An ongoing venue battle between Azoff-MSG Entertainment and AEG Live “has taken another turn,” according to Jem Aswad of VARIETY. Sources said that in response to a recent challenge from Azoff-MSG that found the company "refusing to book acts into Madison Square Garden if they played at AEG’s Staples Center" instead of the MSG-operated Forum, AEG has "informed agents and promoters that acts who perform at The Forum instead of Staples will not be booked at London’s O2 Arena." The O2 is "operated by AEG and is the only venue of its category -- 20,000 capacity -- in the city." A source said that the policy went into effect on Saturday. The two companies have "been at odds since AEG Live moved most of its venues from Ticketmaster to AXS Ticketing" in the wake of the '09 Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. A source said that the MSG-Staples standoff has "been in play for several months and has affected several artists -- including Chance the Rapper, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty and Roger Waters ... which has largely seen them performing" their major N.Y. shows at Brooklyn’s 18,000-capacity Barclays Center "instead of the 20,000-plus-sized Garden, amid threats that they would be prevented from playing at the Garden on future tours as well" (VARIETY.com, 6/30).
