Neil Young has said that he has decided to pull out of Glastonbury 2025 as he feels it has become “a corporate turn-off”.
The festival returns to Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset from June 25 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.
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 (December 31), he has said: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite 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.”
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Glastonbury have not yet commented on Young’s comments, and it is not clear 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 ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ and a cover of The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’.
Elsewhere, 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!”
The only other artist that seems to be a lock so far is Nile Rodgers, who accidentally confirmed that he and Chic would be playing during an acceptance speech at the Rolling Stone Awards in November.
Tickets for Glastonbury 2025 sold out in November in just 32 minutes, with the festival making use of a new queuing system for tickets.
For those unable to secure tickets this week, re-sale tickets are usually made available in the spring. However, these tend to sell out quickly, too, with coach and ticket re-sale bundles selling out in just 18 minutes and general re-sale tickets selling out in 22 minutes this year.
2024’s festival saw Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA headlining, with other memorable sets from the likes of Shania Twain, Little Simz, Fontaines D.C. and IDLES.