LiveNation explains that Springsteen axe was for public safety

LiveNation has offered an explanation for why the Springsteen gig was cut short:

"It was unfortunate that the three hour plus performance by Bruce Springsteen was stopped right at the very end but the curfew is laid down by the authorities in the interest of the public's health and safety. Road closures around Hyde Park are put in place at specific times to make sure everyone can exit the area in safety."

You've got to love the "three hour plus" bit there - you can almost hear the sighing of "how much more did you want?" - but the suggestion that letting them get to the end of Twist And Shout would have meant the road safety measures would have been torn down seems a little unlikely.

Presumably the real reason would have been fines from Westminster City Council?

London shows why it's the perfect place to hold the Olympics

Obviously, there has to be some sort of compromise with gigs and noise levels. But pulling the plug on a McCartney/Springsteen hook-up in Hyde Park when it appeared to only have a minute or two left to run seems a bit extreme.

Still, the 'London pulls power on gig' cock-up story will help take some of the attention off the 'London security shambles' story for a while.

Yes, rules are rules, even for people who've sold a lot of records, but surely, if you don't feel you can let an event run past its scheduled end, you don't invite Bruce Springsteen? The man's live music overruns so badly he can't parp his car horn without it turning into a forty-minute jam.

The world could have been waking up to positive stories about the astonishing collaboration in Hyde Park last night; instead it's more knocking copy. Well done, everybody. Well done.

There's some universal sign language for that...

Neil Finn had to backtrack quickly during Crowded House's set at Hyde Park Calling.

He harangued a bloke he saw on the corner of the stage:

"Where has your friend gone? Are you here as a decoy to make sure no one storms the stage, because you have done it already?"

That doesn't even remotely make sense anyway. But to make it worse, he was actually slagging off the man with the thankless task of translating Crowded House lyrics into sign language.

Oops.

To be fair, when he realised what he'd done, he did apologise. Apparently he was short tempered after having to throw out a load of bloody labradors some idiot had allowed in backstage.