It’s been confirmed that Neil Young’s Glastonbury set will not be shown at all on the BBC – and that this is very much Young’s decision.
“At the artist’s request, we won’t be live streaming Neil Young’s set,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement to The Telegraph. “Our plans, including those for our TV highlights shows and on-demand coverage, continue to be finalised right up to and during the festival.” Instead viewers will get Charli XCX’s Glastonbury set at the same time Young is headlining the Pyramid Stage.
Six months ago, the BBC’s participation in the festival looked briefly as if it might be a deal breaker in terms of Young’s appearance. At the time he said: “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. 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.”
A few days later he had changed his mind, saying that his original decision was “due to an error in the information received” and that “happily, the festival is back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing!”
Quite what Young has against the BBC remains unclear. But the last time he played Glastonbury in 2009 there were similar negotiations over how much and what part of his set could be broadcast. In the end only a few clips were ever broadcast and the corporation ended up putting out a statement explaining his absence from live broadcast: “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.”
“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.”
