Neil Young angry over British Summer Time festival announcement

Neil Young was left angry when the organisers of London’s British Summer Time festival announced his co-headlining show before all the details had been agreed.
At the end of November (18), it was confirmed that the veteran musician would be co-headlining the festival with Bob Dylan on 12 July (19) in Hyde Park. The news was not announced on his Neil Young Archives (NYA) website, and the singer has now apologised to its subscribers, explaining that he didn’t know the news was being made public.
“I had no idea the announcement was coming that day,” he wrote. “I was still finessing the art for the poster and trying to make sure that all of the details of the show were agreeable to me. Then, suddenly, someone jumped the gun. The tickets were put on sale and the announcement was made, all without my knowledge.
“We promised you that you would learn first at NYA about all of my activities and have first access to presale tickets. You didn’t. I was angry.”
That’s not Young’s only issue with the show – he has also learned it is sponsored by Barclaycard, a division of Barclays, which he calls “a fossil fuel entity”. As part of his post he shared the lyrics from his 1988 anti-corporate sponsorship song This Note’s For You alongside a picture of the company’s eagle logo dripping in oil and accompanied with the words “Barclays The Dirty Bank”.
“That doesn’t work for me. I believe in science,” he continued. “I worry about the climate crisis and am deeply concerned about its massive global ramifications and my beautiful grandchildren’s future…There’s no doubt about it. It’s been a massive f**k up!
“At the moment, we are trying to rectify the situation and will soon update you on the status of the Hyde Park show. We have been talking about requiring a different sponsor as one option. We are quite confident that nothing like this will ever happen again. We’re sorry for this situation – it is – and shall remain an anomaly.”
His manager Elliot Roberts wrote a separate apology “for this lapse” and assured subscribers it wouldn’t happen again.
Representatives for the festival have yet to respond to WENN’s request for comment.