Photo Credit: Neil Young by Andy Roo (6tee-zeven) / CC by 2.0
Neil Young and his band The Chrome Hearts have pulled out of this year’s Glastonbury festival, with the rock legend calling it a ‘corporate turn-off.’
Neil Young announced in a statement posted to his official website that he and his band The Chrome Hearts will not be appearing at this year’s Glastonbury music festival. The rock legend said the decision came due to requests made by the festival’s corporate partner, British broadcaster the BBC.
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favorite outdoor gigs,” wrote Young. “We were told the 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.”
“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,” he concluded, thanking his supporters for seeing him play the festival back in 2009. Young also teased his upcoming tour this year, adding, “Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”
Even with that, Young didn’t elaborate on the specifics as to what the festival organizers allegedly wanted him and his band to do that led to him cancelling. Organizers for Glastonbury and the BBC did not respond to media requests for comment.
Glastonbury is one of the UK’s largest music festivals, and the 2025 edition will take place from June 25-29. The full lineup has yet to be announced, but Rod Stewart was announced in November as a returning performer for the first time since 2002.
Besides his status as a prolific performer, Neil Young made waves in 2022 when he removed his music from Spotify to protest the then-exclusive arrival of Joe Rogan’s podcast. Since then, he eventually backed down and his music reappeared on the streaming platform last March.