Bargain BST tickets will be honoured

AEG live has confirmed that customers who secured £2.50 'friends and family' tickets British Summer Time festival after a hidden link went viral will be allowed access to the event - despite paying only a fraction of usual £50+ price point. 

A spokesman for AXS told the International Business Times that anyone with a £2.50 ticket will get access to the festival. 

AXS TV to screen British Summer Time

AXS TV, the US TV channel owned AEG, talent agency CAA, Ryan Seacrest and Mark Cuban's HDNet, will broadcast coverage of AEG’s British Summer Time concerts that take place in London's Hyde Park next month. The Barclaycard-sponsored event includes various concerts between 5-14 July, with Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Lionel Richie and Jennifer Lopez all set to play. AXS TV's broadcasts will air on American cable networks on 13 and 14 July.

Treemendous new stage in Hyde Park

The Evening Standard has reported on AEG Live’s new vision for Hyde Park’s summer concerts which will feature an organic food village and an eco-friendly stage made out of living trees. The new operators, who have a five year contract to present events, are investing £3 million in “bespoke” facilities to improve the venue and will build “a great oak stage” to fit in better with the Park. Concert goers will be able to book “treehouse” viewing platforms. Jim King, AEG’s event director, also promised movie-style scenery sets and stalls serving “hand-picked” food and “lots of local produce”. “We want everything to be unique and bespoke and don’t want you to have seen this anywhere else before” telling the Evening Standard. “You will still be able to get a burger — but it’ll be the most amazing, organic one you can get in London.” AEG was awarded a five-year Hyde Park contract by the Royal Parks Agency a month ago. The Agency has agreed to slash the number of concerts next year to six, over the last weekend in June and first weekend in July. AEG will also provide a free “village green” area for those who want to use the park but do not want to buy a ticket to a concert.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/hyde-park-concerts-to-get-treemendous-new-stage-8389668.html

AEG take on Hyde Park

AEG Live has announced a new deal with the Royal Parks to stage six events in London's Hyde Park each year, including a new festival,  all starting next year. AEG  replaces Live Nation who pulled out from the bidding process, with COO John Probyn highlighting curfew and noise issues, high costs and difficulties in working with the Royal Parks. AEG Europe boss Jay Marciano told reporters: "AEG Live is proud to be partnering with the Royal Parks in the creation of an exceptional and ground-breaking new summer festival for London. Utilising AEG's global resources and expertise in delivering similar landmark music festivals, such as the annual Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in California, this event shall set a new standard for the enjoyment of live music at this iconic location". 

AEG has also announced the appointment of Jeremy King as their new Director of Communications for The O2 in London, 

Live Nation to quit Hyde Park

Live Nation has confirmed that it will not re-bid for the rights to stage festivals and concerts in London's Hyde Park, claiming licensing restrictions put in place in recent years have hindered the company's efforts to stage events there, and that the tender process put in place by the Royal Parks Agency for a new five-year contract to use the park for live events is "flawed".

The move would put an end to the Wireless and Hard Rock Calling festivals in the Park, as well as Live Nation's series of major summer concert events. The number of events in the Park is being reduced by The Royal Parks and Live Nation faced criticism after brining in tonnes of woodchip to counter flooding during the  awful English summer. Much criticised noise limits and a strict curfew were also put in place to appease local residents resulting in the plug being pulled on an overrunning Bruce Springsteen this summer.

Live Nation COO John Probyn confirmed that LN would  not promote in Hyde Park and told Access All Areas “Royal Parks has ignored everything else and gone for the money and we’re really good at walking away when something makes no sense” adding “Hyde Park is the most expensive venue in the country and the stakeholders just don’t want events in there. I’ve kept saying that it’s a fantastic site, and in its heyday it was, but for the last four years it’s been a nightmare. When you’re constantly looking to cut spend and make money elsewhere, the buck always has to stop with the ticket buyer," he said. "We have no desire to be involved with a loss-leading project, or to work with someone who doesn’t understand what we’re doing. Other venues that don’t have the same approach or the same noise restrictions are courting us now, which is nice after 15 years of battling with local residents and the Royal Parks."

http://www.accessaa.co.uk/news/live-nation-coo-slams-royal-parks/

Live Nation to quit the park?

Live Nation has reportedly said that it will not re-bid for the rights to stage festivals and concerts in London's Hyde Park, claiming licensing restrictions put in place in recent years have hindered the company's efforts to stage events there, and that the tender process put in place by the Royal Parks Agency for a new five-year contract to use the park for live events is "flawed". The move would put an end to the Wireless and Hard Rock Calling festivals as well as Live Nation's series of major summer concert events.

Hyde Park 'eyesore' to be cleared up by Live Nation

Parts of Hyde Park in London remain an 'eyesore' after the series of outdoor concerts this summer - with a large area still covered by 8,000 cubic metres of wood chip, brought in by promoters Live Nation do deal with the excessively wet British summer. Only one event was cancelled, the now rescheduled Hit Factory Live event, and concerts by Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna and Blur all went ahead along with over ten other events based around the London 2012 Olympics. 

