Glastonbury 2025: Neil Young omitted from BBC’s coverage guide
The BBC has failed to mention Neil Young in their coverage guide to the Glastonbury Festival, despite the singer-songwriter set to headline the Pyramid Stage on June 28th.
Young is set to make his return to Glastonbury for the first time since 2009 with his new band, The Chrome Hearts. Notably, when Young last played at Worthy Farm, he only allowed the BBC to broadcast a handful of songs from his set rather than show his whole performance on television.
Now, the BBC has published a lengthy guide to their coverage of Glastonbury, and Young’s name is not mentioned once. The article states they will be showing “some of the anticipated sets from the likes of The 1975, Rod Stewart, Olivia Rodrigo, Raye, Charli XCX and many more”, naming every other Pyramid Stage headliner apart from Young.
Young’s set clashes with Charli XCX, who is headlining The Other Stage, and the BBC will seemingly be broadcasting her set live instead, writing, they are “live at Worthy Farm on iPlayer and BBC One from 10.30pm as Charli xcx returns to headline the Other Stage in one of the most hyped sets of the weekend”.
The BBC’s schedule also lists Raye in their coverage, who is due to perform on the Pyramid Stage before Young’s set.
In a statement to Far Out, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “We aim to bring audiences as many performances as possible from the Pyramid Stage, and our schedules and plans continue to be finalised, right up to and during the festival.”
The saga comes after Young wrote on his website on January 1st, Neil Young Archives, that he wouldn’t play at the festival due to its relationship with the broadcaster.
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs,” he began. Young added: “We were told the BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot for things we were not interested in.”
He also wrote: “It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. 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.”
However, in a turn of events, two days later, Young backtracked and confirmed he would play Worthy Farm, writing, “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.”
Upon Young self-confirming his appearance, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said the Canadian” does things his own way and that’s why we love him”, before adding that she “can’t wait to welcome him back to headline the Pyramid in June”.
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