Promoter Goldsmith Declares Bankruptcy
Date: 1 October 1999
Britain's premiere rock and pop concert tour promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, who has dominated the market for some 30 years, has called in the receivers to his company Harvey Goldsmith Entertainments Ltd and its parent company, Allied Entertainments Group.
It is part of a process that occurs when an overstretched company cannot meet all of its financial obligations. The long-term implications are not yet clear.
The company has promoted stars from Streisand to Pavarotti and the Rolling Stones, and a number of arena opera productions - Aida and Carmen at Earls Court in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Goldsmith was also one of the promoters behind Bob Geldof's Live Aid benefit at Wembley Stadium in 1985, a high profile pop concert that raised millions for starving people in Africa. He is currently working on the New Year's Eve opening concert at the Millenium Dome, the British government's massive contribution to the celebrations at Greenwich.
Goldsmith, in association with Radio City Entertainment and Electric Factory Concerts, is also currently producing a new Irish dance show, Dancing on Dangerous Ground, which will receive its world premiere at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on November 30 (following previews from November 25), before an anticipated run at Radio City next year. The director is Ian Judge, who has worked regularly for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the stars are Jean Butler and Colin Dunne, who also choreograph.
The current crisis was precipitated by the failure of a rock festival he promoted in Cornwall in August to coincide with a total eclipse of the sun, entitled Eclipse 99 Festival. According to one of the receivers, 'With the eclipse event, Harvey dipped his feet into waters he had never been in before and caught a cold'. The loss was over a million dollars.
Negotiations are continuing with his principal lenders to save the company - one of them, Barclays Bank, issued a statement, 'We have agreed to work with the management of the company to find the best solution to ensure that the appropriate reorganisation is put in place'.
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