The Live100: Irving Azoff and Jeffrey Azoff

As a father-son duo in the music business, Irving and Jeffrey Azoff have few if any peers in the collective power they wield. More remarkably, they also seem to like each other. Spend time with them, and it becomes clear that their relationship is more caring and supportive than rivalrous and Oedipal; think Mufasa and Simba rather than Logan and Kendall Roy or Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. (Although Irving is obviously a Sith Master.)

As proprietors of The Azoff Company and Full Stop Management, the redoubtable paterfamilias and scion oversee the careers of artists including the Eagles, U2, John Mayer, Tate McRae, Gwen Stefani and Harry Styles, who took over Madison Square Garden with a record-setting 30-night residency, part of a tour that will bring him to sold-out stadiums around the globe in 2027.

We spoke to Jeffrey (from New York) and Irving (in L.A.) over Zoom. In the few moments they weren’t insulting HITS, they sometimes allowed us to sneak in a question.

Thank you both for doing this. We know that you don’t love this sort of thing, so we really appreciate it.

Irving Azoff: You told us we didn’t have a choice and really guilted us into it.

Jeffrey Azoff: Honestly, it felt like blackmail to me.

It’s not not blackmail. On that happy note, Jeffrey, do you remember the first concert you saw with your dad?

Jeffrey: It had to have been the Eagles, right, Dad? All of my concert memories from when I was really young are at Eagles shows.

Irving: That sounds right to me. I have only ever taken you to concerts I’m getting paid to be at.

Jeffrey: Well, whatever the reason was, he has taken me to a lot of shows. I will forever be grateful for how he would inappropriately take me everywhere while I was growing up. He had me in his meetings when I was 10, 11 years old. He’d bring me into dressing rooms while his clients were arguing. I think I have some perspective on it now and I have to say, you are insane, Dad.

Irving: No one ever complained. I still would have if they did, but it seems worth noting that they did not.

Jeffrey, did you ever get grounded as a kid?

Jeffrey: Of course.

What for?

Jeffrey: I think I was a pretty difficult kid, so probably several reasons… Anything you can think of, Irv?

Irving: Yeah, the time your mother and I found all that cash in your drawer and thought you were dealing drugs.

Jeffrey: It took me way longer than it should have to convince you that I wasn’t. Basically, when I was in high school I was throwing after-parties for school events and everyone paid in cash.

Irving: Yeah, and he didn’t tell me he was doing it because I would have made him get insurance, and that would’ve eaten into his profits. My recollection is that he got grounded for 45 minutes.

Jeffrey: True. The only thing Irving ever really cared about was grades. He was the most easygoing parent anyone could have ever asked for, but if you brought home a bad report card, he would lose his shit.

Who was more of the disciplinarian when you were growing up, Mom or Dad?

Jeffrey: Mom for sure. Irv hates confrontation, you know that. It was that classic thing, though: She was easier to get in trouble with, but when he got angry, it would have taken so much to get him there it was way scarier.

Irving: Don’t be soft—I never got mad at you. You have me confused with someone else.

Jeffrey: Right.

Jeffrey, what were your first years in college like for you? Not being around all the rock & roll chaos you were brought up in, not being around your larger-than-life parents?

Jeffrey: I can make an argument that [University of Colorado] Boulder was very rock & roll; haven’t you been there? It was an adjustment and I definitely missed my parents, but the freedom was amazing. I just hope the drugs didn’t do any long-term damage. I would say my dad isn’t a good test case because he never drank, never did drugs.

Irving: That is absolutely not true. Once a year, every year, usually on New Year’s Eve, I would take one of everything. I wanted to show all of my clients what they were like the other 364 days so they would slow down. It never worked.

Jeffrey: It’s so funny you say that because I have a vivid memory of Glenn Frey telling me that the Eagles were absolutely insane in their heyday, but you really started all of the trouble and you were the only one who was sober, which made you by far the craziest of everyone.

Irving: Well, that part is true. Everyone wants to know the captain of the ship is in control. I just always wanted to be captaining a ship that was fun, didn’t mind trashing the occasional hotel room and loved the sound of breaking glass.

Jeffrey: I love you so much.

Irving: I love you too, son.

That was sweet. It seems like you guys mean it too. Jeffrey, was your plan always to work with your dad? Was there ever a point when you thought you weren’t going to go into your family business?

Jeffrey: Oh, I never thought I was going to go into this business. Both of my parents aggressively encouraged me not to. My mom told me I was too nice to be successful in such a tough industry, and my dad told me I missed all the golden years. Meanwhile, they are both out here taking me to do the coolest shit on earth and saying, “You don’t want this life.”

Irving: It’s not that. I have told you this a billion times. I really like artists; I have made it my life’s mission to look out for them. But being a manager, it’s a tough lifestyle. Your time isn’t your time; you’re always on call. I just wanted to make sure you made that choice with eyes open.

Jeffrey: That’s fair, but it’s the only life I’ve ever known. I really do love it; I think we are so lucky to get to do this. Especially together.

So if not music, what business were you going to enter after you graduated?

Jeffrey: Well, technically, I didn’t graduate.

Irving: He has one fucking class left.

Jeffrey: That is true. I am so sorry, I really thought I was going to do it online, but I started working right away.

Irving: Sure.

Jeffrey: I swear. It’s just that when I got home I really wanted to work and had a big complex about not wanting to work for you so I could pretend I had done it on my own.

I never thought I was going to go into this business. Both of my parents aggressively encouraged me not to. —Jeffrey Azoff

You don’t think you have gotten this far on your own?

Jeffrey: I think I am really lucky to come from such a great family. I remember convincing Jordan Feldstein to hire me as his office assistant out of college. It was the first month I was there and I didn’t have a ton to do; my dad asked how it was going and I told him I was bored. He said, word for word, “Listen to me carefully because I am only going to say this once. You have my last name and you have a phone. If you can’t figure it out from here, you’re not my son.” Then he hung up.

Irving: I was probably trying to be funny. Or get off the phone because Henley was on the other line.

Jeffrey: No, I think you were being a great mentor and you were so right. You have given me everything you possibly could have, including your name. I think at that moment I accepted the challenge and told myself to work hard enough to earn it.

It’s clear you two are really close. Do you guys disagree often?

Jeffrey: I don’t think we do. Honestly, we hardly ever disagree.

Irving: That’s not true—you always take your mother’s side when she’s being unreasonable with me.

Jeffrey: We’re on the record; I don’t think you should speak poorly about my mother.

Irving: Relax, dude. This is HITS, not The New York Times.

Jeffrey: Exactly. Remind me why we are doing this again?

Maybe we end this thing before he’s allowed to answer that question.

Jeffrey: Is it okay if I ask him one question on the record before we do?

Sure, why not?

Jeffrey: Irving, you are the best dad in the world. What advice do you have for a new father who wants to do as good of a job for your grandson as you have done for him?

Irving: [Cries]

Jeffrey: Who’s soft now?!