Neil Young confirms Glastonbury performance after initial withdrawal

FOLK musician Neil Young has reversed his earlier decision to pull out of the Glastonbury music festival and will now headline the event, he announced alongside festival organisers on Friday.

Young had initially withdrawn from the festival, citing concerns over its "corporate control" through its association with the BBC. However, he later clarified that the decision was based on "an error in the information I received."

In a statement posted on his website, Young wrote, "Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!"

Festival organisers confirmed the news, stating that Young and his band, The Chrome Hearts, will headline the Pyramid stage during the June event.

Emily Eavis, co-organiser of Glastonbury, expressed excitement over the development on Instagram. "What a start to the year! Neil Young is an artist who's very close to our hearts at Glastonbury," she said. "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."

The 79-year-old musician, a former member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, had previously criticised the festival, saying the BBC "wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in." He described the event as "a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be."

Young last performed at Glastonbury in 2009. While the full line-up for this year's festival has not yet been revealed, British rock musician Rod Stewart has been confirmed for the Legends slot.

Tickets for the 2024 festival sold out within 35 minutes in November, with standard tickets priced at £373.50. Glastonbury attracts over 210,000 fans annually and features thousands of performances across 80 stages. Many of these are broadcast by the BBC, which has been a partner of the festival since 1997.

The festival, popularly known as Glasto, was inspired by Britain’s 1960s counterculture and began as the Pilton Festival in 1970. Its first headliner was T. Rex, and it has since hosted renowned artists, including David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Stormzy, and Elton John, who performed his final UK concert there in 2023.

(With inputs from AFP)