Coldplay has responded to the former manager’s lawsuit and accuses him of mismanagement of tour costs.
According to court documents obtained by The Irish Times on Monday, October 9, 2023, Coldplay’s former manager Dave Holmes took the band to court in August, demanding £10 million in “unpaid commissions” on two yet-to-be-released albums.
The musicians rejected his claim and took the manager to court seeking £14 million in damages. They claimed he inflated the cost of the tour and used his relationship with Coldplay to obtain loans totaling £24.6 million from promoter Live Nation.
“To our knowledge … Mr. Holmes used the money received from the loan agreements to finance a real estate development project in or around Vancouver, Canada,” Coldplay alleged in the documents. It must be concluded that Mr. Holmes, due to his position as manager of Coldplay, was only able to acquire loans totaling $30 million from Live Nation at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72 percent. »
Dave Holmes led the band from 2005 to 2022, during which time he reportedly failed to maintain the touring budget. The legal documents point out that the manager bought expensive equipment that was not fit for purpose, including a £7.9 million video screen that was too large for the tour and 16 masts costing £9 million They cost sterling and turned out to be unusable.
“Coldplay knows they have issues with their defense,” a spokesman for Dave Holmes said in a press release in response to their retaliation. Accusing Dave Holmes of non-existent ethical lapses and other fabricated misconduct will not distract from the real issue: Coldplay had a contract with Dave, they refuse to honor it, and they must pay Dave what they owe him.”
The band consists of singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion.