrap up in Los Angeles on 15 September. As well as this, he’ll play at London’s Hyde Park on 11 July.
You can find your tickets to his Hyde Park show here.
