Coda Agency’s Alex Hardee has hailed Liam Gallagher as "cultural and relevant" after the announcement of the singer’s first solo UK arena tour.
Gallagher, whose debut album As You Were drops via Warner Bros. Records on October 6, hits the road in December for arena dates in Leeds, Glasgow, Nottingham, Birmingham and Cardiff, along with shows at London’s Alexandra Palace, Plymouth Pavilions and Brighton Centre.
The former Oasis frontman has enjoyed a successful comeback in 2017, completing a four-date underplay of intimate UK venues in June and a string of festival dates throughout the summer. Lead single Wall Of Glass charted at No.21 and follow-ups Chinatown and For What Its Worth at No.56 and No.46 respectively, while Gallagher’s public profile is arguably at its highest point since Oasis split in 2009.
“I put this down to the team, but mostly Liam, completely judging the tone of the campaign right: self-deprecating and arrogant at the same time - that’s a hard look to pull off,” said Hardee, the singer’s booking agent.
Hardee, who began representing the singer last year, had no qualms about the swift step up to arenas. “No doubts whatsoever – the man is a rock’n’roll star,” he told Music Week.
Gallagher has performed at festivals in recent months, including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza Paris, Spain’s Benicassim, Pinkpop in the Netherlands, Rock im Park in Germany and, most recently, Reading & Leeds, where he appeared before Muse.
“We played one festival or a combination of festivals in each major market,” explained Hardee. “We wanted a moment in each market to announce he is back.
“Reading & Leeds weren’t confident of us doing the second headline slot, but I pushed for it and he had one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. When I saw tens of thousands of teenagers singing back Wall Of Glass at the biggest youth festival in the UK, I could not work out why the song was not playlisted on Radio 1. Liam Gallagher is cultural and relevant.”
As You Were will be Gallagher’s first LP since the second and final Beady Eye album Be, which peaked at No.2 in 2013 and has sold 77,575 copies according to the Official Charts Company.
Hardee, who also represents acts such as Rag‘N’Bone Man, Bastille and Jess Glynne, said Gallagher’s live plans for 2018 included “a big outdoor headline show with some surprising guests”. “Apart from that we just going to ‘roll with it’,” he joked.
While with Beady Eye, Gallagher was booked by Oasis agent Ben Winchester of Primary Talent International - who reps Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - and latterly by David Levy of WME. He is being managed by his girlfriend Debbie Gwyther and UROK Management.
