The Rolling Stones apparently played the loudest gig ever to take place in London’s Hyde Park, according to Jim King of concert promoters AEG.
King added that despite this, only one complaint about the noise was recorded. Speaking to Music Week, King commented: “The Rolling Stones played the loudest anybody’s ever played in Hyde Park before and we had one complaint. The music could have been off and we’d have still had that complaint anyway.”
The band played the park twice last month to mark the end of their 50th anniversary tour. King explained that in order to get the sound right for the shows, following complaints in the past from attendees – who have said previously that the volume at gigs in the park was too quiet – and nearby residents – who said that the volume was too loud – the company re-created Hyde Park in a country estate outside of the city. He said: “We put cranes in where all the noise-monitoring points were around Park Lane and Bayswater Road and we ran a show for three days. We took nearly 10,000 noise measurements and ran it through five different sound systems – all the best sound systems that are out there.”
Mick Jagger recently said that he would love to play Hyde Park again. A live album recorded during the shows is available now on iTunes.
Speaking to NME about the gigs, Jagger said they were not a time to think about the last time the band played Hyde Park in 1969 at a huge, free concert shortly after the death of their bandmate Brian Jones. Jagger famously wore white and read from Shelley’s poem Adonaïs, and hundreds of white butterflies were released in Jones’ memory. Comparing the 2013 date to 1969, he said: “Well the stage was less crowded. The funny thing is when you see the ’69 one it’s all your mates onstage sitting down. But this time I saw some of my kids sitting on the side of stage. It’s like chalk and cheese really.”
When asked if he would play Hyde Park again, Jagger replied: “Not this year… I haven’t given it any thought and nor has it been offered. But I’d love to do it. It’s a great gig. I did enjoy it. It was beautiful… It turned out to be so wonderful with the sun going down behind the park. It was a perfect London evening.”