Neil Young‘s flip-flopping with Glastonbury continued Saturday as the BBC announced the rocker’s headlining set tonight at the festival will in fact be live-streamed.
Earlier this week, the British broadcaster released its Glastonbury schedule, and Young’s set was noticeably absent; a spokesperson for the BBC confirmed that “at the artist’s request, we won’t be live streaming” Young and the Chrome Hearts’ Saturday set.
However, in the days since, Young apparently had a change of heart as the BBC revealed Saturday that his Pyramid Stage set will livestream after all. “We are delighted to confirm that Neil Young’s headline set from Glastonbury on Saturday will be broadcast live to audiences across the UK on the BBC,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement.
“It will be on iPlayer’s Pyramid Stage stream from 10pm, as well as BBC Two and Radio 2. Our on-demand plans continue to be finalized.”
(While Young has provided a detailed, frequently updated travelogue of his European tour on his Archives site, he has not yet commented on the BBC situation.)
Back in January, after Young was among the first artists named for the 2025 Glastonbury, he announced he was pulling out of his headlining gig due to the festival’s partnership with the BBC.
“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. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being,” Young said at the 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.”
However, days later, Young rejoined the festival, writing that he left “due to an error in the information received” and that “happily, the festival is back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing!”
Young last performed at Glastonbury on June 26, 2009, with the BBC only airing portions of his set. “The BBC has spent the last couple of months talking to Neil’s management about how much of his set we might be able to show on TV, radio and online over Glastonbury weekend,” they wrote in a statement to fans wondering why the whole thing wasn’t shown. “Neil Young’s career has been conducted on his own terms. Last night Neil’s management agreed to let TV and radio broadcast five songs as they watched and listened to his performance. They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist.”
