The deal not only leaves Live Nation in control of virtually all of the nation’s major amphitheatres but fills in some routing gaps on its shed itineraries. Among the pick-ups from HoB Concerts are Coors amphitheatres near San Diego and Denver; Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles; Smirnoff Music Centre in Dallas; HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta; Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto; Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash.

It also gives LN a firm toe-hold in the national nightclub market with branded House of Blues clubs in West Hollywood and Anaheim, Calif.; San Diego; Chicago; Las Vegas; New Orleans; Orlando; Atlantic City; Cleveland, Ohio; and Myrtle Beach, S.C.; The list will grow to include clubs under construction in Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and Seattle.

The news came as a surprise to most concert industry observers, since HoB Concerts removed itself from the market one year ago. But it reportedly came as a downright shock to HoB employees who had not even an inkling talks were under way until they came to work the morning of July 5th to find an internal memo from HoB CEO Greg Trojan attempting to soften the blow.

“I know this comes as a surprise to all of you,” Trojan wrote. “When [Live Nation] approached us, frankly, we were not looking for a buyer. However, as I have mentioned to you in the past, our Board has a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders – and to our business – to consider any such approach.”

In the memo, Trojan explained that in the coming weeks, “our senior executive team and I will be working through issues of transition.” In addition, he told HoB employees that he and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino would form a joint transition committee to prepare the company for its new incarnation.

“We have great respect for the House of Blues employees and what they have accomplished and we look forward to welcoming them into the Live Nation family,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement.

That House of Blues would eventually be sold was never in doubt; the company has been romancing potential buyers for several years.

HoB bought what was then known as Universal Concerts from Seagram Co. for $190 million in 1999. The investment bankers behind the purchase had planned to mimic Robert Sillerman’s SFX rollup and recoup their investment with an IPO. HoB was in the process of arranging an IPO when the stock market bubble burst and the IPO effort had to be withdrawn.

Since then, the question has been when would the bankers decide a purchase offer would meet their nut and a sell-off would be green-lighted. All or part of the House of Blues companies have been up for sale in recent years, including twice in the past three.

Whether HoB’s original investors make back their money with the Live Nation deal is anyone’s guess – SFX made a rumored $200 million bid for Universal Concerts in 1999, for the sake of comparison.

At least initially, it seems to be “business as usual” after the acquisition announcement, with expectations high that LN will retain many of HoB’s personnel and club-level talent buyers, though there will be plenty of redundancy to fuel pink slip fears in other areas.

Rapino and Live Nation’s board “are committed to taking our brand to a new level by investing to accelerate the growth of our club business, both in the U.S. and abroad,” Trojan wrote to his staff.

Rapino, Trojan and other execs from LN and HoB were unavailable to immediately comment.