November 28, 2012 18:01

Paul McCartney recalls 'jobsworth' who pulled plug on him and Bruce Springsteen

But the Beatles star can laugh about the controversial incident at Hard Rock Calling

Photo Gallery: Paul McCartney
Photo: Pa Photos

Paul McCartney has recalled the moment when a "bloody jobsworth" pulled the plug on him and Bruce Springsteen this year.

The Boss' show at Hard Rock Calling in London's Hyde Park caused international outrage when McCartney's guest spot at the end of the show was cut short after the show overran its curfew. The incident has been cited by many as a contributory factor in Livenation quitting the historic site.

Now, in an exclusive interview with NME, McCartney has given his own version of events. He remembered: "Bruce, sort of, got in touch and said, 'do you wanna get up? We'd like you to get up'. I said, 'well, I don't know, I'll just come along to the show', so we’re in the side of the show in the wings, and he says 'are you gonna get up, man?', I said 'I don't know, maybe'. Then his roadie says 'I've got a bass for you, I've got a guitar, It's all tuned, it's ready to go' I go 'oh, you’re REALLY ready!'

"So they're all really ready to go, so, what have they rehearsed? He said 'Twist And Shout', and 'I Saw Her Standing There’. So at last minute, I sort of have to say, ‘yeah, I’ll do it, so I go on, and it’s great – they really have rehearsed it, and I’m the only one who sort of doesn’t know it, even though I wrote the bloody thing."

However, the thrill of the crowd soon took a turn when it turned out that the lengthy show had violated the strict curfews imposed under Livenation's licensing agreement with Westminister Council.

He continued: "So then they go to 'Twist And Shout', and I'm singing it, and someone had whispered 'we haven’t got any time, we can’t do it', but it was such a nice, yeah Bruce is going 'yeah come on, man' and Bruce is you know, he’s a do-er, a go-getter, so I was happy. ‘Yeah!’ We’re rocking away, all our monitors stayed on, so we weren’t really aware that the plug had been pulled on the audience, that you see on the youtube later, it’s all gone dead."

"And he’s singing, he’s gonna then go back and sing ‘Good Night Irene’, which I think was all dead, but we had a laugh again. You’ve gotta’ have a laugh, it would just be so terrifying if you didn’t so we just had a laugh afterwards, I was just apologetic like ‘I’m sorry, man, only in Britain!’. It’s the only place… you can’t imagine in New York somewhere like that, them pulling the plug, and it got everyone of course, so that was the big story. Everyone in America was going to me 'is it true, man? They pulled the plug on you and Springsteen?!' I'm saying ‘yeah, well, you know, just some guy: some bloody jobsworth!"

Macca is reportedly working on a new album, the follow-up to this years' collection of covers 'Kisses On The Bottom'. Producer Ethan Johns recently told NME that he had been in the studio with him, along with Mark Ronson. Adele producer Paul Epworth is also reported to be working on the record.

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