SANTA ROSA, CA – Mick Brigden, longtime tour manager for guitarist Joe Satriani and other artists, died after being rushed to the hospital Sept. 5. He had reportedly been digging a grave on his property for his ailing dog before requiring medical attention.
Along with Satriani and the rock supergroup Chickenfoot, Brigden, a key member on the Bill Graham Presents team, handled the details for a long roster of artists over more than six decades, including Peter Frampton, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
After moving from the U.K. to Canada in the late 1960s, Brigden was persuaded to shift from a career as a graphic artist to try his hand as a New York-based road manager for the band Mountain.
During the band’s show at the Filmore West in San Francisco, Brigden met legendary rock promoter Bill Graham along with Julia Dreyer, who would become Brigden’s wife.
Brigden worked under Graham alongside Arnold “Arnie” Pustilnik, who died of cancer on Aug. 20, and in a subsequent interview with Billboard magazine, he provided a tribute to Pustilnik, reflecting on how he and Arnie formed a “left brain-right brain relationship that worked very well for our acts.”
Brigden and Pustilnik worked closely together after Graham’s 1991 death in a plane crash, and helped manage the company even after SFX Entertainment, which would later become Live Nation, took over its ownership in 1997.
After living for years in California’s Marin County, Mick and Julia Brigden settled in Santa Rosa in 2001, and Brigden established MJJ Management. He would later team up with Morty Wiggins, another alum from Bill Graham Presents, to manage other bands including the rock supergroup Chickenfoot, comprised of Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith.
Along with music and creative concert production, Brigden was an enthusiastic bicyclist, vintner, and animal lover. He is survived by his wife Julia, a son, step-daughter and grandson. The family asks that donations be sent in Brigden’s name to the Humane Society of Sonoma County.
