Live Nation, the company behind the Hard Rock Calling and Wireless festivals, will no longer stage its events in Hyde Park after a series of run-ins with the local council and residents during the past year, reports The Guardian.
According to the paper Live Nation, which also staged Bruce Springsteen‘s gig in the London park last July, has decided to withdraw from the venue and has written a formal letter of complaint to the Royal Parks Agency, in which the terms of a new five-year contract between the two entities are said to have been described as ‘flawed’.
The conflict between Live Nation, the surrounding London neighbourhood, and the council first came to a head in February this year, when complaints over noise and disruption were lodged, with Mike Dunn, vice-chairman of the Mayfair Residents Group, commenting that: “There are two issues for us – the number of concerts and noise they’re allowed to make. If you sit here with the windows open on a hot day, you can hear every word.”
A tentative agreement was made soon after which enabled this summer’s Hyde Park schedule to go ahead as planned, though restrictions on both the volume and noise levels of gigs in the future were placed on Live Nation, with threats of further restrictions if the new agreements were not adhered to.
Despite this truce, the highly strung atmosphere created by months of debate and compromise infamously led to Bruce Springsteen’s headline concert in Hyde Park last summer being cut short just before its intended conclusion, after The Boss had run well over curfew.