Neil Young's Hyde Park show dramatically cut off as bosses pull the plug
Music executives had no choice but to pull the plug on Neil Young's Hyde Park gig as he was rocking out beyond his allotted time. The star was scheduled to wrap up at 10.20pm on Friday night, in line with a strict 10.30pm curfew enforced in the Royal park.
However, the 79 year old was still belting out an extended rendition of Rockin' in the Free World at 10.32pm, prompting festival organisers to intervene. An insider revealed: "Neil and his band were having a great time and would have kept on going. There were at least three false endings to the song before festival bosses decided enough was enough. Neil and the band looked a bit puzzled when the power was cut but they are strict about these things - especially as it's a royal park."
Westminster Council enforces a 10.30pm finish as part of their licensing conditions. There were some jeers from the crowd near the front when it became apparent that the power had been switched off.
However, fans praised Friday night's performance, saying: "It was one of the all-time great BST shows. Neil completely rocked out the place."
Hyde Park has seen high-profile curfew breaches in the past - most notably Bruce Springsteen in 2012, reports the Mirror.
Sir Paul McCartney had joined Bruce and his E Street Band to perform Beatles classics I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout. But as they prepared to start another song, their power was abruptly cut by the then-promoters of the Hard Rock Calling festival.BST is managed by a different team.
Steve Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band, expressed his outrage at the "police state". Boris Johnson, who was Mayor of London at the time, described it as "an excessively efficacious decision".
Bruce Springsteen saw the humorous side during his 2023 return to Hyde Park. While performing 'Glory Days' to a crowd of 65,000, he joked: "It's time to go home. I'm telling you, they are going to pull the f***ing plug again."
The Mirror reported that to avoid breaching the 10.30pm curfew, Bruce's concert was scheduled to start at 7pm. The strategy by BST Hyde Park organisers was successful, with the concert concluding at 10pm.
Neil Young's performance at his BST show occurred just a fortnight after his headline act on Glastonbury's Pyramid stage.
BST Hyde Park review by Tom Bryant
It would take some effort to eclipse what was a magical show on Worthy Farm two weeks ago. But as the sun set on W2, Neil Young did just that with a spell-binding performance for the ages.
All the focus had been on Neil's Glastonbury show in the build up to his short European tour. Not least the controversy over whether he would allow the BBC to screen his Pyramid stage performance.
But here in Hyde Park it was all about the music - and the 79-year-old rocker delivered with aplomb. There was no scrimping on a hits-packed set list including Old Man, Harvest Moon and the Needle and the Damage Done.
There was even a rare outing for his 1970 hit After the Gold Rush which made its tour debut. Sat astride a piano, it was a moment of perfection and you could hear a pin drop in the hushed Royal park.
Otherwise, the godfather of grunge was at his rocking best, his band generating an inordinate amount of noise as they jammed away into the night with a thrilling encore of Rockin' in the Free World.
Until 10.32pm that is....
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