Coldplay fired back at former manager Dave Holmes with a £14 million lawsuit, who managed the band from 2005 to 2022.
Holmes sued the band in August for £10 million in ‘unpaid commission.’ He alleged that this money was connected to two unreleased albums that he asserted he collaborated on with the band.
In their countersuit, Coldplay denied Holmes’ claim and is now asking for £14 million in damages. They argued that their former manager let tour expenses escalate and also claimed that he used his connection with the band to obtain loans amounting to $30 million (£24.6 million) from concert promoters Live Nation. The band said in court papers revealed by the Times:
“To the best of [our] knowledge… Mr. Holmes used monies obtained by the loan agreements to fund a property development venture in or around Vancouver, Canada. It is to be inferred that Mr. Holmes was only able to acquire loans totaling $30m at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72% from Live Nation by virtue of his position as Coldplay’s manager.”
The court documents claimed that Holmes didn’t properly oversee and manage the tour budget. They also stated that costly equipment was purchased that didn’t serve its intended purpose, such as a $9.7 million video screen too large to take on tour and 16 custom-made stage pylons costing €10.6 million (£9 million) that turned out to be unusable.
In response to the counterclaim, a representative for Holmes told the Times:
“Coldplay knows they are in trouble with their defense. Accusing Dave Holmes of nonexistent ethical lapses and other made-up misconduct will not deflect from the real issue at hand – Coldplay had a contract with Dave, they are refusing to honor it, and they need to pay Dave what they owe him.”
While working with the band, the manager contributed to the recording and launch of seven successful albums and participated in six tours, among them their highly lucrative Music of the Spheres global tour, which ranks among the top-grossing tours ever.