![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/EApqw2eYfpsqwnotRPhp97.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen Young nonchalantly wanders on, acoustic guitar in hand, and sits on a stool under a single white light, a cap obscuring his eyes, and plays a rather ramshackle version of Sugar Mountain<\/em>, it is pretty underwhelming. With the lasers, explosions, backing dancers and expensive stage sets we\u2019ve become accustomed to all weekend, you can\u2019t just have a 79-year-old man strumming a guitar as your headliner can you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, let this be a lesson to any aspiring artists out there, because it turns out that, if the songs are good enough, actually you can. Because, this evening, Neil Young is unfussy, understated, but truly captivating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As soon as his backing band The Chrome Hearts join him and we get the first chord of that iconic, crushing guitar tone, striking up Be the Rain<\/em>, this set of no frills, unrefined folk and rock feels like an antidote to the excesses of modern music. So much of Young set feels like discovering precious antique relics from a bygone era. They may not shine and sparkle like whatever flavour of the months does, but the charm, the heart and the allure of Cinnamon Girl<\/em>, Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)<\/em>, Harvest Moon<\/em>, Old Man<\/em> or Like a Hurricane<\/em> cannot be understated. These are classics, wonderful, influential, beautifully crafted songs. You might think you\u2019re cooler if you were raving to Von Dutch<\/em> on the Other Stage, but Neil Young\u2019s work has long since passed the test of time, and will doubtless still be there way after Charli XCX\u2019s crowd are settling into middle age. When he stands alone and delivers a spine tingling The Needle and the Damage Done<\/em>, it\u2019s so refreshing to experience music so pure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, at his age, Young isn\u2019t as spritely as he once was, and that marmite voice was never his strongest weapon even in his pomp. Still, with a top class band behind him, a guitar sound that the likes of Dinosaur Jnr\u2019s J Mascis and Melvins\u2019 Buzz Osbourne have spent a career trying to recreate, and a back catalogue of such immense quality, you\u2019d imagine none of the dedicated fans here regret their choice for the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He should probably have called it a day at the end of a predictably raucous and rapturously received Rocking in the Free World<\/em>, rather than stay in for one more and close with a slightly underwhelming Throw Your Hatred Down<\/em>. But we\u2019ll let that slide, because overall this is a fantastic celebration of a legendary artist surely playing his last Glastonbury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This festival is changing, but its hoary old rock and roll past certainly isn\u2019t going quietly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that Glastonbury has changed quite a bit. Change is no bad…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-musician"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/imageserver\/image\/%2F6c38350d-be14-4d8e-b886-5585f2f0c2d5.jpg?crop=5392%2C3033%2C0%2C280&resize=1200\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"It's](\"https:\/\/images.inkl.com\/s3\/article\/lead_image\/22188532\/PA-80831876.jpg?w=600\")
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