Hyde Park Calling
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Hyde Park Calling is a music festival in Hyde Park, London, which first took place on Saturday July 1 and Sunday July 2, 2006. It was in the North East end of Hyde Park, with the main entrance being at Hyde Park Corner. The music played is primarily rock music. It was organised by Hard Rock Cafe and Live Nation. Its success led to the announcement that for at least the near future, it would be an annual event.
In line-ups, bold lettering indicates a headline act for that stage.
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[edit] Hyde Park Calling 2006
The inaugural festival had two stages, and was headlined by Roger Waters (performing in its entirety the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon as part of his set) and his band (featuring Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason) on the Saturday and The Who on the Sunday. Gates opened at 14:00 and the show ended at 22:15 on both evenings[1]. The Who's Sunday headline performance was released as part of their Encore Series 2006 of CDs & DVDs.
The festival was a peaceful one (in part probably because of the older demographic that the headline acts were targeting). Being inside the city the event required attendees to rely on external accommodation - unlike more popular festivals such as Download Festival or Reading and Leeds Festival, which require camping on site for most people.
Despite the veteran status of the headline acts, most other bands were younger and with a more 'contemporary' audience, providing a contrast in musical styles. Since this festival, Razorlight particularly has acquired much fame and in under a year has gone from second slot in a smaller inaugural event like Hyde Park Calling to headlining the long-running and respected Reading/Leeds Festival. The festival mainstage proved to be unusually British, with the British Isles being represented by seven English bands and one Scottish, with only one American and one New Zealand band from abroad. However of the ten second stage bands, three were from Canada and two from the USA.
[edit] 2006 Lineup
| Main Stage | |
| Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|
|
Roger Waters (featuring Nick Mason) |
The Who |
| Second Stage | |
| Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|
|
The Lightning Seeds |
Primal Scream |
[edit] Hyde Park Calling 2007
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After Hyde Park Calling's success, a Hyde Park Calling 2007 quickly entered planning stages. It was announced that the event would take place during the weekend of 23-24th June 2007. It was Aerosmith's first concert in the United Kingdom for 8 years (and indeed, Europe in its entirety), and featured Peter Gabriel and the recently reformed Crowded House as a joint-headliner for the first day. Other draws to this year's event were the addition of a new third stage. Only one band to have played at the previous Hyde Park Calling, Rose Hill Drive, played again in 2007. With six bands per stage instead of five, and an extra stage, the expansion of the festival only a year after its inception has been dramatic.
One of the many incarnations of the Buena Vista Social Club featured. Hyde Park Calling 2007's version of the band includes Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal (trumpet), Orlando "Cachaito" López (double bass), Manuel Galbán (guitar) and Jesus "Aguaje" Ramos (trumpet). Unlike the previous years' mostly British mainstage, of the nine bands playing, three will be American, one from New Zealand and one from Australia.
Sunday became an "Aerosmith Family" event. Aerosmith headlined the mainstage, with it opened by The Micki Free Electric Blues then Arckid - a band featuring Steve Tyler (vocalist of Aerosmith)'s son in law. Chris Cornell played the main stage before Aerosmith made their appearance. Tab, played fourth on the bill on second stage featuring Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's two sons. Many people saw the event as unbalanced, with most commercially successful bands playing the Sunday (Aerosmith in particular - having sold more albums than both of Saturday's headline bands combined).[citation needed] The second stage was sponsored by Pepsi.
Despite Aerosmith having the headline slot on Sunday, Chris Cornell played for the same length of time. His set combined Audioslave and Soundgarden songs with his own. In keeping with the family theme Aerosmith brought with them, on Saturday Peter Gabriel's daughter sang and played percussion. On Sunday Cornell brought his two children onto the stage for the audience to see.
Aerosmith had to finish at 10.30 pm due to the curfew, and the police were forcing them to leave. The encore was the usual Walk this Way song, but featured Darryl McDaniels (commonly referred to simply as 'DMC'). This was the first time a member of Run DMC had performed with Aerosmith since their 2002 tour, five years previous. The Hyde Park Calling website however, refers to him as Run DMC, which is wrong.
[edit] 2007 Lineup
| Main Stage | |
| Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|
|
Peter Gabriel |
Aerosmith (featuring DMC from Run DMC) |
| The Pepsi Stage | |
| Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|
|
Buena Vista Social Club |
Joe Satriani |
| Third Stage | |
| Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|
|
Seth Lakeman |
Reuben |
[edit] Hard Rock Calling 2008
In late December 2007, the Hyde Park Calling 2008 website was launched. It confirmed the dates for 28-29 June, 2008.
On January 28 2008, the headliners for each day were announced, along with 2 support acts for each day:
Saturday 28 June: Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer
Sunday 29 June: The Police, KT Tunstall, Starsailor
It was also announced that the name would change to Hard Rock Calling to emphasise the festival's connections with Hard Rock Cafe.
