AEG To Unveil Galbraith Deal

AEG Live U.K. has invited journalists to one-on-one interviews with Stuart Galbraith October 3rd, when the former Live Nation U.K. managing director is expected to reveal his future with the company’s biggest global rival.

Penny McDonald of The Outside Organisation, which handles AEG Live U.K.’s public relations, is arranging for international and national music and business papers to have individual Q&A sessions on Galbraith’s "new venture."

Each paper’s session – McDonald said there will be a dozen of them – will last up to 15 minutes and they’ll be staged at an October 3rd gathering at Soho House in London’s Greek Street.

Live Nation U.K. fired Galbraith at the end of August for breach of contract. No details were given but it’s generally assumed that he was caught trying to fix himself a better deal with AEG.

Reports in papers including the U.K.’s The Times suggested he had "sounded out Live Nation colleagues" to jump ship and join him at AEG, which has stayed silent on the matter until calling the press conference.

Live Nation U.K. president Paul Latham responded by upping his four remaining senior promoters – Steve Homer, John Dunn, Andy Copping and Toby Leighton-Pope – to vice presidents.

The Los Angeles-based rivals have tangled two other times in the last month, including when David Maloney left Stockholm-based EMA Telstar – the centre of Live Nation’s Nordic operations – and started a new Swedish office for AEG.

Two weeks ago, a legal dispute led to AEG issuing a writ against three companies including Michael Cohl’s CPI, one of Live Nation’s touring divisions, over Barbra Streisand’s summer shows at London’s O2 Arena.