The Greek Theatre, one of Los Angeles’ most iconic outdoor concert venues, has been named in a sweeping new lawsuit by Trident Concert Productions, an independent concert promoter working with folk revival act The Kingston Trio. The lawsuit, filed by L.A. litigator Konrad Trope, accuses the building’s management company, ASM Global, along with Ticketmaster, Live Nation and the City of Los Angeles of orchestrating a corrupt system that shuts out independent promoters and leaves fans — particularly seniors — without access to concerts at the venue.
At the heart of the complaint is a claim that city officials and corporate partners have quietly undermined the Greek Theatre’s 2018 management agreement, which mandated the venue be run as an “open building” free from exclusive ticketing and promotion deals. Instead, Trident alleges that the city, in partnership with Ticketmaster and Live Nation, allowed a de facto monopoly over the venue, forcing promoters into arrangements that stifled competition and limited access for fans.
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One of the lawsuit’s sharpest accusations centers not on pricing or antitrust, but on the failure to properly record two Kingston Trio concerts at the Greek on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, 2024.
“Trident and the Trio’s intent was to produce a documentary concert film and a high-quality live concert album to accompany the film,” Trope said. “This concert was contracted with and to be distributed by BRI for worldwide distribution in theatres, television, and streaming.”
Trident paid $50,000 to secure the filming and performance dates for the concert, according to the lawsuit.
“During the first show, on the evening of August 17, 2024, the Trio’s entire Saturday show, critical to the ultimate success of Sunday’s show, was not recorded. Not a single second of performance was saved to any hard drives we provided damaging the potential for the documents,” Trope said. Two of the Greek’s employees allegedly never “checked to make sure that the necessary hard drives required to record the Shows were actually plugged in,” the lawsuit reads.
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Despite that alleged failure to properly record the first concert, Trident claims it was presented with a $200,000 bill for filming and “delivering” the concert footage. It adds that a third-party contractor hired to run the show’s AV subsequently blamed venue staff at the Greek for failing to instruct them to record the show, despite being aware of Trident’s “intent to film and record both nights for a full-length feature documentary film to be released in 2025, in time for the Academy Award screening season.”
“There wasn’t even a backup protection track, the most basic element of all, produced either for the video or sound,” the lawsuit reads. “This was unprofessional to the maximum degree and reflective of the dismissive attitude that The Greek Theater displayed towards Trident and the Kingston Trio.“
The lawsuit claims this alleged failure was not an isolated oversight, but part of a broader pattern at the Greek Theatre, Trident says. By allowing concerts to proceed without proper record-keeping, the company claims, the venue’s management created conditions where outside promoters were left in the dark about how their shows performed financially. This lack of transparency, the suit says, effectively shields Ticketmaster and Live Nation from scrutiny while making it nearly impossible for independents to challenge their dominance.
For a band like The Kingston Trio, whose cultural legacy stretches back more than six decades, the complaint suggests that the Greek’s mishandling of the concert was more than a logistical slip. It was, in the words of Trident, “a breach of trust that denied artists and their audiences the integrity they deserve.”
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The lawsuit accuses Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the Department of Recreation and Parks commissioners of turning a blind eye to what it calls an “illegal financial arrangement” with Ticketmaster and Live Nation. These deals, Trident claims, not only sideline independent promoters but also discriminate against fans who cannot navigate Ticketmaster’s mobile-only ticketing platforms.
“Concert producers and live events at The Greek Theater that appeal to senior citizens are discouraged or suffer financial ruin if they are not contracted with Ticketmaster and Live Nation,” the filing alleges.
For Trident, the dispute is about more than market share. The company claims it made repeated attempts to stage shows at the Greek without Live Nation or Ticketmaster’s involvement, only to be shut out by the venue’s management and denied fair access to ticketing. When concerts did move forward, the lack of proper documentation and recording left promoters without the ability to track ticket sales or resolve disputes, the lawsuit says.
This, Trident argues, makes it nearly impossible for smaller promoters to operate successfully at a city-owned venue that should be run in the public interest.
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Billboard reached out to officials with the Greek Theatre for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.
In May, Trident filed a separate lawsuit over The Kingston Trio’s Greek Theatre shows against L.A. attorney David A. Helfant, whom the band and promoter hired for his supposed inside connections at the venue. In that complaint, Trope wrote that in fact, “Helfant did not have expertise or the inside track or any superior knowledge about how to secure concert dates” at the Greek despite claiming that he did. Trope alleged that Helfant charged the band $650 per hour for his services and convinced it to spend $10,000 to hire a consultant to “grease the wheels” at the venue, though the group ended up booking the venue using the Greek’s own public booking process. Trope filed a petition to have the case dismissed in August after reaching a settlement.
