Springsteen, McCartney silenced by London curfew

Sir Paul Mccartney and Bruce Springsteen performing at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park, July 14, 2012. / Giovanni Canitano/Rex Features via AP Images

(AP) LONDON - Concert organizers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney after the pair defied the sound curfew at London's Hyde Park.

McCartney joined Springsteen at the end of the singer's headline gig Saturday night, but both stars had their microphones silenced before they could address the crowds.

Springsteen had already exceeded the 10:30 p.m. curfew by half an hour when he welcomed McCartney on stage and the pair sang the Beatles hits "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Twist and Shout." But neither performer had the chance to thank the crowd, leaving the stage in silence.

Steven Van Zandt, who plays guitar in Springsteen's E-Street Band, criticized the decision as heavy-handed.

"On a Saturday night! Who were we disturbing?" he said on Twitter.

[nomorelibs]

The is the law. We all agree. The sad part is, it was 10:30, not 2:30, on a Saturday night. How ridiculous. I'm not a concert goer, but gimme a break. Live a little people. Close your windows and turn on you TV. For those bashing the UK, this could have happended anywhere. Lord knows we have a ton of people like that in this country.

[BothPartiesBite]

Springsteen's music has always been disturbing at any time of the day. I see from the picture he still looks like he sounds, as if he is trying to pass a turb shaped like a fence post. Boss my backside.

[magnumdr]

Children!, It is time for you to go to bed now!

[ganguandaland]

Don't you think that with Sir Paul on stage they would have known when to call it a knight.

[KPeters_from_UK]

by Molly-Pchr July 15, 2012 4:59 PM EDT
Bravo, London!! At least they care for their citizens' quality of life in some places.



Molly,
Ever lived in London? Ever been around the neighborhoods of London? The jets fly down LOW until 11 or slightly after. The cabs honk their horns. The traffic still moves. The drunks pour out of the pubs after 11pm and then the night clubs empty during all of the morning hours. The area of London is loud. The only place that is quite is the old City of London which is the banking district which shuts down at 7 and empties out by 8. No one lives in the City. London is loud.

[KPeters_from_UK]

Believe me, the Brits are completely mortified that this happened. The concerts was held hostage by the TOP 1%. The residents near Hyde Park are extremely wealthy people and I sure that a few of them would have freaked by curfew being delayed by 10 minutes and would later force their influence and refuse the organizers to hold any concerts for next year. Curfew at 10:30? What pansies.

[KPeters_from_UK]

CBS is wrong about the time. The organizers pulled the plug exactly at 10:30 without mentioning anything to Bruce or Paul. In the British press the Westminster Council (the local Government officials) are passing the blame to the organizers. Boris Johnson the mayor has been quoted that he would have left the two play longer. It was the organizers' fear that certain wealthy residents would prevent them from staging any more concerts in the future.

[KPeters_from_UK]

London's mayor, Boris Johnson, criticised "an excessively efficacious decision", saying the band should have been allowed to "jam in the name of the Lord".

[bobnjersey]

[Concert organizers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney after the pair defied the sound curfew at London's Hyde Park.]
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actually ... the plug was pulled on the 80,000 or so attendees to the concert in hyde park ... all to satisfy the complaints of a hundred or so.

if the complainers had their way ... there wouldn't be any concerts in the park at all.

it is a city after all ... and it is a 'public' park ... meant to be utilized by the broader population ... for many different things.

should it be a small number of people that cry the loudest that define what limits are placed on everyone else?

[SirPaulForever]

The law is the law and even Sir Paul and Bruce have to uphold it...I personally would definitely not want to hear Springsteen screaming and screeching late at night if I lived in the area, Sir Paul is another matter entirely......

[Scimajor]

What is it about people and music? Some people assume that everyone else should have no choice but to listen to their music. I like music but I don't like being forced to listen to music simply due to the lack of common courtesy of someone else.

Personally, I think Springsteen and Sir Paul were being total inconsiderate *****.

[Scimajor]

LOL, you have to love CBSnews.com . They auto censor the other name for a donkey yet elsewhere at cbsnews.com the editors happily post gruesome pictures from Syria. Pretty twisted logic CBS.

[erasmus111]

The other name for a donkey is "ass", is it not? Ass is not censored anymore.

[krisd999-2009]

In America you can't even have a beer withou showing your Un-EXPIRED papers..then you are driven like cattle on the sidewalk at 2am, then you are chased with loudspeakers to get moving..then the crowds have no choice but to go to their cars and drive drunk..or you have no place to go pee, so if you go behind a tree you get arrested for that too...but lets sing like the brainwashed slaves we are.."Land of the free.."

[AnnieDanny]

ahem... this concert was in the U.K. (It's not one of the American states...) :)