With legends such as Neil Young, Cat Stevens and Van Morrison all playing on the same day, it’s difficult to say which should be headlining.
At any other event, each would deserve the top-billing. That’s the power of the BST Hyde Park line-up. It’s like a whole festival of headliners – in one day.
On Friday at BST Hyde Park, on possibly the hottest day of the year, Neil Young was chosen to conclude the day on an impressive bill at the mighty Oak stage.
But that doesn’t take away from the incredible line up this day offered in the sweltering city.
Van Morrison was on first and the Northern Irishman appeared in good spirits. Wearing an impressive fedora, he began with the classic song ‘Into the Mystic.’ A man of few words, he was clearly impressed with the size of the crowd for his late-afternoon set. Playing a mix of jazz tunes in amongst his classics, including ‘If I Ever Needed Someone’, made famous by Mavis Staples, of The Staple Singers.
As is now customary, Van finished with his 1964 classic ‘Gloria’, spelling out the name repeatedly with the crowd echoing in unison. With no drama, he disappeared from the stage silently, leaving his impressive band to continue. Many people wanted more, but the best was yet to come.
Yusuf (Cat Stevens) followed, and what a privilege to see him perform on the Oak Stage. In recent years, he’s performed at Glastonbury in their now regular Sunday ‘legends’ slot, and he did not disappoint here. Many fans were clearly here just to see Yusuf alone, despite the mighty Neil Young yet to appear.
Launching into ‘Tea for the Tillerman‘, with animation and words appearing on the backdrop of the stage, it’s incredible to think this tune was allowed to be used on Ricky Gervais’ hilarious Extras tv programme as a theme song.
Following this timeless classic, Yusuf played the beautiful ‘The Wind‘ – if only there was a stronger breeze in Hyde Park! Shortly after, he announced that the crowd should know the next tune – the classic ‘The First Cut is The Deepest‘ – arguably made more famous when covered by another legend at this years Glastonbury, Mr Rod Stewart.
The setlist just showed how many beautiful songs Yusuf has written over his career, with ‘Father and Son‘ bringing possibly the largest sing-along of the day with its timeless words
It’s not time to make a change, Just sit down, take it slowly
You’re still young, that’s your fault, There’s so much you have to go through
Find a girl, settle down, If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old but I am happy
He may now be older, but he did truly look happy up on stage.
In a moment on poignancy and reflecting in the 30 year anniversary of the dreadful Srebrenica Massacre, Yusuf played the incredibly moving song ‘Little Ones‘ he wrote. Hauntingly, he told the story of how young children were killed mercilessly, while still having smiles on their innocent faces. Despite the 30 year gap between Srebrenica and the Ukraine senseless killings, it made an impact on the huge crowd. Many in the crowd also voiced concerns about the slaughter of innocent civilians also taking place in Gaza.
On a more hopeful note, Yusuf cheekily said he would overrun slightly after asking the crowd if they wanted one song or two songs to be played. Of course the answer was two. After all, people had travelled far-and-wide to see his performance. He delighted with his classic ‘Wild World‘, before finishing with his magical timeless ‘Peace Train‘.
Not many people would dare follow such an incredible set. Arguably Yusuf / Cat Stevens could have been the headliner based on the size of the crowd and the vast amount of people singing along.
But arguably the best was saved for last – having seen the likes of other rock gods including Bruce Springsteen delight crowds at Hyde Park, Neil Young’s set was possibly the most impressive this stage has seen.
Despite the huge Oak Stage on offer, Neil Young condensed the stage down to somehow make it appear that he was playing a small gig at a local venue. The singer, bass and guitar mics were all positioned in close proximity, with the sound mixer moved extremely close – the backdrop echoed the sentiment of the times, with ‘Love Earth‘ emblazoned across.
It’s no wonder Neil Young is known as the Godfather of Grunge, as without this legend, it’s debatable whether we would have seen the likes of Nirvana. More on that a little later…
Beginning in his classic inimitable style, Neil Young emerged on the magically shrunken stage with a battered acoustic guitar and a harmonica and performed his classic ‘Ambulance Blues’.
After watching his headline performance on Saturday night at Glastonbury which felt a little flat, this was much more impressive, as clearly the crowd were full of fans who loved this man’s vast catalogue of work, unlike the huge Somerset festival which attracts audiences before the headliners are known.
He was clearly enjoying himself more here and that energy came across, particularly when Neil stated ‘Thank you, folks, I really appreciate you being here’
He demonstrated from one song to another all the different musical styles he has mastered. From the rocking ‘Be The Rain’ to the solo performance of ‘The Needle And The Damage Done‘.
There was some confusion when he began ‘Hey Hey, My My’ as it appeared the rest of the band thought he was going to play Like A Hurricane.
The line “it’s better to burn out than to fade away” was included in Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain‘s suicide note in 1994. After Cobain’s death, Young vowed never to perform the song again, but reversed his stance at the request of the surviving members of Nirvana. It’s great we are still able to hear it despite the tragic connotations.
As if planned (or by magic again), when the sun began to set, Neil Young played arguably his greatest, most beautiful classic ‘Harvest Moon‘.
After a short encore, he returned with his Chrome Hearts bandmates for his classic ‘Rocking In The Free World.’
Cheekily, his band conducted a few sneaky false-finishes and continued the song for over ten minutes. Each time they appeared to wind the track to a conclusion, they began playing in-earnest again, clearly showing how much fun and enjoyment they were all having. It appeared as if it was a jam session – rather than a concert in the city centre to 60,000 lucky fans.
Due to the prime city centre location, and strict 10.30pm curfew, as happened with Bruce Springsteen a few years earlier, the plug was pulled – no one was surprised as the band were teasing for this to happen.
We cannot wait to see what legends BST Hyde Park books for 2026.
Without doubt this was one of the best, most diverse set of artists this year to grace to various stages.
Words: Graham Tarrant & Samantha Middleton