Neil Young Pulls Out Of 2025 Glastonbury Festival
Neil Young has announced that he has decided to pull out of the 2025 Glastonbury Festival as he feels it has become “a corporate turn-off”.
The legendary UK festival returns to Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset from 25 June this year, but no acts have been confirmed for the line-up so far – apart from Rod Stewart, who will play the Sunday afternoon Legends Slot. However, Nile Rodgers & Chic did self-confirm their return to the festival this summer.
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A number of high-profile names have been speculated upon as possible headliners, with Young among them, and now it appears that the rock legend has confirmed that he had provisionally agreed to be on the bill, only to later change his mind.
Writing on his website Neil Young Archives on Tuesday (31 December), he said: “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,” he continued. “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.”
At the time of writing, Glastonbury have not commented on Young’s comments, and it is unclear what requests the BBC had made to Young.
Young headlined the Pyramid Stage in 2009, after being scheduled to do so 12 years earlier, only to be forced to pull out through injury. The 2009 set memorably ended with an extended version of one of his most iconic songs Rockin’ In The Free World and a cover of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life.
Other rumoured headliners for the 2025 Glastonbury Festival include Olivia Rodrigo, Sam Fender, The 1975, Taylor Swift and Stevie Wonder.
Elsewhere, Rod Stewart was confirmed for the Legends Slot in November. “I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ll be playing @glastonbury 2025!” he wrote. “After all these years, I’m proud and ready and more than able to take the stage again to pleasure and titillate my friends at Glastonbury in June. I’ll see you there!”
2024’s festival saw Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA headlining, with other acclaimed sets from the likes of Shania Twain, Little Simz, Fontaines D.C. and IDLES.
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