London Music Festivals Move To Olympic Park

Hard Rock Calling and the Wireless festival have both taken place in Hyde Park in central London every year since their inception in 2005 and 2006 respectively, but this summer (13) they will move to the east of the city.

Both festivals will now take place in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, the former site of the 2012 London Olympic Games, after officials struck a major deal with concert promoters Live Nation.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson says, "Our vision for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has always been as a destination for world class sport as well as for major cultural and leisure events... The confidence now shown by one of the world's leading live entertainment promoters to relocate two of its biggest music festivals from the centre of the capital is a ringing endorsement of our legacy plans... The park has a very bright future indeed."

The move comes after months of controversy surrounding Live Nation's gigs in Hyde Park - residents living near the venue have complained over noise levels, forcing organisers to cut crowd capacity from 80,000 to 65,000, reduce the number of concerts staged annually in the park from 13 to nine, and introduce trials of a new noise-reducing system.

Artists were also warned to adhere to strict curfews, and last summer (12), Bruce Springsteen's duet with Sir Paul MCCartney was famously cut short after The Boss overran his set.