In possibly one of the swiftest backtracks in music history, Neil Young – the “Godfather of Grunge” – has reconfirmed his headline slot at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. The 79-year-old Canadian rock icon, alongside his band The Chrome Hearts, will return to the Pyramid Stage, undoing an announcement he made just days earlier about pulling out. “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved,” Young wrote on his website. “Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!”
The announcement capped off the whirlwind of speculation brought about by Young’s initial statement at the beginning of the week. He cited the longstanding relationship between the festival and the BBC as a “corporate turn off,” expressing his belief that the festival had strayed from its ethos. “It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
Young has a long history with the festival, he was first set to headline in 1997 but pulled out after cutting his finger while making a ham sandwich. Twelve years later in 2009, when he did finally headline the Pyramid stage, the BBC broadcast only five songs from his two-hour performance. This was a decision made by Young’s management to preserve what they felt was “the mystery of the live event.”
The BBC has been partnered with the festival since 1997. Broadcasting house has not commented on the matter, only stating that “there’s always great excitement about Glastonbury’s bookings,” and confirmed that broadcast plans would be shared as the lineup developed.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the festival and daughter of its founder Michael Eavis, confirmed the news that Young would definitely be participating. “Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury,” she said on Instagram. “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.”
This year’s appearance comes at a particularly fruitful time for Young and his band The Chrome Hearts. The band is working on a new album, tentatively titled Talking to the Trees, produced by Lou Adler. The record follows a two-year stretch during which Young struggled to write music. Young recently reflected on The Mentors Radio podcast: “You don’t have a plan,” he said. “I went for two years without writing anything, and I was wondering, ‘Well, is that it?’ Who knows? I can’t tell.”
Young’s volte-face is a reminder of his status as both an uncompromising artist and a participant in a music world increasingly dominated by corporate forces. His earlier critique of Glastonbury’s corporate ties was a flash of the advocate in Young, the iconoclast who has spent decades railing against what he sees as the commodification of music – he has withdrawn his music from Spotify more than once over quality concerns and the prevalence of misinformation on podcasts on the platform – yet, his return to the festival also signals a recognition of its unique role as a cultural phenomenon.
In the end, Young’s ability to embrace both independence and legacy may be why he remains, at nearly 80, one of the most vital artists on the planet. His Glastonbury set promises to be an event steeped in his own passionate history. After all, as Young once wrote, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
