Tennessee Firm to Buy Control of Concert Site

Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, the popular outdoor concert site threatened with destruction in a recent dispute, is being sold to a financier who helped propel the Hard Rock Cafe chain to international fame.

In an agreement disclosed Friday, Thomas “Jock” Weaver III’s Nashville Country Club Inc. will buy 51% of the theater from a group headed by Robert E. Geddes, the theater’s managing partner.

Weaver also is buying control of Geddes’ Avalon West Coast, a leading concert producer and promoter. The total price is at least $7 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The amphitheater is one of Southern California’s leading venues for outdoor entertainment. Near the junction of the I-5 and 405 freeways, it is situated perfectly to take advantage of the rapidly expanding population of southern Orange County.

Geddes said Weaver has plans for development near the theater but declined to be more specific.

Weaver already had bought control of some Geddes ventures outside California.

Geddes said he will stay on as president and chief operating officer of the company, handling day-to-day management. Weaver, whose background is in finance, will be chairman. Geddes and partners Brian F. Murphy and Thomas Miserendino became directors of Nashville Country Club last month.

The ultimate price could be “significantly more” depending on the financial performance of the companies through 1998, Geddes said.

Geddes, of Montecito, worked with developer Donald Koll to build the Irvine venue in 1982. The facility sits on Irvine Co. land that until recently was leased by Los Angeles businessman Harry Shuster and sublet to Geddes.

The Irvine Co. had been in a long struggle to take control of the parcel itself. Shuster had claimed to have the right to destroy the amphitheater and the nearby Wild Rivers water park and threatened to do so before relinquishing the property. But last month he finally agreed to a peaceful eviction.

The long-term theater lease has now reverted to the Irvine Co.

“They pay us rent and also a percentage of things like food and beverages,” said Irvine Co. spokesman Larry Thomas, “but we aren’t involved in managing it at all.” Nashville Country Club, based in Hickory Valley, Tenn., operates a Nashville restaurant with a country music theme.

The company, which is publicly traded, bought Colorado’s Village at Breckenridge ski resort last year for $31 million.

Weaver formerly was president of Hard Rock International, parent of the Hard Rock Cafe restaurants. Hard Rock founder Peter Morton, who with numerous celebrity partners invested about $18 million in Hard Rock over its 25-year history, sold the chain last year for $410 million.

Weaver “is in a very aggressive acquisition mode,” Geddes said Friday in a telephone interview from Texas, where he is producing a three-day rock festival, sponsored by Blockbuster Entertainment Group, outside Fort Worth.

He said Weaver also envisions “destination” resorts as well as additional development in the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre area. He wouldn’t elaborate.

“There’s a lot of things developing. We’re moving fast and furious,” Geddes said.

Among other things, Geddes is producing U2’s concert tonight at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Weaver wasn’t reachable for comment.