Neil Young Changes His Mind and declares he Will Play Glastonbury 2025
The ‘Heart of Gold’ singer has reversed his decision “due to an error in the information received” about Glastonbury’s corporate ties.
Image via neilyoungarchives.com
A few days after declaring he wouldn’t be playing Glastonbury 2025 because the festival had become a “corporate turn-off,” Neil Young has backtracked on his decision and revealed he will take to the stage in June.
Young will headline the Pyramid Stage, making him only the second act announced to perform at the festival so far, joining UK icon Rod Stewart who is booked to play the Sunday evening legend slot.
Before changing his mind, Young released this statement on his website Neil Young Archives on Tuesday, December 31: “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. 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.”
Less than a week later (Friday, January 3), Young came out with another statement reversing his original decision: “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!”
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Glastonbury Festival organiser Emily Eavis took to Instagram to confirm Neil Young will perform at Glasto 2025, writing, “What a start to the year! Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury. He does things his own way and that’s why we love him. We can’t wait to welcome him back here to headline the Pyramid in June.”
Young will perform at Glastonbury for the first time since 2009 when he also headlined the Pyramid Stage. Young and Stewart are the only two names announced for the lineup so far, with everyone from Fatboy Slim and Olivia Rodrigo to Sam Fender and The Libertines rumoured to be playing.
Keep up to date with all things Glastonbury 2025 here.
