Calling Festival (formerly Hyde Park Calling and Hard Rock Calling) was an annual music festival, formerly held in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks of London, Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensingt ...

, from 2006 until 2012, and from 2013 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. In September 2013, Hard Rock International announced that they would no longer be sponsoring the festival; however the event returned in 2014 and 2015 under the name Calling Festival at the

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of g ...

. The music played is primarily

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

, and various performers, including

The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, Eric Clapton,

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

, Bon Jovi, Roger Waters (with Nick Mason),

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

, Aerosmith,

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

and Bruce Springsteen have played at the event. The festival was organised by

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and r ...

and Live Nation.

Hyde Park Calling 2006

The inaugural festival had two stages and was headlined by Roger Waters (performing in its entirety the Pink Floyd album ''

The Dark Side of the Moon ''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of ...

'' as part of his set) and his band (featuring Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason) on the Saturday and

on the Sunday. Gates opened at 14:00, and the show ended at 22:15 on both evenings.

's Sunday headline performance was released as part of their

Encore Series 2006 The Encore Series are concert recordings developed initially in 2002 through a partnership between The Who anTheMusic.com The series was created as legal alternative to Bootleg recording, bootlegs of major artists' complete concert tours. Each se ...

of CDs & DVDs. British TV Show

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

filmed a brief segment of The Who’s concert as part of a Van review between the three hosts. The festival was a peaceful one, 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 The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fes ...

, 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 two 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.

Hyde Park Calling 2007

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 23–24 June 2007. It was Aerosmith's first concert in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for 8 years 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 was dramatic. One of the many incarnations of the

Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club is an ensemble of Cuban musicians established in 1996. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the gr ...

featured. Hyde Park Calling 2007's version of the band includes

Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal (born 5 May 1933) is a Cuban trumpeter, best known for his work with the Buena Vista Social Club.Orlando "Cachaito" López (double bass), Manuel Galbán (guitar) and Jesus "Aguaje" Ramos (

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

). Unlike the previous years' mostly British mainstage, of the nine bands playing, three were 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 Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

(vocalist of Aerosmith)'s son in law.

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell (né Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist and songwriter for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave ...

played the main stage before Aerosmith made their appearance. TAB the Band, 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). 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 Darryl Matthews McDaniels (born May 31, 1964), better known by his stage name DMC, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Run-DMC, and is considered one of the pioneers of hip hop culture. Early life McDaniels gre ...

(commonly referred to simply as 'DMC'). This was the first time a member of

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

had performed with Aerosmith since their 2002 tour, five years previous.

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 28 January 2008, the headliners for each day were announced, along with 2 support acts for each day:

Hard Rock Calling 2009

In 2009, for the first time it was a three-day event, beginning on the Friday rather than a Saturday, running over 26, 27 and 28 June. Neil Young headlined on Saturday and his encore was a cover version of "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles. Paul McCartney joined him on stage for parts of this performance. Bruce Springsteen finished his headlining set with " Dancing in the Dark", while he also joined The Gaslight Anthem for their song "

The '59 Sound ''The '59 Sound'' is the second studio album by American punk rock band the Gaslight Anthem, released on August 19, 2008, by record label SideOneDummy. In December 2008, eMusic named ''The '59 Sound'' the best album of 2008. ''NME'' rated it as ...

". Springsteen's entire set was released on DVD in June 2010, titled '' London Calling: Live in Hyde Park''.

Hard Rock Calling 2010

Hard Rock Calling 2010 took place of the weekend beginning 25 June.

Wolfmother Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the line-up. The band has been through many personnel changes since ...

was scheduled to perform on Friday but backed out in advance.

Hard Rock Calling 2011

The 2011 festival took place over the weekend of 24–26 June.

Hard Rock Calling 2012

During the song "

Twist and Shout "Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as "Bert Russell"). It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers ...

", performed by Bruce Springsteen and guest

at the Saturday show, Springsteen was forced to cut his set short when he ran overtime on a council curfew. Paul Simon's set featured

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of '' isicathamiya'' and '' mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with Paul Simon on his 1986 album '' Graceland'', and have won ...

and Jimmy Cliff; it was released on DVD and album in June 2017, titled '' The Concert in Hyde Park''. "I don't recall anything of Hyde Park," Soundgarden bassist

Ben Shepherd Hunter Benedict Shepherd (born September 20, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Soundgarden from 1990 to 2019. Shepherd has won two Grammy Awards as a member of Soundgarden. Early life Shepherd was bo ...

said in 2013, "except looking stage-right and seeing that Jimmy Page was watching us. So, if anything, we actually played a lot more professionally than we usually do. I thought we were spot-on."

Hard Rock Calling 2013

The 2013 event was moved to the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City developm ...

in Stratford after Live Nation had pulled out of the tender for Hyde Park. The 2013 festival returned to being a two-day event, unlike the four previous years which had run over three consecutive days. The first announcement was made on 5 March, when

Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and occasional vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karl ...

and Bruce Springsteen &

The E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

were confirmed as headliners. It would be the latter's second headline performance in consecutive years.

Calling Festival 2014

Hard Rock Calling returned under the name of Calling Festival from 28 to 29 June 2014 at

. It was renamed Calling Festival when the previous sponsor, Hard Rock International, pulled out.

Calling Festival 2015

Calling Festival returned to Clapham Common the following year, but only as a one-day festival, on 4 July.

References

External links

Hard Rock Calling Official Website

Exclusive online outlet for CD/DVD of The Who's set from Hyde Park Calling 2006

Hyde Park Calling at eFestivals
{{Coord missing, London Music festivals in London Culture in London Recurring events established in 2006 2006 establishments in England