Gig Review: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Hard Rock Calling, Hyde Park ✭✭✭✭✭

Bruce Springsteen

& The E Street Band

Hard Rock Calling

Hyde Park

Saturday 14th July 2012: With 76,000 people waiting for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band to come on stage, they finally ventured out 30 minutes later than scheduled. The sun was shining for once, and Thunder Road was the opening number.

Badlands was next up, with the band in dazzling form, the brass section, guitars, everything was sounding incredible. Working his way through a 3 hour plus set, Bruce had a few special guests join him on stage. Tom Morello joined in for Death To My Hometown and John Fogerty came in on The Promised Land.

It was an exceptional set, very few breaks, the music just kept on going.
I was stood around the middle of the park, near the first set of delay stacks, and at times the sound was a bit quiet, I had trouble hearing Bruce talking in between a few numbers, but this didn't spoil my enjoyment, and neither did the rain that was lashing down throughout the night in the mud bath of Hyde Park.

Towards the end of the show, Born In The USA, Born To Run, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark which are immense crowd pleasers, seemed to have topped off an exceptional night... or so I thought.
Sir Paul McCartney was waiting in the wings to join in with I Saw Her Standing There, and finishing off the night with Twist and Shout, along with a smal fireworks display.

Now here was the most ridiculous thing I've seen (and not heard) at a gig... some bright spark decided to pull the plug on the sound at the end of Twist and Shout because of a 'curfew', which resulted in 76k people watching the band on stage and not hearing a thing!
We missed the final 8 bars of the song, all the thank you's from Bruce, Sir Paul, the band (they didn't realise the sound had been cut). A very odd end to a spectacular show.

Now the point of pulling out the sound - I believe was that as it is a residential area, a 10.30pm curfew had been put in place, and due to 'Health & Safety' and 'roads being closed' to get audience members out safely, an early finish had to be adhered to.
But by not letting the final 3 minutes of the show be heard was just damn right appalling. You have two of the biggest names in music on one of the biggest stages this summer in London, and you cut the sound. What a complete and utter shambles!

5 out of 5 stars for Bruce, the band and guests ✭✭✭✭✭

0 out of 5 stars for whoever was responsible for the end of the show and cutting the sound!


Bruce Springsteen on MUZU.TV.