Paul McCartney & Bruce Springsteen Concert Cut Short By Promoters

Few could imagine a dream match-up quite like the one that took place at Springsteen’s Hard Rock Calling performance last Saturday night when the Boss was joined onstage by Paul McCartney to close a three hour set. Now imagine the evil cahones it must take to pull the plug on that dream team?

That’s precisely what happened when the Boss and the Beatle’s set was cut short when organisers turned off their microphones, citing that they’d broken Hyde Park’s sound curfew.

NME reports that McCartney joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for performances of “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Twist And Shout”, the culmination of a nearly thirty-song strong set, lasting for just three hours when organisers cut short the encore. The music legends were trying to address the crowd when their mics were cut, making them inaudible much to the disbelief and anger of the crowd.

A spokesman for event organisers Live Nation described the curfew break as “unfortunate”, but stated “the curfew is laid down by the authorities in the interest of the public’s health and safety.” Apparently pulling the plug on a once-in-a-lifetime event was necessary, so that punters could get home safely, “road closures around Hyde Park are put in place at specific times to make sure everyone can exit the area in safety.”

Music fans weren’t the only ones upset by the set’s abrupt end, E-Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt took to twitter to vent his anger over the decision to kill the set’s epic finish.

One of the great gigs ever in my opinion. But seriously, when did England become a police state?

— Steven Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) July 15, 2012

Is there just too much fun in the world? We would have been off by 11 if we’d done one more. On a Saturday night! Who were we disturbing?

— Steven Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) July 15, 2012

English cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn’t want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!

— Steven Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) July 15, 2012

I’m sorry but I have to be honest I’m pissed. Like I said, it didn’t ruin the great night. But when I’m jamming with McCartney don’t bug me!

— Steven Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) July 15, 2012

The Herald Sun reports that London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson was in support of the music icons and that they should have been allowed to continue their performance, “it sounds to me like an excessively efficacious decision,” he told London radio. “You won’t get that during the Olympics. If they’d have called me, my answer would have been for them to jam in the name of the Lord!”

London’s Hyde Park has faced increasing complaints from neighbouring areas and local councils, causing friction between music lovers and the area’s wealthy residents. Local officials have even been forced to reduce the number of annual concerts from 13 to 9, while next year they’ll be reducing crowd limits from 80,000 to 65,000.

If one of the UK’s most iconic live music venues can’t face down the ‘fun police’ what hope does Australian councils have, including NSW Labor, who are planning to launch a new campaign to urge local councils to drop their “fun police” act and start supporting  live music venues, and this morning’s news that a local record store is facing “heavy-handed” tactics from local council (and one particularly draconian neighbour).

You can watch some rollicking fan footage of the Boss and the Beatle performing “When I Saw Her Standing There” & “Twist and Shout” below: