Hyde Park Calling

Flocking to Hyde Park along with the other thousands of spectators to the Hard Rock Calling (previously known as the Hyde Park Calling) was how this sunny June day started. The atmosphere was electric and vibrant as the mass of people filled into lines. Promisingly as we got past the bag inspection points at the entrance the smell of bacon and burgers hit us with almost the same impact as the music of the Steve Boyce Band.

Luckily we managed to grab a decent spot near to the main stage, although I soon realised that unless you weren’t in the front row (a virtual physical impossibility for anyone apart from the extremely big and extremely brave it was still necessary to rely on the big screen occasionally. Only centimetres separated the cosy spectators crammed into Hyde Park.

John Mraz (singer songwriter from San Diego) did a great set. His music was well- suited to the long awaited summer sun. The amount of people at the concert was unbelievable. When the cameras zoomed out, the crowd went on for miles.

After an afternoon of sets by artists and bands such as John Mayer, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the Steve Boyce band and a few others, the summer sun changed to night. The head lining act, Eric Clapton was soon to play. Once Sheryl Crow finished her hour long set there was a 15 minute wait, which only served to ratchet up the tension. As Eric and his backing band rolled up on stage, the crowd went wild as a hundred thousand strong audiences gave a rapturous reception. After several bluesy numbers including ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ and other Clapton standards such as ‘Wonderful Tonight’ he gave the crowd what they were clearly waiting for, and the opening riff to ‘Layla’ definitely got the loudest cheers.

At the end of the night there was an encore with the song ‘Crossroads’ (by The Cream, released in 1968) which consisted of all the solo artists and the bands’ front men such as Robert Randolph (lap steel), Clapton (you can guess what he was playing!) and Sheryl Crow (vocals). John Mayer however arrived half way through the encore which I would describe as fashionably late. As they all traded their tricks the crowd was transported to a world of blistering guitar solos and rock ‘n’ roll.

All the bands that performed were amazing. However, I never actually saw the second stage- slightly disappointing because I would have liked to have seen Scott McKeon.

My personal favourites performing were John Mayer and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Apparently very few people had heard of John Mayer but he made a great first impression to London on Saturday. When I asked my brother what he thought of John he replied, “I’d like him if he wasn’t so good looking and talented”.

The quibbles? The merchandise for the artists as well as Hard Rock T-shirts seemed overpriced to me at £20, and I’d have preferred the volume to be slightly louder. Bafflingly, the way home was made even more difficult by police blocking the gate out of Hyde Park (no one knew why though). The tubes were jam-packed due to the thousands of spectators on their way home. But London’s Hyde Park was graced with an incredible concert last weekend – I’ll be back next year.