Springsteen silenced for breaking curfew

Concert organisers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney after the pair defied the sound curfew at Hyde Park in London, silencing their microphones at the tail end of the show.

Springsteen had already exceeded the 10.30pm curfew by half an hour on Saturday night when he welcomed McCartney on stage and the pair sang the Beatles hits “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Twist and Shout.”

But the microphones were turned off before they could thank the crowd, forcing them to leave the stage in silence.

A statement from concert organiser Live Nation said it was unfortunate that Springsteen’s performance was stopped “right at the very end”, but the curfew had been laid down by the authorities “in the interest of the public’s health and safety”.

Concerts in Hyde Park have increasingly caused friction between fans and the local area’s residents.

Officials have decided that as of next year, the number of concerts will be slashed from 13 to nine. They also plan to reduce crowd limits from 80,000 to 65,000.

Steven Van Zandt, who plays guitar in Springsteen’s E-Street Band, criticised Saturday’s decision.

“English cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn’t want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!” he tweeted.

London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, yesterday said: “It sounds to me like an excessively efficacious decision. 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!”