Liam Gallagher talks meeting Diego Maradona, Christmas song & River Thames virtual gig
Liam joined Dave Berry on his Absolute Radio breakfast show Liam
Last updated 1st Dec 2020
Liam Gallagher joined Dave Berry on his Absolute Radio breakfast show this morning (Tuesday 1st December) to talk about his new Christmas song ‘All You’re Dreaming Of’, meeting Diego Maradona, his upcoming gig on the River Thames and much more.
In the wake of Diego Maradona’s death last week aged 60, Liam took to Instagram to share a photo of himself and Noel with Maradona in Argentina in March 1998 during Oasis’ Be Here Now Tour.
Hailing Maradona as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), Liam wrote: “Proper RNR footballer no f---er will ever come near him.”
Revealing more about the meeting, Liam told Dave Berry: “What a dude, man! First time I met him was in Buenos Aires. We’d done a festival and we were staying at a hotel. We’d gone back to the hotel for a couple of drinks and the next minute there was about 900 people steaming past and into the lift. I was going ‘Who was that? What’s going on over there?!
“So, anyway we got our interpreter to go over and go ‘Here you are, find out who that is’. And he goes ‘Oh it’s Diego and he’s going upstairs to the penthouse to have a party!’
“So that was it. We scarpered up there and he was in there having a bit of a do. So there was all that and it was good craic, and we had a quick picture and then we scarpered before it got a bit moody.
“And then I met him at a (Manchester) City match cos I think his daughter was married to Sergio Aguero. But every time I met him; he was sound man!”
'All You're Dreaming Of'
Premiered last week, Liam Gallagher’s Christmas song ‘All You’re Dreaming Of’ is a poignant and musically stripped back anthem about hope in these turbulent times.
Reflecting upon the track, Liam said: “Everyone was sort of expecting me to come back with a bit of an angry tune and that and y’know a bit like y’know ‘piss off at the Government’ and stuff and all this and all that and I don’t think that’s the right attitude.
“I think for me I wanted to come back the other way you know what I mean a bit of love and a bit of hope…It sounds a bit like a bit of an old Bing Crosby kinda vibe and that so we thought let’s get stuck into the Christmassy vibe so yeah I would call it a Christmas song, but a serious one and none of that cheese, there’s enough cheesy Christmas songs out there.”
Down By The River Thames
With all his 2020 touring activities postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Liam is set to make a suitably biblical return to performing on Saturday 5th December with ‘Down By The River Thames’, which will be streamed globally, exclusively on MelodyVR.
“Obviously we can’t gig anymore because of this COVID thing and we had to cancel all the gigs so instead of doing it on the Zoom, which I find offensive - you know what I mean you ain’t putting me on a zoom and trying to get some tunes out, I don’t think so. So, we decided to go big, rent a barge out like Del Boy and that and Rodney and that and just get down on the River Thames and go for it, turn the electric guitars on and it’s mega, it sounds really good considering it’s the winter…It is incredible, that’s my middle name innit man, Liam Incredible Gallagher!”
When Dave asked if Oasis used to give each other gifts at Christmas, Liam replied: “No, no, we’re not McFly, none of that. You can imagine that lot can’t ya, oh here’s a breakfast one, here’s one for lunch and here’s one after you’ve had your dinner, no way, nah there’s none of that” “We’d have a Christmas drink though for sure.”
Commenting on his fellow band member Bonehead, Liam continued: “Bonehead’s great, with all this lockdown I was meant to be going to Manchester next week, when after this lockdown but you can’t now because it’s tier 3 so God knows when I’ll see him again but hopefully before Christmas.”
‘All You’re Dreaming Of’ is available to download right now with a vinyl formats following on Friday 18th December. Proceeds from the release until 31st December will go directly to the charity Action For Children, which provides vital practical and emotional support to children and young people.
Tickets for Liam Gallagher’s Down By The River Thames virtual concert are on sale right here.