The Week in Light & Sound
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The case could come to court if the parties do not settle. Holmes' original court case claimed that Coldplay owed him commission for two as-yet-unreleased albums. According to his lawyers, the band were paid an advance of £35m for their 10th album and £30m for their 11th and 12th albums.
Holmes maintains that he helped to organise recording sessions, clear samples and liaised with producer Max Martin before the band decided not to renew his contract last year. He is asking the High Court to declare that a contract covering the tenth and eleventh albums is valid, and to order payment.
For the band's previous two albums, Everyday Life (2019) and Music of the Spheres (2021), he says he was paid between 8% and 13% commission. When the case was filed, a representative for Coldplay said the claims would be "vigorously disputed" and, in a counter-claim filed on Friday, the band fired back.
Brighton Rocks - Two venues at Brighton Dome are to reopen for live performances after a six-year refurbishment. The Grade I and II-listed Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre will officially reopen from November. The £38m restoration includes two new bars, a new copper roof, 5G technology and a horse sculpture.
Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey said it was "one of the most important and ambitious projects undertaken in the city". The concert hall and Corn Exchange were originally commissioned as a stable block and riding house by the Prince Regent in 1803, while the Studio Theatre was built as a supper room in the 1930s.
Bristol Beacon - A popular entertainment venue will soon reopen after undergoing a major renovation. The Bristol Beacon, previously known as Colston Hall, closed in 2018 and will reopen on 30 November. More than a million hours have been put into the refurbishment of the hall, which will be run by Bristol Music Trust.
The venue's chief executive Louise Mitchell said it "has been an epic project that has involved hundreds of highly skilled and talented people". She said it "will be one of the best concert facilities in Europe" and is expected to generate a least £13m for the local economy in its first year. The revamp of the historic building, which will be under a 30 year lease, has run over budget with the original estimate standing at £48m. The final cost is expected to be more than £130m.
Straight Seven - Ed Sheeran has secured his seventh straight UK number one album with the seasonally-fitting Autumn Variations. It means all of the singer's albums, from his 2011 debut + to his latest collection, have reached the summit. But he said the latest achievement "means more than any other award I've had" as this is the first time he's released an album on his own label.
Autumn Variations, a collaboration with The National's Aaron Dessner, is the star's second album of 2023. As with its predecessor, - (Subtract), it finds Sheeran in reflective mode, surveying the personal crises and upheavals his friends went through in 2022. He said the record was loosely inspired by Edward Elgar, whose 1899 Enigma Variations also featured 14 sketches of his wife, friends and colleagues.
(Jim Evans)
10 October 2023
