Neil Young will no longer offer Platinum tickets to his concerts after being inspired by The Cure’s Robert Smith. The ‘Heart of Gold’ hitmaker agrees with his peer that the extremely high-priced premium tickets introduced by Ticketmaster – adjusted based on demand – to give fans access to the best seats in the house without having to go through secondary resale sites are not fair on gig-goers, so from now on, he will not put Platinum tickets up for sale.
Writing on his Neil Young Archives site, he said: “My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. They have tried to protect me and the fans from scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits.”
Neil continued: “Ticketmaster’s high priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right. Very soon, Platinum tickets will no longer be available for my shows. I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.”
Robert had told The Times last year: “I thought, ‘We don’t need to make all this money.’ You don’t want to charge as much as the market will let you. If people save on the tickets, they buy beer or merch. There is goodwill, they will come back next time. It is a self-fulfilling good vibe, and I don’t understand why more people don’t do it.”
The UK government previously announced that it was investigating Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, which caused uproar among those trying to bag tickets to Oasis’ reunion tour. The European Commission launched an “urgent review” into the platform’s ability to raise prices of concert tickets based on demand in light of the inflated prices for the Britpop legend’s highly anticipated ‘Oasis Live ’25 Tour’. The US-owned company was warned it could have breached UK and European laws over the inflated prices.
Back in January, Neil announced that he would now be playing the Glastonbury Festival, citing “an error in the information I received” as the reason for initially declining the offer. He had previously turned it down, believing it was “under corporate control” of the BBC.
The 79-year-old Old singer and his live band, The Chrome Hearts, were reportedly set to perform at the 2025 festival on Worthy Farm in Somerset, sparking speculation about the event’s headliners. Young, who last played on the Pyramid Stage 16 years ago, originally shared on New Year’s Day that he had chosen not to return, explaining his decision on his website.
In a statement on Neil Young Archives, he wrote: “We were told the BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot for things 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.” The Harvest Moon musician signed off the statement with his name and added, “Be well”. It was unclear what the BBC wanted them to do. A few days later, Neil returned to his website to confirm he actually will be playing at Glastonbury and clarified there was ‘an error in the information received’.
A statement was Neil Young’s website posted on Friday, which said: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury Festival, which I always have loved. Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing. Hope to see you there.”
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