In a stunning twist, Big Day Out promoter Ken West has publicly welcomed Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah to the BDO team.
Contrary to earlier reports, Maddah has not bought out West's stake in the festival; rather, the two men will be working together alongside US promoters C3.
West told Fairfax that it's "about time I let a new generation help continue the BDO evolution", and asked punters to remain calm: "The world is not collapsing. In short AJ is joining the BDO circus and I am staying. So the BDO team will now be C3, AJ Maddah and yours truly."
It's a significant change of heart for West, who has previously accused Maddah of not caring about the Australian music scene. "Bless his little heart, AJ, and his idea to use Australian acts as cannon fodder or not at all," West said in an explosive interview with us last year that makes for interesting reading in light of this week's developments.
Former BDO partner Viv Lees certainly isn't psyched about the news, telling triple j that Maddah is "an odious character" in a rant that Maddah summarily dismissed on Twitter.
@jiwalker That was quite a hilarious rant considering what I know about the guy.
— AJ (@iamnotshouting) September 17, 2013
Interesting times ahead, that's for sure...
