Bruce Springsteen performs at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park.
Bruce Springsteen performs at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park.

Europe

Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney silenced by council

Concert organisers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney, silencing their microphones after the pair defied the noise curfew at London's Hyde Park.

Associated Press

July 16, 2012

LONDON // Concert organisers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney, silencing their microphones at the tail end of the show, after the pair defied the noise curfew at London's Hyde Park.

Springsteen had already exceeded the 10.30pm curfew by half an hour on Saturday when he welcomed McCartney on stage and the pair sang the Beatles hits I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout. The microphones were then turned off before they could thank the crowd, forcing them to leave the stage in silence.

A statement from Live Nation, the concert organiser, said it was unfortunate that the three-hour-plus performance had been stopped "right at the very end".

It added that the curfew had been ordered by the authorities "in the interest of the public's health and safety".

Huge concerts in Hyde Park, a 140-hectare expanse that borders some of London's wealthiest neighbourhoods, have increasingly caused friction between fans and the area's well-heeled residents, many of whom gripe about the late-night noise and nuisance.

With complaints on the rise, officials have decided that as of next year, the number of concerts will be slashed from 13 to nine and crowd limits will be reduced from 80,000 to 65,000.

Steven Van Zandt, who plays guitar in Springsteen's E-Street Band, criticised Saturday's decision as heavy-handed.

"English cops may be the only individuals left on earth that wouldn't want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!" he wrote on Twitter. "On a Saturday night! Who were we disturbing?

"Seriously, when did England become a police state? It didn't ruin the great night. But when I'm jamming with McCartney don't bug me!" He added: "There's no grudges to be held. Just feel bad for our great fans. It's some city council stupid rule."

London's mayor, Boris Johnson, said yesterday that the singers should have been allowed to keep going.

"It sounds to me like an excessively officious decision," he told London radio. "You won't get that during the Olympics. If they'd have called me, my answer would have been for them to jam in the name of the Lord!"

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

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“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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