BST Hyde Park 2025: Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts kick start the 3rd weekend of British Summer Time Festival this year, with an older set of headliners (Neil Young, Stevie Wonder and a sadly cancelled Jeff Lyne ELO) compared to the rising stars of Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter and Noah Kahan. He is supported by other iconic acts such as Cat Stevens/Yussef and Van Morrison. The latter being a somewhat odd addition, given Morrison’s skepticism on the Covid-19 pandemic, and Young’s support for vaccines. Nevertheless, the top trio provide an excellent collection of singer-songwriter greats.

The rest of the bill is mainly populated with smaller acts earlier on in their careers, which is obviously great for getting them in front of a new, larger audience. However a lack of a sizable mid-tier name lower down the bill does make the day feel a bit too top heavy. As a result of this there is a large rush of attendees around the 4:30pm mark, just before Morrison plays. This does support the idea of this being less like a festival, and more of a Neil Young show with two strong support acts.

Van Morrison performs a nonchalant, but brilliant, set of classic songs. His band are sizable, almost E-street band numbers of on stage performers, masterfully bringing iconic Astral Weeks and Moondance songs to life. Despite his age, Morrison’s voice still sounds fantastic and his harmonies with his backing singer really add extra flair to the performance. It’s reassuring that his performance is great, because his crowd interaction was non-existent. Barely acknowledging the crowd, Morrison would prefer to just head straight into the next song. This personally isn’t a gripe of mine, as long as the performance is good - which it was. What was strange though was how he ended his set, closing on Gloria, which was one of the largest sing along’s of the entire day he simply departed the stage with no fanfare, letting his band continue to finish the rest of the set. He didn’t seem angry, and his band were unphased. Maybe he wanted to beat the tube rush hour.

Up next was Cat Stevens who has become a bit of a live rarity in recent times. I last saw him at Glastonbury 2023, and I was shocked to find out that this was only his second gig since then, the previous being a Palestine fundraiser. I was expecting the set to be similar to his Glastonbury show, but a fair few songs had been switched out. One addition was The Little Ones, which Stevens dedicated to the children of Palestine, a fitting tribute given the lyrical content which was written for the children killed in the Bosnian war. Stevens closed his set on a more rock inspired Peace Train than the one he typically plays. A joyous but also somewhat political set. It’s surprising Stevens doesn’t play more live shows when he and his band are this tight.

Closing the day was obviously Neil Young and his new touring band the chrome hearts. Neil seemed a lot more relaxed when he entered the Great Oak stage at Hyde Park, opening with On the Beach’s incredible closer Ambulance Blues. Just like many of his other shows on this run, he performed this acoustically on his own before the rest of the band appeared on stage. Unlike Glastonbury’s opener, Sugar Mountain, Neil was sounding a lot stronger here. This was further cemented when he brings the band on and immediately heads into Cowgirl in the Sand, which rips through the festival site. At almost 80 years old Neil continues to amaze with his guitar playing. The rest of the setlist remains somewhat static from similar nights, but about halfway through the set Neil heads over to the piano, something he has not done much of on this recent European stint. It feels like we’re in for a treat, and the first chords of After the Goldrush confirmed that we were. You could hear a pin drop as he played the iconic track, which is somewhat rare at large outdoor London concerts. After finishing the song he stepped up from the piano with a huge grin and two thumbs up to the crowd, he’s enjoying himself tonight. As the night drew to a close I began to check my watch for the time. Hyde Park has famously tight curfews and we’re approaching the cut off with no Rocking in the Free World in sight. I suspected the night was going to end on Mirrorball classic Throw Your Hatred Down, but Neil managed to squeeze in Free World after all. In an exercise that felt like he was pushing the venue to cut him off, and three false starts later, Neil was finally cut off at 10:34pm, with a huge smile on his face. You could tell he would have played for another hour if he could.