The War and Treaty‘s surprise guest appearance at Zach Bryan‘s record-setting concert Saturday (Sept. 27) in Ann Arbor, Mich., has led to a conflict with a nonprofit in suburban Chicago.

The married duo, based in Nashville but originally from Albion, Mich., joined Bryan for a performance of “Hey Driver,” a song The War and Treaty recorded with him on his self-titled 2023 album. The show’s attendance — 112,408 according to AEG Presents — made it the largest ticketed event ever in the U.S., breaking a record established by George Strait 15 months prior in Texas. It also set a merchandise sales record with $5 million.

However, the group had been booked to perform at Marty’s Barn Party for Equestrian Connection, a Lake Forest, Ill., organization that uses horses as therapy to “positively impact the lives of thousands of mentally, emotionally and physically challenged children and adults.” The War and Treaty pulled out just hours before the event — three according to the organization, five according to the group — which has led to a series of scathing recriminations on social media.

“Trying not to judge but hard to understand why the band would cancel their paid commitment or at least give us sufficient prior notice,” the organization posted. “Still trying to process the lack of empathy.” Marty’s Barn Party organizer Diana Finley Schnell wrote in a separate post that the War and Treaty no-showed for its sound check without any notice, and that the Equestrian Connection didn’t learn they wouldn’t be showing up until a call was placed to the booking agent. “They said they won’t be here now because they got a better offer for a tour. I’ve never seen such a sad display of unprofessionalism in my life…. How can you confirm the day before and then to not show up or even contact the event to tell them. We still wouldn’t know if we hadn’t called their agent…If I ever see them at a show and have the chance I am doing something to destroy their show.”

The sold-out charity event did go on as planned with two Chicagoland groups, the John Koziol Band and the According to Kate Country Band, brought in to take The War and Treaty’s place. Equestrian Connection has not responded to Billboard‘s requests for additional comment.

Acknowledging to Billboard that “it was a hard decision to make,” the War and Treaty’s Michael and Tanya Trotter pushed back at the way the situation is being portrayed.

The Trotters said on Tuesday (Sept. 30) that they received an initial call from Bryan’s father on Friday night inquiring if they would want to sing the National Anthem as part of the show at Michigan Stadium, but a formal invitation did not come until Saturday morning, after the group had arrived in Chicago. After consulting with management and their booking agency, The War and Treaty decided to head to Ann Arbor but maintain they notified the Marty’s Barn Party organizers immediately.

Per the contract, the War and Treaty handled its own transportation, while Equestrian Connection was to provide lodging, ground transportation and food.

 “We never checked into the hotel, we never went to the venue, never ate any food, never did any of that,” Michael Trotter said. “(The event organizer) is out there saying we stole their money, ate their food, checked into hotels, all this stuff about us that’s just not true.” The $50,000 performance fee was refunded, he said; the group made a separate $5,000 donation and provided a video for the event apologizing for its absence and explaining why. “We were very transparent that Zach Bryan called, this was the offer, we returned their money, made a donation, tried to help fill the (performance) position,” a War and Treaty source close to the situation added. The group did make some use of shuttle services the charity provided and has offered to reimburse that expense, according to the Trotters.

The reason for the decision, they added, related to their close friendship with Bryan and the significance of the song and the collaboration in their career. Bryan namechecks Trotter at the start of the track — “This is your song Mike, let’s do it” — and while song itself muses on the experience and consequences of the nomadic career of a touring performer, the Trotters also relate it to Michael’s publicly acknowledged struggles with PTSD after his military service in Iraq.

“While we were (on stage) I was keeping in mind the times when I was standing on helipads in Iraq, standing on the banks of the Euphrates River being shot at…where I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do this dream of mine to be a musician and recording artist,” Trotter explains. “I never imagined being in a stadium of 112,000 people-plus singing a song that Zach Bryan and the War and Treaty have done together. Being able to represent the U.S. Army — all my battle buddies, all the veterans — (and) represent my city, Albion, in the state of Michigan, with my wife and our friend and partaking in his success and being part of that…we had to do it.

“In hindsight I wish that Zach would’ve asked us a lot earlier,” Michael Trotter explained, “but, I mean, it’s Michigan and it’s the biggest concert in U.S. history. You don’t really get that opportunity many times in your life.”

Tanya Trotter added that, “Was it the best decision we’ve ever made and how we did it? No, but when I look back at our journey and everything we’ve gone through and the banner he waves and we wave as a couple that battled disabilities, for me it was something that was rewarding to experience.”

With alcohol sales continuing to decline, especially among health-conscious Gen-Zers, event organizers are looking for new sources of revenue to offset the drop in drinking. That includes introducing new categories of non-alcoholic beverages to sell to customers at a premium.

The newest entrant is a category of drinks called tonics, and global concert promoter AEG just announced a significant branding deal on this front with Tractor Beverage Company. The partnership will bring Haymaker, Tractor’s new certified-organic sparkling tonic, exclusively into more than 50 AEG Presents venues across the country. The Haymaker brand contains a recipe made with apple cider vinegar, ginger, and citrus and can be served alcohol-free or mixed into a cocktail.

Brokered by AEG’s global partnership division, the deal taps into what AEG calls “growing demand for clean, non-alcoholic options that still feel like part of the ‘night out’ experience,” according to a press release from the company. “For AEG, it’s about reshaping what fans expect at shows while bringing in a values-led, farmer-founded brand with real cultural credibility.”

According to a 2021 market research report, the tonic market is estimated to be worth $2.1 billion, with an annual growth rate of 10.8% expected through the end of the decade.

