Alison Wonderland

Breaking an internationally based artist in the U.S. can be difficult, but Australian DJ/producer Alison Wonderland got the chance to go straight to one of the biggest festivals in the country.

 “I’ve been an agent for about 20 years and she’s the first artist in my personal career whose very first show in America was Coachella,” Paradigm’s Steve Goodgold told Pollstar. He explained that he was so excited about signing with Wonderland that he sent a note to Goldenvoice President/CEO Paul Tollett.   

Alison Wonderland
John Davisson
– Alison Wonderland

“As soon as I sent it, he said, ‘Why don’t we debut her at Coachella?’ I wasn’t even thinking about [2015]. I was thinking the following year she’d have done a lot of great work to be considered for Coachella. It was amazing that Paul not only trusted me but believed in her as well. She went in there and absolutely crushed it.”

Wonderland has gone on to headline nightclubs and theatres in the U.S., with many shows selling out in advance.  

Goodgold says her team is in “planning mode” at the moment, with Wonderland playing gigs here and there while she concentrates on writing the follow-up album to her 2015 debut, Run. Her schedule includes Las Vegas residency gigs and an appearance at Lollapalooza.

 “She’s going to go out and do a really big tour at the end of this year and it will be every city that she’s been to, in much larger venues,” Goodgold says. “She’s sort of on an exponential curve. There’s a tremendous amount of demand for her from the kids and there’s a reason for it – she’s an unbelievable talent, she’s an amazing human being and she’s very inspirational. If you [look at] her social media, she’s very real. She’s very connected to her fans. … And I think that’s what helped her cultivate such a heavy-duty fan base.” 

Alison Wonderland
John Davisson
– Alison Wonderland
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That authenticity carries over to the live performance, whether she’s caught with tears in her eyes onstage because she’s feeling so blessed by the experience or she’s getting up on a table to head-bang along to a song.

“She’s a phenomenal DJ, she has great taste in music, she’s an excellent programmer, she’s a great producer and she mixes that all together,” Goodgold said. “And she’s also a star. … You don’t have to sit behind turntables and sort of just stand there and not interact. She’s giving it everything she has every time she performs and people go crazy for that.”