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Twist, But Don't Shout: McCartney & Springsteen Have Plug Pulled In London

Paul McCartney, left, and Bruce Springsteen during Saturday's show in Hyde Park — before the plug was pulled. Frame grab from video posted by "BenR753" on YouTube.
YouTube.com
Paul McCartney, left, and Bruce Springsteen during Saturday's show in Hyde Park — before the plug was pulled. Frame grab from video posted by "BenR753" on YouTube.

Ooh. Imagine what might have happened if they'd been able to sing one more song. Or properly thank the crowd.

Someone's sleep might have been disturbed. Good heavens!

Saturday night in London's Hyde Park, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band — joined onstage by Paul McCartney — had gone about 30 minutes past the 10:30 p.m. curfew when they wound down a rendition of Twist and Shout. But before the Boss and the Beatle could say thank you to 80,000 or so people there, the plug was pulled on their mics. Organizers said they had to take action because of local restrictions designed to cut down on late-night noise.

"It made for a slightly bizarre, anti-climactic end to what had been a fantastic show," said Stephen Robb, a BBC reporter who was at the event.

E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt isn't happy. "When I'm jamming with McCartney don't bug me!" he tweeted. He had a couple other things to say that we can't repeat.

There are several videos taken from the crowd showing up on YouTube. "BenR753" has a 12-minute, 38-second long version that goes from I Saw Her Standing There to Twist and Shout. The Associated Press has picked up some of his video for this shorter clip that focuses on the anti-climatic ending.

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Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.