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Neil Young U-turns on Glastonbury drop-out after being confirmed as festival headliner

You turn your back for one second as suddenly you're topping the bill on the Pyramid.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 3rd January 2025

Barely a beat or two after having seemingly dropped out of the festival, Neil Young has now U-turned on Glastonbury 2025 and now looks set to be headlining it.

The legendary musician called out the world-renowned music festival for being under “corporate” control at the whim of the BBC (its official media and broadcasting partner for nearly 30 years) and said he would no longer be playing his slot.

Young went so far as to call it a “corporate turn-off”, claiming the event is “not how I remember it” in a message on his website.

However, just a few days after posting the news, it now appears as though the Canadian singer-songwriter will still be playing Glastonbury – and not just as one of the multiple legends lined up for 2025 either, but as a headliner.

Neil Young is now seemingly headlining Glastonbury 2025. (Credit: Screenshot via Neil Young Archives)

As you can see in the update shared on Friday, 3 January, the 79-year-old now claims there was an “error” in the information he received regarding his performance at the festival.

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Having now cleared up whatever confusion occurred, he and his band the Chrome Hearts will in fact be playing the festival as planned, reiterating his long-lasting love for the festival.

Quite a far cry from the sentiment he seemed to be getting across in his previous post, but make of that what you will.

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Furthermore, chief organiser Emily Eavis – whose parents Michael and Jean Eavis set up the first ever Glastonbury music festival back in 1970 – not only hopped on social media to confirm that ‘Shakey’ will be performing but that he will be headline the main Pyramid Stage.

“Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury”, she wrote, adding: “He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.”

So has he been given a slot upgrade of sorts or what? It still remains a little unclear.

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At present, Rod Stewart is set to play the iconic and outright ‘Legends’ slot during Sunday teatime this June. We likely won’t hear much else about the rest of the lineup until sometime in spring.

This, of course, isn’t the first time Neil Young has done a 180 following a well-publicised decision in protest against a big media company.

The music veteran famously removed all of his discography from Spotify for two years before it eventually reappeared back in March 2024.

As for whatever happened between him and the festival or whether this was some gamesmanship from the influential music icon, at the end of the day, he’s heading to Worthy Farm after all.

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Featured Images — Per Ole Hagen/Rachel D/Ross Belot (via Flickr)

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Neil Young pulls out of ‘corporate controlled’ Glastonbury Festival

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neil Young drops out of Glastonbury Festival 2025 legend slot

Music icon Neil Young has pulled out of Glastonbury Festival 2025 after claiming it has lost its identity and is now under “corporate” control.

The 79-year-old singer-songwriter, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential to have ever lived, was due to play the festival as one of the legends named on this year’s lineup.

However, despite lots of excitement around the veteran being given the nod over others from what has largely been seen as a pop-leaning pool (at least according to the detractors) in recent years, Young has now decided to drop out of the festival.

Sharing a short but open letter on his personal website, the highly-revered lyricist, vocalist and guitar player explained his reasoning for he and his band U-turning on the gig, claiming it is now a “turn-off”.

Neil Young’s latest ‘NYA Times Contrarian’ post explains the decision to drop out of Glastonbury.
Neil Young in 2023
Credit: Screenshot (via Neil Young website)/Per Ole Hagen (via Flickr)

“The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs”, it reads. “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.”

For context, the BBC has been partnered with Glasto since way back in 1997 and Neil Young has already headlined the festival back in 2009, so this shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise.

“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to us the last time!”, he continues. “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.”

The message concludes with him hoping to catch fans at other venues and a simple “LOVE Neil – Be well”, but the tenor of the somewhat abrupt update is that the ever-opinionated and long-celebrated protest song-writer clearly believes the BBC‘s influence over the festival has now grown too strong.

Known not only as ‘Shakey’ and the ‘Godfather of Grunge’ but as one of the pioneering anti-establishment figures of a generation, the Canadian was previously in the headlines for demanding Spotify remove his music after taking issue with Joe Rogan’s anti-vax messaging on his show.

Young’s music ultimately returned to Spotify in March 2024 after the two-year boycott but Rogan’s podcast has remained on there throughout, though some episodes were ultimately edited and/or removed entirely.

All that to say, the solo artist co-founding member of supergroup, Buffalo Springfield, is no stranger to taking on big business and companies if he feels he has good reason. Meanwhile, Rod Stewart will be performing in the coveted ‘Legends’ headliner slot at teatime on Sunday, 29 June.

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts are looking set for a European tour this summer but if he’s taking on corporations and concerts under umbrella control, it seems unlikely we’ll see him at too many festivals or the likes of Co-op Live.

The better question is: do you agree – has Glastonbury Festival become too corporate and sanitised, or do you think it still upholds the same core values it had when it first popped up on Worthy Farm in 1970?

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Ross Belot (via Flickr)/The Manc Group

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Popular Manchester city centre club forced to close on New Year’s Eve due to flooding

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Joshua Brooks in Manchester city centre had to call off its New Year’s Eve party early because of flooding. Credit: The Manc Group

The heavy rain that hit Manchester on New Year’s Eve has caused flooding across the region, including the city centre.

One city centre venue had to close early on one of the biggest nights out of the year as water rushed into its basement.

In a statement shared today, Joshua Brooks shared that it had to close its New Year’s Eve party prematurely ‘to ensure everyone’s wellbeing’.

The popular city centre club had moved revellers upstairs to its clubhouse, rather than its basement, but ultimately feared the ‘unknowns regarding electrical safety’ and shut down early.

Luckily, party-goers were able to ring in the new year before the venue shut at around 2am.

Joshua Brooks shared: “Unfortunately, in the early hours of New Year’s Eve, we had to make the difficult decision to close the club prematurely due to unexpected flooding in our basement. The heavy rainfall in the Pennine mountains caused the River Medlock and several tributaries to overflow, impacting multiple venues along the riverbank, including ours.

“Our top priorities are always the safety of our ravers and the preservation of our equipment. As water levels continued to rise, we considered moving the party to the clubhouse upstairs. However, there were too many unknowns regarding electrical safety, so we ultimately decided to shut down the event around 2 AM, just under two hours before the end of the night, to ensure everyone’s well-being.

“We understand the inconvenience and disappointment this has caused you and sincerely apologise for disrupting your New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“Our warm-up DJs were absolutely smashing it, and Alan Fitzpatrick was playing great until the moment we had to close.

“While this type of incident is rare and hasn’t happened in years, there is always a risk due to our location. We want to assure you that we are taking this matter seriously and exploring all options to minimise the chances of this happening again.

“Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”

Luckily, Joshua Brooks hasn’t been left with any lasting damage to its main bar area, and is set to go ahead with its New Year’s Day party this evening.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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