Coldplay is countersuing their former manager Dave Holmes less than two months after he filed a lawsuit against the band over a contractual dispute. The band claims Holmes owes them damages of over £14 million, according to a report, and that he reportedly took out loans from Live Nation without their knowledge.
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The band claims that in 2015 Holmes borrowed approximately £16.3 million (approximately $17 million) from the promoter and then took out a second loan of £8.1 million (approximately $10 million) in 2018. “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,” said the band in their filing with the High Court in London, England.
“It is to be inferred that Mr. Holmes was only able to acquire loans totaling $30 million at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72 percent from Live Nation,” continued the filing, “by virtue of his position as Coldplay’s manager.”
The filing also stated that Holmes owed approximately $27.1 million to Live Nation, which could have “potentially or actually [conflicted]” with his obligations to negotiate with the promoter for Coldplay’s 2021 Music Of The Spheres world tour.
After more than two decades managing Coldplay, Holmes eventually parted ways with the band in 2022. Holmes initially filed a lawsuit against Coldplay in August 2023, claiming that he never received a commission from the multi-million dollar advances for the band’s unreleased 10th, 11th, and 12th albums. He also claimed that the band attempted to demote him from manager to head of touring.
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Holmes first met Coldplay singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion prior to their 2000 debut Parachutes and became their manager shortly afterward.
The band is now managed by Arlene Moon, Mandi Frost, and Phil Harvey, who also worked with Holmes and Coldplay for many years.
Coldplay recently wrapped up their North American Music of the Spheres world tour on Sunday (October 1) at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. The band will go back on tour with a number of dates in Asai, which will kick off on Monday (November 6) in Tokyo, Japan. The tour is scheduled to run through February 2024 before the band breaks for several months and reconvenes for the sold-out European leg of their tour starting June 2024.
Photo: Brian Stukes/Getty Images
