I say we pull the plug on these ancient rockers

The rules don’t apply to Bruce Springsteen, or so he thought. Ignoring the contracts, the law, the council and the “obvious”, he waded through a three-hour set of past hits and newer nothingness before dragging his old friend Macca onto the stage. This was last Saturday night, when Springsteen beckoned Paul McCartney onstage for a self-congratulatory, unimaginative swan-song which would apparently “rewrite rock history”.

The curfew was set for 10.30pm, for many sensible reasons which have applied to numerous events of this scale previously, and will hopefully continue to apply. And they applied to The Boss as well.

After pushing his luck for another 20 minutes with an extended version of Twist and Shout, the concert was drawn abruptly to a close.

Cue uproar from the middle-aged masses. Twitter, the centre of impulsive and often unfounded reports, became awash with complaints about the council being out of touch, lacking any common sense and trampling over the arts.

Apparently we’ve become a police state (according to Springsteen’s guitarist Steven Van Zandt). McFly were disgusted! Hanging’s too good for ’em, etc.

But wait a minute. Why do we care so much? What difference does any of this make? Springsteen has been churning out middle-of-the-road albums for too long, while McCartney hasn’t done anything of value for decades. Yet we as a nation won’t think twice about paying to attend such huge events, or raising these artists to demi-God status. Why? Because it’s easy. It’s so easy to follow the norm rather than to challenge ourselves by finding something new.

London is a party capital, it loves to celebrate art, and breaking curfews is part of what drives and inspires its thriving culture. But there is something very tired about this whole affair. By constantly ceding the big stage to the likes of McCartney, Springsteen and countless other artists who have lost all the sparkle of their youth, we lose focus on the creation of new art, new music, new gods to worship (if we must).

Had this been about an illegal dubstep rave, a drum and bass warehouse party or a techno festival that was unlicensed and far too much fun, I would have joined ranks, tweeted until my fingers bled and cursed the council for sucking us of our creativity. But it wasn’t. It was about two ageing, tired rockers who have done this all before (and much more besides).

So forget about The Boss, the promoter and the council’s policies. There is something much more important at stake. By putting all of our energies into preserving the rights of the absolutely pointless in the arts we are doing ourselves and our culture a disservice. By cutting short Twist and Shout on Saturday night we lost nothing as a society. Absolutely nothing.

James Palumbo is co-founder and chairman of Ministry of Sound Group.