LN Stops AEG’s Press

AEG Live U.K.’s effort to unveil its new deal with Stuart Galbraith has been scrapped on less than a day’s notice, apparently because his former employer Live Nation took legal action to stop it.

The former LN U.K. managing director’s press officer said she expected the October 3rd media conference would be rescheduled within the next seven days.

Asked if the one-on-one chats with Galbraith, which were set to take place at Soho House in London’s Greek Street, were pulled because Live Nation U.K. had put a stop to it, she admitted "the legal issue is with Live Nation."

If LN has a writ to prevent Galbraith from appearing, he would be in contempt of court if he turned up – a situation both he and AEG would be keen to avoid.

As the press conference wasn’t pulled until 6 p.m. U.K. time on October 2nd it would appear that any injunction from Live Nation would have likely been granted earlier that day.

At press time it wasn’t possible to get comment from Live Nation U.K. president Paul Latham or new LN international chief Alan Ridgeway.

The Outside Organisation, AEG Live U.K.’s public relations company, had invited journalists to individual interviews with Galbraith, where the former Live Nation U.K. managing director was expected to reveal his future plans with AEG, his former employer’s biggest global rival.

Each paper’s session – The Outside Organisation said there would be "a dozen" of them – was expected to last up to 15 minutes.

Galbraith’s press officer had described it as a chance for each journalist to hear about what she described as his "new venture."

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 negotiating a new deal with AEG.

Reports in papers including the U.K.’s The Times suggested that 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 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 twice 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.