Noise Nannies Pull Plug On Springsteen And McCartney
(Apologies for occupying your attention with this news, which is neither gay-related nor Earth-shattering. But the gall! The gall of it!)
Bruce Springsteen headlined the second evening of the Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park last night, in front 60,000 typically enthused fans. He hit the stage at 7:30 p.m., did his usual superhuman three-hour sweatathon -- and then, as a finale, brought out Paul McCartney. CNN reports that this was the first time the men had shared a stage; a collaboration, Springsteen said, he'd dreamt of "for 50 years." Bruce grinned. Paul grinned. They did "I Saw Her Standing There" and a rave-up on "Twist And Shout," which was just building towards some ungodly convulsive denouement when --
-- the power was cut. From CNN:
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.
The plug had been pulled by the event's organizers. Hard Rock, it turns out, mustn't call past 10:30 p.m., at least in swank Westminster, where residents have for years complained of noise during the park's summer concert series. Out of concern for residents' ears, the number of concerts held in the park each summer has been trimmed from 13 to nine, and concerts are scheduled to end at 10:30 p.m. They didn't pull the plug on Springsteen and McCartney until 10:40 p.m. I'm assuming that's because McCartney's been knighted.
Hard Rock Calling concludes tomorrow evening with a set by Paul Simon.
Bottom line: people who moved into that nieghborhood knew about the concerts. They shouldn't have the right to then go all NIMBY on them and try to cap those concerts at their knees.
Too many other people enjoy them.
How much harder now will it be to attract talent when an artist knows the plug can be pulled right out from under him.
Posted by: Ryan | Jul 15, 2012 4:13:06 PM
Hyde Park is... a park. In London, just off Park Lane, and is served by 2 or 3 tube (subway) lines and 6 bus lines. So us poors have lots and lots of ways to get there.
There have been special event concerts in HP since at least the 1960's (the Rolling Stones in 1969 was, I think, the biggest) but the concert promoters haven't been doing a regular season in the park for all that long. It's 9 concerts a summer. That end at 10 pm. The promoters know it. The concert acts know it. It's all part of the contracts they sign.
Springsteen & co. went 40 minutes over and expected no repercussions, and when there were they blamed (and criticized) everyone else except themselves.
How does that not represent an unattractive sense of entitlement?
Posted by: Elsewhere | Jul 15, 2012 4:34:46 PM
Letting this garbage go on till 10:30 was bad enough. Why disturb people's life with this noise that late especially when they knew of the curfew ?
Posted by: Kevin thor | Jul 15, 2012 6:16:51 PM
Reminds me of Mardi Gras in New Orleans... at midnight on Fat Tuesday IT IS OVER!!! Police and street sweepers come through the city. "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here..."
Posted by: Chris | Jul 15, 2012 6:42:05 PM
Sorry, but not everybody wants to have to hear noise after 10:30pm. Not everybody likes the same type of music and some people like quiet at night. If these spoiled performers don't following the rules, they need to play indoor arenas or start their shows earlier.
And for the person who said Vadge is doing a concert there and was wondering if her power will be cut, the answer is absolutely. She's nobody special. If Paul McCartney (who's from England) got the power cut, has-been Vadge definitely will. So if she's smart she won't pull that diva shyt and will peform on schedule. Otherwise her fans will get screwed with only half a show and people will be demanding a refund.
Posted by: Rules are Rules | Jul 16, 2012 1:45:00 AM
Such a crack-up reading about that awful rocker and that long hair McCartney on tho thread. "Those kids and that rock music!!!!"
Posted by: Mike | Jul 16, 2012 4:51:18 AM
The places London, NYC, even where I live Boston, many clubs, bars and venues for music, festivals, walks or runs for this or that, even political demonstrations, are also residential areas. The people who live in these neighborhoods of course have a right to keep the noise, activity, at a reasonable level, especially in the evening and over-night. The only way to avoid this is put all the bars, clubs, festivals, demonstrations, etc. in an industrial district, a financial district that usually empties out at the end of a work day [which is one reason why many bars and clubs are located in financial districts] or out the less populated and more spacious suburbs. Now everybody knows suburbs are NIMBY central, not gonna happen. But ironically, many of the people who complain about early closing of various venues themselves live in these NIMBY suburbs, but have the attitude they're entitled to cut loose in town and behave in ways they wouldn't where they live.
The venue managers and promoters knew damn well what the rules were. This manufactured outrage just gives them publicity and a little street cred.
Posted by: ratbastard | Jul 16, 2012 9:08:07 AM