Coldplay are reportedly paying a seven-figure sum to their former manager Dave Holmes, after he sued the band for £10 million.
The band parted ways with Dave back in 2022 after over two decades, sparking a dramatic and lengthy legal battle.
In 2023, Dave claimed he was owed £10million in unpaid commission for Coldplay’s tenth and eleventh albums, which are both yet to be released.
However, the band, led by frontman Chris Martin, countersued for £14million, claiming Holmes lost control of budgeting for their Music of the Spheres tour, and overspent by £17.5million.
Documents filed at London’s High Court, obtained by The Sun, stated that Coldplay agreed an undisclosed seven-figure settlement to prevent private details being made public in court.
Coldplay are reportedly paying a seven-figure sum to their former manager Dave Holmes, after he sued the band for £10 million
A source added: ‘Chris and the band are happy they’ve drawn a line in the sand but it has come at a price. The settlement cost them millions. They just want to move on.’
Since Dave’s departure, Chris’ best friendl, Phil Harvey, who helped fund their first recording and was then known as the band’s fifth member, has stepped in to lead their management team.
has contacted representatives for Coldplay for comment.
Last year, Coldplay’s legal battle with their former manager took a dramatic turn, when Dave accused the band of ‘making up’ tales of mishaps and ‘ethical lapses.’
Holmes told that he believe the British group led by Chris Martin ‘knew they were in trouble,’ after the countersued for £14 million.
Hitting back at the writ, a spokesman for Mr Holmes told in October: ‘Coldplay knows they’re in trouble with their defence.
‘Accusing Dave Holmes of non-existent 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 honour it and they need to pay Dave what they owe him’.
Coldplay believed that its tour suffered spiralling costs due to Mr Holmes.
The band parted ways with Dave (pictured far left in 2011) back in 2022 after over two decades, sparking a dramatic and lengthy legal battle
In 2023, Dave claimed he was owed £10million in unpaid commission for Coldplay’s tenth and eleventh albums, but the band countersued for £14 million, citing overspending on their tour
The band’s lawyers alleged that ‘had Mr Holmes exercised reasonable care and skill in the performance of his obligations’, the band would never have had to have incurred costs of at least £17.5 million.
Examples given included ’16 bespoke stage pylons’ for lighting and video costing €10.6 million that became too expensive to use.
The documents also accused Holmes of authorising the purchase of a $9.7 million ‘visual project known as Jet Screen’ that was too big, and only used for ten gigs in Buenos Aires on the 165-gig world tour.
People familiar with the row on Holmes’ side claimed that any suggestion that Dave was responsible are ‘totally false and misleading’.
Coldplay also said Holmes used ‘his position’ to secure $30million in loans at preferable rates from concert behemoth Live Nation.
‘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,’ say the band in their filing.
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‘It is to be inferred that Mr Holmes was only able to acquire loans totalling $30 million at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72 per cent from Live Nation by virtue of his position as Coldplay’s manager’, the claim states.
Live Nation said in a statement to The Times that it ‘has a strong and longstanding relationship with Coldplay’, adding: ‘Any past dealings with their management team were considered an extension of this relationship.’
Coldplay believed that this arrangement may have led to poor decisions about their Music of the Spheres tour, which Holmes negotiated with Live Nation.
‘That would potentially or actually conflict with his obligations to secure best possible terms for [Coldplay],’ the claim says.
Holmes had a ‘personal interest in maintaining the best possible relations with Live Nation in order to ensure he would have leverage in the event that he required any form of indulgence by reference to the loan terms’, Coldplay claims.
A source close to Mr Holmes said: ‘Whatever this legal filing may imply, the interest rates on the loan obtained from Live Nation by Dave were entirely consistent with those available everywhere in the United States at the time’.
Dave Holmes managed the band for more than 22 years before the group dismissed him in 2022, despite having agreed to extend his contract to aid with their tenth and eleventh albums, according to the legal filing. He also began preparations for their 2024-25 tours.
Holmes alleged that the band – frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion – claimed to have never agreed to the extended contract and refused to pay him for the work he contributed to the album and tour preparations.
Coldplay’s representatives said Mr Holmes’ management contract expired at the end of 2022 ‘at which point they decided not to start a new one’.
The band clinched the prize for most memorable moment of Glastonbury 2024, when they performed a surprise duet with Hollywood legend Michael J. Fox during their Saturday night headline slot.
Coldplay clinched the prize for most memorable moment of Glastonbury 2024, when they performed a surprise duet with Hollywood legend Michael J. Fox during their headline slot
Michael played the guitar from his wheelchair, amid his battle with Parkinson’s, for the band’s tracks Humankind and Fix You, to a thrilled 100,000-strong crowd.
And it was a full circle moment for frontman Chris, 47, who revealed how his global chart-topping band wouldn’t exist without the Back To The Future star, 63.
Chris previously spoke about how seeing Michael playing Johnny B. Goode in one iconic scene from 1985’s Back To The Future was his inspiration to become a musician and to form his band at University College London in 1996.
‘That’s what made me want to be in a band, you know? That scene’, he told Kelly Clarkson on her chat show in 2022.
And Chris poignantly told the Glastonbury crowd on Saturday night: ‘The main reason why we’re in a band is because of watching Back to the Future.’
‘So thank you to our hero forever and one of the most amazing people on Earth, Mr Michael J. Fox. Thank you so much, Michael’.
The British band made their debut at the iconic festival in the New Bands Tent in 1999, before headlining in 2002, 2005, 2011, and 2016.