Bruce Springsteen Gets Plug Pulled At Hard Rock Calling

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed live at London’s Hyde Park on Saturday (14th July) night and, after playing two songs with special guest Paul McCartney, the organisers of the event pulled the plug.

Having come onstage at around 7.30pm, The Boss performed a three hour plus set, which featured appearances from the likes of Tom Morello, John Fogerty and Macca himself. However, due to a clash with the impending 11pm curfew, officials were forced to cut Springsteen’s final song and crowd address.

It was only after the performed that E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt took to Twitter to voice his anger at the decision: ‘One of the great gigs ever in my opinion. But seriously, when did England become a police state?’

‘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? The cops got nothing more important to do? How about they go catch some criminals instead of fucking with 80,000 people having a good time?’

However, he assured followers that the band’s relationship with Hard Rock Calling was unaffected by the police decision: ‘Very proud of our association with Hard Rock Calling and Hard Rock in general and what they’re doing for Rock music. Hard Rock would have let us play all night. There’s no grudges to be held. Just feel bad for our great fans. Hard Rock is cool. Live Nation is cool. It’s some City Council stupid rule.’

An official statement has also now been released by the event’s promoters Live Nation, stating the decisions was made by authorities in ‘the interest of the public’s health and safety’.

‘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. Road closures around Hyde Park are put in place at specific times to make sure everyone can exit the area in safety.’

In other news, if you missed out and want to see what all the fuss was really about, you can watch a video of Springsteen et al performing ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Twist & Shout’ with McCartney below.