The day before Danny Wimmer Presents put tickets on sale for its new festival in Ohio, AEG slapped the concert promoter with a lawsuit claiming DWP was violating agreements struck for previous festivals. DWP’s CEO begs to differ.

“We didn’t have a long-term agreement with AEG,” DWP CEO Danny Hayes says about Rock on the Range in DWP’s key marketplace of the Ohio Valley, and Carolina Rebellion in Charlotte, N.C. “The relationship had broken down to the point where we couldn’t agree on the terms for 2018, but we had already booked talent and shows were on sale so we had to do 2018 together.

“AEG had no interest in meeting with me to discuss the issues—they were happy with the way relationship was. We kept saying we’re not happy with the relationship and if they won’t meet, how do we resolve it?”

DWP and AEG went their separate ways this summer, which Hayes was OK with as they had no agreements to co-promote any events in 2019.

On its own, DWP is staging two festivals in May that ostensibly replace festivals they had previously promoted with AEG. Sonic Temple, which will be held in the Columbus, Ohio, soccer venue Mapfre Stadium 5/17-19 with headliners System of a Down, Foo Fighters and Disturbed, is being held instead of Rock on the Range, which had a run from 2007 to 2018.

Epicenter, which steps in for Carolina Rebellion that was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, will be held 5/10-12 at the Rockingham, N.C., Festival Grounds. Its lineup, announced today, includes Korn, Tool and Foo Fighters as headliners; tickets go on sale Friday.

“We are very proud of what Carolina Rebellion represented, so we understand that our decision to replace it was confusing to people,” Danny Wimmer said in a release announcing the new festival’s lineup. “It took more time than we had hoped to make the final decision and then work out all of the details. Ultimately, we felt that there was so much more that we could accomplish in the right circumstances.”

Hayes says the big distinction goes beyond the location of Epicenter. With no curfew at Rockingham, he says, “we’re going to try to make this more of a European-feeling festival—camping, a late-night component, things we couldn’t do at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Rockingham gives us creative flexibility and freedom to redesign the experience.”

AEG’s complaint, filed in Los Angeles Super Court, accuses DWP of renaming the established festivals after rejecting offers to buy or sell Rock on the Range and Carolina Rebellion. Hayes is accused of having secret negotiations with venues and acts without AEG’s knowledge, which the DWP exec rejects.

“The relationship was on the ropes and as the 2019 deadline started to approach, we had to confirm the venue [for 2019],” Hayes says. “All the venue deals had run out. We were at the point where we had to lock in a new venue agreement.

“Once things started to become problematic and 2019 was in jeopardy, I was negotiating with Mapfre for either the continuation of Rock on the Range or a new festival. There was never a time I was trying to trick anybody.”

Hayes says the two parties had different ideas on how to grow and develop the festivals, noting that Rock on the Range had become “same old, same old” in recent editions.

AEG states in the lawsuit that DWP rejected the company’s offer to buy or sell the festival’s name and trademark and “has unilaterally taken for itself the partnerships’ sole assets—Rock on the Range and Carolina Rebellion—in their entirety, without AEG’s consent and without compensating AEG or its share of such assets."

Hayes notes, “We were very clear with AEG that we believed that they were free to compete and in fact they did compete. They attempted to secure Mapfre Stadium. They were successful and Mapfre broke off discussions with us. They made bigger offers to artists we had offers out to. When we then got Mapfre back, they went and put the Ohio State football stadium on hold and tried to do a competing event.

“I’m confused why they didn’t do an event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

They’re free to compete. I find it strange to sue somebody after you’ve tried to compete with them in the market.”

Hayes could not address several points in the lawsuit, noting that DWP and AEG had specific confidentially clauses in their agreements. The agreements between the two companies were not filed with the lawsuit.

“The agreements on their face show the claims have no merit,” says Hayes.

The company has not decided whether to countersue and court date has been set. Stay tuned.