Neil Young’s on-off relationship with the BBC and Glastonbury appears to have been resolved, for now, and the singer’s set will be shown live tonight on the national broadcaster.
Yesterday, the BBC said the iconic singer’s performance on the Pyramid Stage would not be available to watch at Young’s request, with the BBC planning to instead show Charli XCX’s performance from the Other Stage.
As of the past few minutes, this has been reversed.
“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,” said a spokeswoman. “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 finalised.”
Young’s relationship with Glastonbury and the BBC has been rocky for months.
Earlier this year, after he had been confirmed as headliner, he and his Chrome Hearts band initially said they were pulling out of the country’s biggest music fest because it was under the “corporate control” of the BBC. This was also reversed shortly afterwards.
Young’s will he-won’t is not the biggest controversy at this year’s Glastonbury, which is attended by more than 200,000 people and kicked off properly yesterday.
In a few hours’ time, controversial Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap will take to the West Holts Stage and the BBC is still not clarifying how it will go about covering the set.
One of the group’s members, Mo Chara, is currently bailed on a terror charge after displaying a flag at a London gig in support of Hezbollah – a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. This came a few months after counter-terrorism police said they were assessing videos of a bandmember allegedly telling fans at a gig: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
In a Guardian interview yesterday, the band said they were “in character” when displaying the flag. “S**t is thrown on stage all the time. If I’m supposed to know every f***ing thing that’s thrown on stage… I’d be in Mensa, Jesus Christ,” said Mo Chara, AKA Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh.
All eyes are trained on Kneecap and in what form they appear on the national broadcaster, which has said “our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines.”
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