Confusion has arisen over who pulled the plug on Bruce Springsteen 'Hard Rock Calling' performance on Saturday night. Springsteen played a three hour set that threatened to break the curfew and his final performance - for which he was joined onstage by Paul Mccartney, was cut short, making for an anti-climactic end to the show. Many had assumed that the decision had been made by local authorities but Westminster Council are insisting that the event organisers pulled the plug, Bbc News reported yesterday (July 15, 2012).
A spokesperson for the council said "Concert organisers, not the council, ended last night's concert in Hyde Park to comply with their licence." The plug was pulled whilst Sir Paul McCartney joined The Boss onstage for a rendition of The Beatles' 'I Saw Her Standing There' and 'Twist and Shout.' Steven Van Zandt, Springsteen's guitarist, expressed outrage at the turn of events and implied in his Twitter messages that it had been the police that pulled the plug on the performance. "When did England become a police state?" he wrote and added "English cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn't want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul MCCartney!"
The license for the event had reportedly only been granted until 22:30pm and this was over-run by the lengthy performance, leading event organisers to put a hasty end to Springsteen's flow. An estimated crowd of 65,000 had been at the event to watch Springsteen, who performed hits such as 'Born in the Usa' and 'Because The Night.'