Whilst Live Nation will begin restoring the park in the spring, within a time frame agreed with the Royal Parks, the Times called the Park a 'royal mudbath' and said the site was a 'national disgrace' and was now a 'giant wasteland of mud, puddles and woodchips that was once the capital's grandest sward of grass', whilst also levelling criticism at the state of Regent Park after the Frieze Art Fair, saying the park currently 'looks like a building site'. More than 800,000 people attended the concerts. Next year the number of concerts allowed will be cut from 12 to 9. 

Hard Rock - Bruce cut short, Paul too quiet

Bruce - maybe time to get a watch?

Fans have complained after Bruce Springsteen's set at Hyde Park was cut short - well - cut anyway, after the boss overran the pre-agreed Curfew. The singer had just dueted with Sir Paul McCartney, and E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt took to the net with a rant after the power was cut, saying Springsteen wanted to sing one more song, saying  "One of the greatest gigs ever in my opinion. But seriously, when did England become a police state?". Admitting "We break curfews in every country but only English cops needs to 'punish us' by not letting us leave until the entire crowd goes" he sort of explained "Is there just too much fun in the world? We would have been off by eleven if we'd done one more. On a Saturday night! Who were we disturbing?" The answers to that are probably (a) the Police didn't cut your set and (b) you are disturbing some rather well organised and vocal neighbours and (c) why not go on earlier - if you know you have a long set? 

Nevertheless Van Zandt continued: "The cops got nothing more important to do? How about they go catch some criminals instead of fucking with 80,000 people having a good time? English cops may be the only individuals left on Earth that wouldn't want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!" [again I think it may well be local residents and the licensing Authority who are more pissed off than 'cops'] and Van Zandt added somewhat randomly "If it's a public transport issue, I'm sorry but people are adult enough to go get a train if they need to without the cops pulling the plug!" A number of local residents who say they are routinely disturbed by the big Hyde Park gigs have been lobbying Westminster Council to cut back the number of shows that take place there. However,  Westminster Council insisted yesterday that it was a Live Nation decision to end the Springsteen show when it did, in order to comply with its licence. Van Zandt did say that the cut off "didn't ruin the great night", but "when I'm jamming with McCartney don't bug me!" Audience members who attended the final Sunday night edition of Hard Rock Calling, headlined by Paul Simon, complained that the sound at the show was too quiet, potentially again because of licence worries . Van Zandt later apologised to the Metropolitan Police and Mayor of London Boris Johnson described the Springsteen decision as an “excessively efficacious decision”. Live Nation COO Paul Latham explained the decision that having been told last minute that McCartney would join Springsteen for a couple of songs the boss still seemed keen to carry on even longer "For the last twelve months we have been fighting the good fight with the local authority and their licensing teams to retain the ability to stage concerts in Hyde Park. The current licences were granted on very strict noise restrictions, traffic plans and curfews with the 'sword of Damocles' hanging over any future events if we broke any of the conditions. Suffice to say the residents of Park Lane and Mayfair may not be numerous but they wield inordinate power over the Gogs and Magogs of City Hall and Parliament" saying the event had been truly memorable and the Boss wasn't that upset and "being thrown off the stage added legend to the myth" !

Blur confirmed for Olympics close

Hot on the heels of their Brits performance and Award, Blur have now been announced as headliners for the Hype Park Olympic ‘closing’ concert on August 12th along with New Order and the Specials as part of the BT London Live series of events. And Blur guitarist Graham Coxon said he would refuse to play the gig if sound limits were reduced, as a protest at ‘people being boring’. The concerts are on, although with some reduced capacities and noise monitoring, but still much to fan’s and Live Nations’s delight, But what’s this, an article by Simon Jenkins in the Evening Standard saying “Parks are meant to be for pleasure and not for business” attacking the events in Hyde Park and the fact St James park will be closed is favour of a few ‘bikini clad Olympic family” plutocrats (for the beach Volleyball by the way). He goes on, saying that when Westminster Council suggested noise limits and reduced capacities the entertainment industry responded with “whinging and blackmail”, quoting a certain “John Diggings” from “Solo Productions” who called the sound restriction “ludicrous” ??? Errrm John WHO???? And surely this is not the same Simon Jenkins who championed that monument of all bores – the Millennium Dome – which wasted nearly £800 million of public money at the end of the last century - now thankfully replaced by the far more exciting (and loved) albeit rather expensive O2 Arena. Entertainment industry whinging? Misinformed journalist whinging more like! Hyde Park will be provide great live music in a one-off Olympic year - Surely something to cheer?

Hyde Park concerts get green light

Westminster Council has agreed that Live Nation’s series of nine Hyde Park concerts scheduled for July 2012 including shows from Brice Springsteen and Madonna to go ahead, but with only four allowed to have capacities of 65,000 after numerous complaints from local residents. The other five concerts will be limited to 50,000 people. The decision also means that the planned 18 free events around the London Olympic,s in Hyde Park, Victoria park and Trafalgar Square will also be able to go ahead – Live Nation had said that free events depended on the Hyde Park concerts. But Westminster have set strict noise limits of 75 dB measured in the adjoining Park Lane and breaches would result in a review of events in 2013. Live Nation’s John Probyn who had previously said that "if the Hyde Park licence has any new conditions like reducing the noise level, capacity or number of events, not pnly do we lose our regular concerts but Olympic events to" said the decision was a ‘fantastic result”