For many of us armchair fans of the Pilton Festival, popularly known as ‘Glastonbury’ to most folk on the grounds that the festival isn’t in Glastonbury, it will come as a disappointment to learn that Neil Young has pulled-out of this year’s event. Old Shakey, as he is sometimes known, says that “It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.” A friend of mine, who is a devoted aficionado of Neil, tells me that he reckons he has pulled out because the BBC, the corporate controllers, want to show the whole set but he doesn’t want them to. And there endeth the story and his fans will have to settle for seeing the great man on his European tour in person. Good for them, not so good for the rest of us, perhaps, but I’ll live.
I suppose instead we will have to put up with the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Rihanna, Eminem, Sam Fender and Ed Sheeran instead, which in my case, with the honorable exception of the hugely talented Mr Fender, will see me reaching for the off switch before you can say Ed Sheeran.
That the BBC does broadcast a substantial chunk of the annual festival is welcome given the paucity of music available on most TV channels, including, it must be said, the BBC. BBC 4 shows an admirable number of old shows, as does BBC 2 from time to time, but apart from that there’s not a lot. Take this Christmas – please.
It feels like the law that any music programme on the BBC must be hosted by former Squeeze keyboard man Jools Holland. His show Later … with Jools Holland has been running since 1992. While I found his shtick more than a little tiresome – does anyone really talk like that in real life? – no one on British television showcases new and unknown artists than he does, as well as finding time to feature ‘heritage’ artists, quite possibly to keep it interesting to different types of music fans who might prefer the familiar to the unfamiliar. Approximately six months later, we get Glastonbury, both live and highlights and in between there’s not a lot.
The Christmas offerings were a good example. Almost no music at all until New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s Day. Inevitably, Jools Holland’s achingly dull Hootenanny took pride of place on the BBC 2 schedules with everyone pretending it was going out live, as they always do. The guestlist was near uniformly grim and predictable with Ruby Turner, Paul Carrack, Roger Taylor (the Queen drummer, not the former tennis player, unfortunately) and worst of all the Boomtown Rats, whose lead vocalist Bob Geldof proved yet again that he can’t really sing and never could. Rat Trap hopefully reminded everyone why the band has not had a top ten record since 1979. (Rat Trap was actually 1978.) I said near uniformly grim but in a nod to modernity, the show did at least include the excellent Jungle and CMAT. Thank God for the fast forward button, I say.
Following Holland’s show, it was time for highlights from Glastonbury 2024, if you call Coldplay a highlight of anything. Don’t get me wrong: I like and admire Chris Martin but to my delicate ears, Coldplay are not a highlight of anything. This, I suspect, was all about TV ratings. Shame.
The rest of the TV companies didn’t bother at all, although BBC 1 did feature Robbie Williams who belted out his hit Rock DJ, studiously avoiding the high notes, for the benefit, he said insultingly, for the Heart, Capital and Greatest Hits radio brigade. For those of us who look at him as a modestly talented cheeky-chappie who used to be in Take That, disappointment does not come close to how we felt. I want more music on telly, not less, but if it’s music like we were offered on New Year’s Eve, I’d best stick to the radio. But back to Neil Young.
The BBC Glastonbury coverage, which is usually excellent, has changed things a bit. A lot, actually, and generally for the better. Neil is certainly not the first artist to have insisted that his full set not be broadcast live. We’ve had shortened and truncated sets before, which can be frustrating. For people like me, who have no interest in camping under the Somerset stars or stars anywhere for that matter, and see no attraction in standing at the back of 100,000 people swaying, waving flags, carrying people on their shoulders; from several miles away, it’s a God send. I’d like to see Neil on telly because, frankly, he is absolutely Great, with a capital G. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen now. For three days in June, there will be at least some music on telly.
The BBC in particular used to be so good at this. All right, Top of the Pops may have had its day, although wouldn’t it possible to at least have a weekly show playing the latest hits so old codgers like me might have the faintest idea what’s in the charts these days? I might even like some of the songs. And what about The Old Grey Whistle Test, which ran from 1971 to 1988, a show that shaped forever my music taste (or lack of it, you might say)? There were usually clips of singers and bands playing, a studio guest and some interviews. The latter show turned me from a music fan to a music obsessive, which has been an unqualified good thing. Moreover, it wouldn’t require Jools Holland to host it. As Todd Rundgren might have put it. We need something/anything.
I still hope against hope that Neil Young and the BBC can come to some kind of agreement. It would do many of us the world of good to see and hear one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time play live to those of us in our living rooms, many of whom will be far bigger fans of his, I dare say, than many of those gathering in Pilton. I would see it was one of the BBC’s main reasons for existing: public service broadcasting. This won’t be corporatism in the sense of selling products, apart that is from the catalogues of those playing at the festival.
I am pretty sure that Glastonbury is not “under corporate control”, as Neil suggests, but he’s right that it’s “not the way (he remembers it) being” because that’s the same with most things in life, as well as music.
I feel strongly that we need more music on TV, not less, and it will be both our loss and frankly his if Neil doesn’t change his mind. It would be a great opportunity for as many people as possible to see a genuine legend. If not now, when? He’s 80 this year.
More music and definitely more Shakey. And to the BBC powers-that-be, why not give Jools a bit of time off? He probably deserves it. We certainly do.
