Oasis legend Liam Gallagher to undergo hip replacement surgery after Knebworth gigs

LIAM GALLAGHER is one of the most stubborn men in music but even he has to admit being wrong sometimes.

The ex-Oasis rocker insisted he was shunning doctors’ advice to have hip-replacement surgery last month.

He’s now done a U-turn and c. The Roll With It singer turns 50 in September and will have the double hip op next year.

It is a major turnaround following his comments in April, when Liam said he would prefer to be in a wheelchair and suffer in agony than have the procedure.

He said at the time: “I think I’d rather just be in pain, which is ridiculous, obviously. I know that. Just get them fixed. But it’s the stigma, saying you’ve had your hips replaced. What’s next?”

Because he was keen to put things off, Liam has been getting injections to manage the pain ahead of his two huge gigs at Knebworth next weekend, although he has conceded he cannot delay things much longer.

Liam said yesterday: “Hips, man, they’re both bashed up. But I just went to get these injections the other day actually, so now I am buzzin’ mate, I’m like Louie Spence.

“I might go and ruin my career at Knebworth and go and start doing some high kicks like Mick Jagger, and everyone’s going like, ‘I want my money back, we only come to see him stand still’.”

He added to Zoe Ball on Radio 2: “But I’m going to have to have the operation next year maybe, but can’t be getting it done before Knebworth.”

Unable to stop himself taking a swipe at brother Noel —  who turns 55 tomorrow — Liam insists he will not send a card. But he may give him a message during his sold-out shows.

The Wonderwall singer said jokingly: “I might give him a shout out, dedicate one of his songs to him. That’ll do his head in, won’t it?”

It’s good to see Liam’s not gone completely soft in his advancing years.

That’s an XCX-rated dress, Cara

CARA DELEVINGNE seems to have every faith in her dress – held together by the tiniest of joins.

She was the belle of the ball in the revealing black number at the amfAR gala in Cannes, South of France, where supermodel Naomi Campbell, also looked betwitching.

Charli XCX was performing in a tasselled silver skirt and matching bra on Thursday.

But she then had to cancel last night’s Belgium show in Brussels and a gig in Utrecht in the Netherlands tonight, after losing her voice.

Apologising to her fans, she tweeted: “I wish there was a way I could perform for you guys. But singing is literally impossible right now and the show is too physical to tackle whilst my glands are flared up and in pain.”

She has also had to pull out of her set at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Coventry tomorrow.

Ed had bottle to propose

ED SHEERAN has finally revealed how he popped the question to childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn.

On new song One Life, Ed hints he asked her to marry him in the grounds of his Suffolk estate: “It’s such a beautiful night to make a change in our lives. East Anglian sky, empty bottle of wine.”

He continues: “Why am I feeling so nervous when things are going so perfect? But I know that it’s worth it to spend forever with you. My chest was the pillow, green grass lawn was the bed. Last night was the night, one last moment of truth. And what a wonderful way to fall in deeper in you.”

The track is one of four new releases on the deluxe version of his album Equals.

DIG NEWS FOR ROBBIE

ROBBIE WILLIAMS has won the final round of his planning war with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

It means work will officially begin on the renovations to his £17.5million mansion.

But in a farcical twist in the saga, which has been going on for more than five years, Robbie’s builders are being forced to complete the job with hand tools – to keep the noise to a minimum.

Contractors are creating an indoor pool, gym and underground passageway to the Grade II listed home in West London. The work is expected to last for almost a year.

But after jumping through numerous hoops to make it happen, the Let Me Entertain You singer has been told his team can only use “hand tools weighing no more than 9kg at any time during the works”, to minimise the potential for vibration and damage.

A source close to Robbie said: “As you can guess, digging out a pool with hand tools is like being in the 19th century.”

The former member of TAKE THAT will also have to fork out on monitoring equipment – believed to cost another £50,000 – to keep check on vibrations that might be caused by the building work. His rocker neighbour Jimmy has fought against the home-improvement plans.

He argued the vibrations could damage ancient paintings and frescoes in his Grade I listed home, where he has lived since 1972. I would just love to be a fly on the wall next time they bump into each other in the street.

'Witty, warm Fletch would hang out after a Depeche show, chatting like a friend'

ANDY “FLETCH” FLETCHER, who died yesterday age 60, loved being in Depeche Mode and once said he could never imagine not touring the world in the band he formed as a schoolboy.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Fletch and bandmates Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and former keyboard player Alan Wilder many times over the years. Welcoming and warm, Fletch was the member of the band who would hang out after a show, chatting like a friend.

He was simply one of the nicest men in music. In an interview for the synth-pop group’s 1989 documentary 101, he described the band’s roles as: “Martin’s the songwriter, Alan is the good musician, Dave’s the vocalist and I bum around.”

But he did much more than that. Ever since they formed in the 1970s, keyboardist Fletch was the lynchpin who helped the boys from Basildon stay together throughout their 40 years in the music business.

“Depeche has been an amazing career. We’ve had our ups and downs mentally, but we’ve kept it going,” he said in an interview in New York in 2017 where I’d joined them to promote their 14th album, Spirit.

He added: “We’re in a position now where we are as popular as ever, so we are very happy.” Fletch kept the peace with his calming presence and was the witty one who made the band laugh. He also looked after their business affairs.

After Depeche Mode headlined the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2017, he was the first out of the dressing room and joked: “We love playing London – but the only worry is getting all the family and friends’ tickets. After the show it’s like a wedding reception.” Married to Grainne for over 30 years and dad to Joe and Megan, Fletch was a family man who loved watching Chelsea FC.

Success came as a surprise to him after the band went on to sell more than 100million records worldwide thanks to hits such as Just Can’t Get Enough, Everything Counts and Enjoy The Silence.

Fletch told me: “The most embarrassing things are those early videos. No one thought we’d be as big as we are and still going this long. When we first started, our accountant thought we’d only last three years and there’d be a big tax fallout. They had a financial plan that went out of the window as we kept on going.”

Fletch had his personal battles with stress and depression, temporarily leaving the band and missing part of a tour in 1994.

But by 2017 they were back to full health and I joined them in their dressing room, joking around before their show at 6 Music Festival at Glasgow Barrowlands.

In December, Gahan spoke to me about the possibility of a new Depeche Mode album. Could it still happen? Without Fletch, they will never be the same.