Neil Young has pulled out of this year’s Glastonbury Festival, blaming the BBC’s “corporate control” for his decision.
The Canadian musician said he and his band, the Chrome Hearts, would not be performing at the famed U.K. music event in June, in a post on his website, the Neil Young Archives.
“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favourite outdoor gigs,” Young wrote. “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 … 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.”
Young hadn’t been officially announced as part of the festival lineup but has performed at Glastonbury in the past, headlining the Pyramid Stage alongside Bruce Springsteen and Blur in 2009.
Only portions of Young’s two-hour set were broadcast on the BBC at the time. In response to criticism at the time, the BBC said it had “spent the last couple of months” negotiating with Young’s management about how much of his set they could broadcast.
The BBC has been a partner of Glastonbury since 1997, when it took over broadcasting the festival from Channel 4.
Tickets to this year’s festival reportedly sold out in 32 minutes. Set for June 25-29, the festival’s full lineup is yet to be revealed. The only confirmed performer for the festival is Rod Stewart, who will play the coveted Glastonbury legends slot, having previously headlined the festival in 2002. Last year, Glastonbury was headlined by Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA.
Neither the BBC nor the Glastonbury Festival responded to a CBC News request for comment at the time of publication.