AEG will begin serving Haymaker next month at flagship AEG Presents venues including The Shrine Auditorium, The Fonda Theater and El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles; Brooklyn Steel and Terminal 5 in New York; and Mission Ballroom and Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Denver. Additional AEG Presents venues and cities will follow in 2026.

The AEG announcement follows a first-of-its-kind sponsorship struck early this year between Live Nation and Athletic Brewing Company, America’s largest non-alcoholic brewer, for the concert promoter’s large portfolio of venues and marquee festivals.

Duke Stump, chief brand officer for Tractor, heralded the deal for celebrating “the deep connection between land, music, and community,” while “bringing our farming roots and spirit to life.”

Holli Branam, senior vp at AEG global partnerships, added that the deal “deepens our commitment to a fan-first beverage program across our venues,” while Andrew Klein, president of global partnerships, called Tractor a “trusted partner who shares our commitment to the passionate music communities we’ve built.”

Hatebreed and its frontman Jamey Jasta say founding bassist Chris Beattie has no legal basis to sue over his ouster from the metalcore band last year.

Beattie brought a lawsuit against Hatebreed and Jasta (James Shanahan) this summer, claiming he had been unfairly kicked out of the band after 30 years. The bassist said Jasta made up a phony story about him harassing a security guard to justify the ouster, when really Jasta wanted to take home a larger share of Hatebreed’s profits.

Hatebreed and Jasta have now filed their first official response to the litigation. In a motion to strike some of the claims docketed on Thursday (Sept. 25), lawyers for the band and its frontman say Beattie’s lawsuit is a “garden variety band break-up case.”

“Plaintiff, a disgruntled former band member of the band known as ‘Hatebreed,’ erroneously asserts a right to remain a permanent member of the band in perpetuity despite the fact that the underlying relationship between the parties was terminable at-will,” wrote Hatebreed and Jasta’s attorneys.

According to the motion, there is no written contract that guarantees Beattie the right to stay a member of Hatebreed forever. Therefore, the band and Jasta say they had the legal right to fire Beattie at any point, and there’s no valid legal footing for the bassist to bring breach of contract claims against them.

Hatebreed and Jasta are asking a judge to ax four of the six claims in Beattie’s lawsuit, all tied to his ouster from the band. The other two claims concern Hatebreed’s merchandise sales, which are not covered in the motion to strike.

The band and Jasta’s attorney, Brian Caplan, declined to comment on Tuesday (Sept. 30), telling Billboard, “We think the motion papers speak for themselves.” Reps for Beattie did not immediately return a request for comment.

Beattie and Jasta co-founded Hatebreed in 1994, and both remained in the band until this past November, when Beattie abruptly departed and told fans in a social media post that the decision was not his own.

According to Beattie’s lawsuit, filed in July, Jasta fired the bassist and claimed it was because he’d harassed a Live Nation security guard at Connecticut’s Toyota Oakdale Theater. Beattie claimed this was “patently untrue.”

Beattie alleged in his lawsuit that Jasta axed him out of greed so that he could recoup a larger chunk of Hatebreed’s touring revenues, publishing royalties and merchandise sales. The bassist is seeking financial damages from his former bandmates.

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If you’re looking for something new to watch, then Hulu + Live TV is your one stop for entertainment, sports, news and more with live TV streaming and hit originals such as Only Murders In the Building.

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Travis Kelce may have kept it 100 on most things this summer, but the extent of his knowledge about Taylor Swift‘s The Life of a Showgirl may not have been one of them.

With just a few days left to go until the release of the pop star’s new album, Swifties think that they have retroactively discovered a moment where Swift’s now-fiancé dropped an Easter egg about the project weeks before it was even announced. The clue in question has to do with the phrase, “Keep it 100,” which appears on the back of a handheld mirror fans found Tuesday (Sept. 30) on the first day of Spotify’s new The Life of a Showgirl pop-up in New York City.

The phrase — which means being “authentic and truthful,” per Dictionary.com — possibly relates to a lyric on one of the songs on Swift’s new LP, which drops on Friday (Oct. 3). Spotify promised that the pop-up would give fans the chance to “discover hidden Easter eggs … all inspired by the album.”

But “Kept it 100” was also used by Kelce in a July post on Instagram. Sharing a batch of never-before-seen photos of himself and his then-girlfriend having fun over the summer, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end wrote in the caption at the time, “Had some adventures this offseason, kept it [100].”

It didn’t take long for fans to connect the mirror inside the Spotify pop-up back to Kelce’s months-old post. “he dropped an easter egg before the album was even announced omg,” one person wrote on X, sharing side-by-side photos of the clues.

“oh so travis has been upgraded to an elite easter egg dropper huh,” another fan posted.

The “Keep it 100” mirror is just one of many fascinating objects Swifties have been finding at Spotify’s Life of a Showgirl immersive experience, which will be open to fans through Thursday (Oct. 2). Fans have also reported seeing “Happy Valentine’s Day” notes, loose jewelry and what appears to be a lyric — “Oftentimes it doesn’t feel glamorous to be me” — scrawled on a mirror inside of the pop-up.

And while there’s no telling which other Easter eggs Kelce may have personally dropped leading up to the release of The Life of a Showgirl, we already know he’s been essential to the album’s rollout in other ways. Swift first announced the project via an appearance on the football player’s New Heights podcast with brother Jason Kelce, and Travis has kept fans wanting more with hints about the album’s sound.

“I know [Taylor] mentioned that it’s gonna be a lot more pop beats, but it’s just still so poetic in her melodies and her references and stuff,” the Happy Gilmore 2 star said on another episode of New Heights. “It’s just so much fun to listen to, man. I’ve been dancing all throughout the house.”