The controversy over officials pulling the plug on Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney during the recent Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park is not going away. On Tuesday (July 17), Paul Latham, chief operating officer for Live Nation's European operations, which produced the festival, blamed the situation on "a combination of Bruce coming on 20 minutes late, the crazy British weather...and the fact that Bruce and Co. were so into the gig meant we knew the curfew was going to run perilously close. Throw in the curveball of his Maccaness rocking up at the last minute and we had a musical cocktail for the ages but a nightmare curfew scenario. We were assured that they were going to only do a couple of numbers so we could turn a blind eye to a 10 minute over-run and risk the wrath of our naysayers but then the couple of numbers happened to be Beatles medleys and when Bruce went to change guitars to start again I'm afraid the power had to come off on music history in the hope that we will be allowed to create more in the future." Latham added that the untenable restrictions on Hyde Park shows made a bad situation worse: "For the last 12 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 licenses 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." But Kevin Myers, the deputy chief for the British Health And Safety Executive -- who attended the Springsteen show on Saturday (July 14) -- nixed the Live Nation explanation, writing on the organization's web site that, "The fans deserve the truth: there are no health and safety issues involved here. While public events may have licensing conditions dictating when they should end, this is not health and safety and it is disingenuous of Live Nation to say so." Springsteen and company, at least, were laughing it off: playing in Dublin on Tuesday, he and Little Steven Van Zandt kicked off the show by wheeling a portable generator onto the stage, then played the final part of "Twist and Shout" that was cut off on Saturday before charging into the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law."