Springsteen was rounding off his headline slot at the rock-infused festival over the weekend, and after some awe-inspiring collaborations with Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello and John Fogerty, fans were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime performance which saw Springsteen and his band joined by Beatles star Paul McCartney. But, just two songs into their jam, organisers shut down the party and turned off the mics - much to the crowd’s (and Springsteen guitarist Steven Van Zandt’s) disappointement.
But now, Latham has issued an e-mail defending their decision to shut it down, and explained that it was the council rather than Live Nation who were at fault.
“For the last 12 months we have been fighting the good fight with the Local Authority and their licensing teams to retain the ability to stage concerts in Hyde Park. The current licences were granted on very strict noise restrictions, traffic plans and curfews with the “sword of Damocles” hanging over any future events if we broke any of the conditions. Suffice to say the residents of Park Lane and Mayfair may not be numerous but they wield inordinate power over the Gogs and Magogs of City Hall and Parliament.
“Having done many Bruce shows over the years we were very careful to schedule the day to give him 3 hours and 30 minutes to run at which would normally be sufficient but a combination of Bruce coming on 20 minutes late, the crazy British weather that fluctuated from pleasant July sunshine to biblical downpours, and the fact that Bruce and Co. were so into the gig meant we knew the curfew was going to run perilously close. Throw in the curveball of his Maccaness rocking up at the last minute and we had a musical cocktail for the ages but a nightmare curfew scenario.
“We were assured that they were going to only do a couple of numbers so we could turn a blind eye to a 10 minute over-run and risk the wrath of our naysayers but then the couple of numbers happened to be Beatles medleys and when Bruce went to change guitars to start again I’m afraid the power had to come off on music history in the hope that we will be allowed to create more in the future.”
He added finally: “Suffice to say we were most concerned that Bruce and Co. would have been discommoded by our actions but they were unanimous in their opinion that it had been one of their greatest gigs for many a year and being thrown off the stage added legend to the myth.
One for the ages indeed!”
What do you think of the decision and Latham’s explanation? Let us know in the comments section below.
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