Robbie Williams’ Britpop show is ridiculous, hilarious and very entertaining
MUSIC
Robbie Williams | Britpop World Tour ★★★★★
Marvel Stadium, November 11
There’s always some vague framing device to a Robbie Williams concert, and for his Britpop tour it’s all about AI.
On the giant screens at the rear of the main stage, text and recorded (or generated) voice tell us it could be the greatest threat to musicians ever devised, or it could be a fabulous tool. Either way, Robbie will transcend it all. “He’s not a man he’s a signal. You don’t watch Robbie Williams, you tune into him.”
And with that, he enters, dressed in a white jumpsuit to the hard-rocking beat of Rocket, one of just two tracks he plays from the album that gives this tour its name, and we’re off – literally. As the song ends, he lifts off like a rocket, sparks showering from below, then slowly tumbles back to earth as if in a gravity-free zone. It’s ridiculous, hilarious, and very Robbie.
AI will not be mentioned again. But for the next two hours, the signal does not stop pulsing.
Robbie Williams is one of the greatest entertainers of his generation – just ask him. “This is my band, this is my arse, and Melbourne you’d better be good because I’m phenomenal,” he says as he launches into Let Me Entertain You, a song that is as much promise as manifesto. He does, and he is.
While the AI conceit is given short shrift, the case for actual real-live musicians is made resoundingly. He’s got a five-piece band, a three-strong horn section, two backing vocalists and eight dancers, all extremely talented and busy throughout.
If there’s any criticism to be made of this show, it is simply that the screens rarely capture what they’re up to; the camera is focused on the star throughout. For those at the back of the sold-out 50,000-seat stadium, the singer on screen must look like a giant among ants on that distant stage.
Williams’ ego is at the heart of everything, including his own humour, which manages to be both self-aggrandising and self-deprecating at the same time. “Camera back on me,” he directs at one point when the focus has strayed briefly. “I’m doing something charismatic.”
The playfulness of his delivery, and the obvious rapport he has with his band and dancers, ensure we’re only too willing to give him the affirmation he so openly craves.
It’s not as if he doesn’t work for it, though. Across three stages, he runs through the hits – Rock DJ (given a treatment that’s more rock than DJ), Strong, Supreme, Love My Life (introduced with a long tribute to his wife Ayda Field and their four kids, whom he credits with “literally saving my life”), Better Man. He teases an a capella Angels, then says, “I’m not doing that tonight; f--- that song”, and smiles. Of course he’ll do it. We’ll just have to wait.
Patter is as much a part of a Williams concert as the songs. And for those who saw his post-race performance at Flemington last week, it’s clear how much of it is scripted. Nothing wrong with that; it’s just a reminder that no matter how much chaotic energy he appears to summon, this is every inch a crafted show. (It’s worth noting how much more responsive the crowd is tonight than were those who stayed to watch after a full day on the turf – and the turps – a week earlier.)
The band and singers do get a moment to shine, as he invites the audience to play a game of “shit or not”. The muso gets a solo, the audience gets to decide if they pass muster. Tonight we get snippets of Back in Black, Shania Twain’s Man! I Feel Like a Woman, Another One Bites The Dust, Down Under, You’re the Voice, YMCA, Don’t Dream It’s Over and Hey Jude. As karaoke goes, it’s a blast.
The singalong is a big thing for Robbie Williams, and it’s one reason people leave feeling they’ve not just seen a show, but been part of one. There’s plenty of call and response throughout the concert, but perhaps the biggest moment comes when he is joined on stage by Thom Rylance, from the evening’s opening act, The Lottery Winners, for a cover of Oasis’ Wonderwall. It’s arguably the most Britpop moment of the night.
Sitting behind a keyboard, draped in an oversized pink feather boa, Robbie tells us he’s come to terms with something. “I’m not cool,” he says. “I tried being cool once but I just looked constipated.” He begins tinkling I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside, stands and casts aside the boa to reveal a bold pink suit, and launches into My Way.
If you saw the Williams biopic, Better Man (mostly made in Melbourne), you’ll know the special place the song holds for him and his father, who was also an entertainer. “My dad said to me, ‘Son, I was good. But you are the greatest in the world’,” he tells us. Pause, trademark grin. “And he was right.”
No argument here, Robbie. You came, you sang, and you conquered. Yet again.
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