Bruce Springsteen may be the Boss but he fouled up in Hyde Park.

It was a simple enough thing.  Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band (minus the late, much missed Clarence Clemens) were giving a concert Saturday night in Hyde Park.  Bruce and the band, along with his manager, assistants and everyone else was well aware that there is a 10:30 p.m. noise curfew in the park and he needed to wrap his show up by curfew time.  Although it was clear if he'd run five or ten minutes over, it wouldn't be a big deal.  But he certainly couldn't just go on playing until the park itself closes, at midnight.

So what does Bruce do?  He gives an outstanding show, as always.  Then he runs 30 full minutes beyond curfew, upsetting authorities.  At that point, rather than shutting down, he invites Sir Paul McCartney to the stage for an impromptu jam session.  A spectacular idea if they weren't already well past the established curfew.  Two songs later, the plugs on the amplifiers were pulled and the show ended abruptly.

No one is happy.  Sir Paul is silent, but Bruce and members of his band have made their displeasure known through Twitter.  The fans in attendance wanted the show to continue.  But noise complaints among those who live near the park are on the rise and have been for some time.  That's why the curfew is in effect.

So what's going to happen as a result of this?  Crowd size for future concerts will be reduced again.  And, the 13 event calendar for next year's concerts in the park series has been slashed from 13 to 9.  4 concerts that won't take place next year because those performing this show wouldn't follow the rules.

Now rules and rock don't normally go together well.  But when what you do has such a great impact on others, maybe Bruce and his band owed it to the rock fans of London to not force cancellation of four shows they could have gone to next year.

Or the London Mayer could have been there, and told the concert-goers, and the surrounding residents that he'd approved an exception to the rules for this event because the Boss is the Boss.  That would have been fine, particularly if advance notice had been given to those residents so they could lock their windows, or go away on that night if it meant that much to them.

This fiasco was avoidable.