The stars who REFUSE to play Glastonbury: From the BBC’s ‘company management’, to rows over look charges and claims its ‘too woke’, how host of musicians are turning their backs on the world’s greatest pageant

Veteran rocker Neil Young made headlines this week after turning down Glastonbury Festival – branding it ‘under corporate control’.

While the official line-ups are yet to be announced, the 79-year-old and his new live band The Chrome Hearts were thought to be in the running for the 2025 installment of the musical mega-event which takes place at Worthy Farm in Somerset each year.

Young has not played the festival since he headlined the Pyramid Stage back in 2009 but was rumoured to be returning. 

He wrote in an open letter on the Neil Young Archives this week, according to Rolling Stone: ‘The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all time favorite outdoor gigs.

‘We were told the BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way that 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. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.’

But while playing Glastonbury is the highlight of many acts’ careers and a much sought-after booking for up-and-coming artists, not every act is quite so smitten with the festival. 

Read on for a round-up of performers who turned down the chance to play at Worthy Farm or declared for whatever reason that they weren’t coming back:

Queen

As British rock royalty, Queen might seem like a shoe-in for the Sunday Legends slot at Glastonbury Festival. 

Following the success of the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, featuring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, the band embarked on the five-year-long Rhapsody Tour, with American Idol star Adam Lambert standing in on vocals. 

But there is a major obstacle to Queen ever stepping foot onstage at Glastonbury – Worthy Farm-owner Michael Eavis’ stance on the culling of badgers. 

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, 77, is a passionate animal rights activist and has been involved in a longstanding war of words with Mr Eavis over the controversial issue. 

‘We won’t [play Glastonbury] and there are a lot of reasons for that,’ May told BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball back in 2019. 

‘One of them is that Michael Eavis has frequently insulted me, and I don’t particularly enjoy that. What bothers me more is that he’s in favour of the badger cull, which I regard as a tragedy and an unnecessary crime against wildlife.

‘There’s a little bit of a schism there, I wouldn’t do Glastonbury. Unless things changed radically.’

In 2018, according to NME, Eavis said the band were ‘not quite our thing’ and even claimed that Queen’s manager had sent him a ‘hand-written’ postcard in an attempt to secure a headline slot. 

However, he did acknowledge that his own stance on badger-culling ‘does have a bearing’ on Queen’s continuing absence from Glastonbury. 

Sir Brian, meanwhile, reiterated his stance in an 2023 interview with The Sun, saying: ‘As the man who runs it advocates killing badgers for no good reason and I could never level with that.

‘Have they tried to book us? I think the feeling is mutual so I think they understand how I feel.’ 

Neverthless, Sir Brian’s stance has had an influenced on other musical acts, including Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney. 

The Beatles star, 82, played the festival in 2022, making headlines as Glastonbury’s oldest ever solo headliner – but Sir Brian revealed on social media that Sir Paul had called him about the cull before accepting the festival gig.

He wrote on Instagram: ‘Paul was kind enough to phone me about this before he accepted the invitation.

‘He was concerned that he might be thought to be endorsing the current mass killing of badgers.

Oasis

Oasis are due to kick off their world tour right after Glastonbury Festival this year and the rumours are flying that they could headline.

Noel Gallagher caused controversy in 2008 when he said Jay-Z was the ‘wrong’ choice to headlining Glasto – with Jay-Z performing Gallagher’s hit ‘Wonderwall’ in response. 

The Manchester rock badboys played Glastonbury in an iconic performance in 1994 and again a decade later in 2004 – but in recent times Noel has had some less flattering things to say about the direction of the festival, branding it ‘woke’ and ‘preachy’. 

He told The Sun: ‘Don’t get me wrong, I f***ing love Glastonbury. I think it’s one of the most important things. In fact it’s probably the best f***ing thing about Britain apart from the Premier League.

‘It’s getting a bit woke now, that place, and a bit kind of preachy and a bit virtue-signalling. 

