
Neil Young bans BBC from livestreaming his Glastonbury set
Neil Young will not allow the BBC to livestream his headline Glastonbury set this weekend, the corporation has confirmed.
The BBC will broadcast performances from across the five main stages as part of its coverage.
But when Young, 79, takes to the Pyramid stage with The Chrome Hearts on Saturday night, BBC viewers will instead be treated to Charli XCX performing on The Other Stage.
A BBC spokesperson said: 'On Saturday on BBC iPlayer, our Glastonbury Channel and five streams for the main stages will bring a range of live performances to audiences.
'At the artist's request, we won't be livestreaming Neil Young's set. Our plans, including those for our TV highlights shows and on-demand coverage, continue to be finalised right up to and during the festival.'
The announcement is the latest instalment in Young's row with the BBC over his Glastonbury set.
In January, the singer published an open letter on his website, announcing: 'The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favourite outdoor gigs. We were told that the BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way 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.'
Two days later he reversed the decision, saying: 'Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved.
'Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing!'
And this is not the first time he has balked at the idea of the BBC broadcasting his set. He last headlined the festival in 2009, when his management wanted to restrict the number of songs shown on television and online to preserve the 'mystery' of the event. In the end, five songs were aired.
Young is a favourite of Michael Eavis, the Glastonbury founder.
He was first booked to play the festival in 1997 but was forced to pull out after cutting his finger while making a ham sandwich.
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