Concert organizers pull plug on Springsteen and McCartney in middle of encore

[AverageJoe83]

In what may be the dumbest enforcement of curfew in rock and roll history, organizers of a Bruce Springsteen concert in London literally pulled the plug on the show during an encore featuring special guest Paul McCartney.

"I gotta tell you, I've been trying to do this for 50 years," Springsteen told the crowd of 76,000 while introducing McCartney. The pair--backed by the E Street Band and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello--launched into the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There."

But Springsteen had already exceeded the three-hour time limit set by London's Westminster Council for the Hyde Park concert, according to the BBC. The sound was cut off at approximately 10:40 p.m. local time as the Springsteen and McCartney performed "Twist and Shout."

"It made for a slightly bizarre, anti-climactic end to what had been a fantastic show," the BBC said. "The band obviously couldn't tell from on stage that the sound had been shut off."

During the band's second song with McCartney, "a drably dressed man with sensible hair could be seen waving frantically at the back of the stage, indicating the rock legends' time was drawing to a close," CNN reported. "The sound suddenly dampened, and went quiet. At first, the Boss didn't seem to notice. He attempted to address the crowd, apparently unaware that they couldn't hear him. But as it became clear that there was no amplification, he and lead guitarist Stevie Van Zandt played what looked to be a brief a cappella goodnight for the benefit of the front rows, shrugged, and left the stage."

After the show, Van Zandt slammed the decision.

"Seriously, when did England become a police state?" Van Zandt wrote on Twitter. "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?"

"Springsteen and McCartney," Richard James, a reporter for London's Metro, tweeted. "Only in Britain could a local council pull the plug on the greatest artists of the last 50 years giving it all."

"Ashamed to be British right now," Stephen Merchant, an actor and comedian, wrote.

On Sunday, the city council and concert organizers released separate statements, scrambling to deflect criticism.

"Concert organizers, not the council, ended last night's concert in Hyde Park to comply with their license," the city council said in a statement on Sunday. "Licenses are granted until certain times to protect residents in the area from noise late at night."

"It was unfortunate that the three hour plus performance by Bruce Springsteen was stopped right at the very end but the curfew is laid down by the authorities in the interest of the public's health and safety," the organizers said. "Road closures around Hard Park are put in place at specific times to make sure everyone can exit the area in a safety."

This is not the first time London's ridiculous curfews have hampered a major public event. Earlier this month at Wimbledon, an 11 p.m. curfew threatened to halt Andy Murray's quarterfinal match, but tournament officials allowed the match to spill a few minutes over.

After the match, Murray--who won--said: "I would have been happy to spot any fine the club may get as long as we could finish the match."

Springsteen, it seemed, was never given that option.

"It sounds to me like an excessively efficacious decision," London mayor Boris Johnson told a London radio station Sunday. "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!"

[cigcars]

Tsk tsk tsk

[CaptainQuintero]

Like the organisers of most concerts nowadays they are only interested in money and future money. If they cared about music and not any potential future issues because they went over their time slot they would have carried on.

Another side of the coin is why didn't they just get the license till midnight etc incase of emergencies/encores????

Crap organisers IMO

[ramon_cojones]

despicable

[Ken Gargett]

saw this in the guardian.

always remember talking to one of the guys from the early days of world series cricket when they faced a similar problem.

the first day/night game was heading to a fantastic conclusion but was clearly going to be 15-20 past the time permitted by council. and it was clear that if they did that, given some of the opposition to kerry packer and the entire concept, the entire thing could be in jeopardy. no more night cricket (seems odd now). they went nuts trying to find the right person to allow a few minutes extra but no one could and they could not get it extended.

packer's solution?

he just told his offsiders to run around and turn the ground clocks back 20 minutes. they did. matched finished "on time" and no one cared.

whoever made this stupid decision should be locked in a room and forced to listen to 6 weeks of whitney houston.

[louh]

Or a day of "Love Ballads" from the '80s...

[Ken Gargett]

Or a day of "Love Ballads" from the '80s...

in other words, spend a day with rob.

[Duane]

nah make them listen to our red headed leader bet they wont last the day out till they do themselves in.

[Puros Y Vino]

The plug was pulled 3+ hours too late IMO.

[canadianbeaver]

I have seen Bruce Springsteen twice. Even if you are not a big fan, the concert is a great show. And adding Paul McCartney? That would be history.

I felt the same way when I saw David Bowie.

[CanuckSARTech]

...I felt the same way when I saw David Bowie.

Hmmmm. Queen/"Under Pressure" days, or Ziggy Stardust days, or I'm Afraid of Americans days?

[canadianbeaver]

I saw David Bowie during the launch of "Modern Love"...

[Colt45]

Enough with the pissiness.

Take it somewhere else, and leave it somewhere else.

[Puros Y Vino]

Enough with the pissiness.

Take it somewhere else, and leave it somewhere else.

Oh come on. Seriously? That was all in good fun. It happens in the Shoutbox often with no hurt feelings. There have been far more overt transgressions in the past few weeks and this little "banter" gets erased?

[Colt45]

Oh come on. Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

It's the same type of crap that's been going on in some other discussions.

[CaptainQuintero]

What did I miss, I take the dog out and come back to a clean slate

[AverageJoe83]

Enough with the pissiness.

Take it somewhere else, and leave it somewhere else.

Seriously? I ask to keep politics out of it and you remove that?

Abuse of power IMHO.

[Puros Y Vino]

Yes, seriously.

It's the same type of crap that's been going on in some other discussions.

I disagree. It's not even close to the same kind of crap. Either way. It's done. FWIW I think those "trouble" threads have lead to over reactions. It's quite sad that despite the use of the "smilies" people cannot delve into the context of what's being posted.