‘I don’t like it in music — little f***ing idiots waving flags around and making political statements and bands taking the stage and saying: “Hey guys, isn’t war terrible, yeah? Let’s all boo war. F**k the Tories man,” and all that.

Noel added: ‘I guess if you’re 18 and you’re middle class you might have a problem with it. But what’s all the kids in a field at Glastonbury going to do about it? 

‘Everybody knows what’s going on in the f***ing world, you’ve got a phone in your pocket that tells you anyway. What is the point of virtue-signalling?’

Manic Street Preachers 

The Manic Street Preachers played an iconic set in 1994 as a four-piece, before the disappearance of guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards – although the festival organisers were less pleased with bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire’s remark that property developers should ‘build a bypass over this s***hole.’ 

Things when even less well upon their return in 1999, when the band got embroiled in a debate about them having their own backstage toilets at Glastonbury.  

Signs on the toilets read: “These facilities are reserved exclusively for the Manic Street Preachers. Please respect that.” 

The sign drew the ire of veteran singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, who found himself in a spat with Manics bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire.  

In a letter sent to the Manics via the NME, Bragg said at the time: ‘Having to use the festival ‘facilities’ is an essential part of the Glastonbury experience. 

‘Everyone from [R.E.M. frontman] Michael Stipe on down has to use the Portaloo and legend has it that Farmer Eavis makes an egalitarian point of ensuring that the backstage toilets are the last call on the daily emptying round. 

‘Frankly, if you haven’t sat on the old thundermug at Glastonbury, then you haven’t really been to the festival.”

Wire swore never to return, but the band eventually relented, playing again in 2003 and several times since.  

The Rolling Stones 

The Rolling Stones did play Glastonbury Festival, headlining on the Pyramid stage on the Saturday night in 2013. 

The band played a two-hour set – but according to the Evening Standard, the band were locked in tense negotiations with BBC execs over precisely how much of the set could be televised in the hours running up to their actual performance.

A source close to the band told the Standard: ‘The band will decide how much will be shown tomorrow afternoon. 

‘They signed up to perform on stage — not to appear on a television programme. Glasto is not a TV show.”

The Stones believed their original fee only covered performing at the festival and did not extend to TV rights, overseas broadcast or repeats. 

The band eventually relented and let the BBC broadcast an hour of their show, but the dispute was an early echo of Neil Young’s more recent complaint that he was ‘told the BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury’. 

A spokesman for the BBC back in 2013 confirmed that talks with the Stones were taking place. He said: “The discussions with artists are absolutely business as usual. 

“Our conversations with the Rolling Stones have been extremely constructive and are ongoing.”

Duran Duran / The Black Keys 

Glastonbury is a huge cultural event, with 210,000 now able to attend each year since the capacity was increased.  

However,  Glstonbury organiser Emily Eavis told BBC 6 Music’s Matt Everitt in 2017 that big acts who appear on the Pryamid Stage get less than 10% of what they would be paid at other major festivals. 

These smaller pay packets, or of bands being offered a less-prized daytime slot, has not always gone down well with the artists. 

Duran Duran legend told The Telegraph in 2023 that the band were offered Glastonbury but in a slot that didn’t suit them. 

‘3pm in the Disco Tent isn’t really where we see ourselves. A long time ago I vowed I would never set foot in Glastonbury unless it was on the Pyramid Stage at a decent hour of the night,’ he said.

‘I’ve been asked to camp, to glamp and invited to fly in and out by helicopter. I’ve always refused on principle.’ 

Likewise American rockers the Black Keys have performed at Glastonbury before but have ruled out ever returning after receiving what they said was an ‘insulting’ offer.   

Speaking to NME in 2023, drummer Patrick Carney said: ‘We got an offer from Glastonbury that was so insulting, we’re never going to play the festival again.

‘We know it’s a big deal for people in the UK but the weight of what the festival is doesn’t translate to most Americans. We have no interest in playing it.’