“Robbie Williams – Vector Arena November 3, 2015”

This is Robbie Williams’ “Let Me Entertain You” tour.  And after sitting (and standing) through his nearly two hour show at Auckland’s Vector Arena, no matter what you think of his music or his persona, one thing is certain, the man delivered on his promise. I would venture to say that every one of the 10,000+ folks in the audience were definitely entertained.

The show began just after 8:30 with a large screen flashing messages to the crowd…”Hello, is anybody there?”….”Shake your ass”…”Am I still your son?”…and finally, “Then let me entertain you”. It was the “Am I still your son?” line that I found most telling. Here was Williams, a few years past his hit-making prime, a performer known for his ego and his off-stage antics more than his music, almost begging the crowd to accept him. To remember him.

He needn’t have worried, they did remember him, along with most of the lyrics to his songs and those of the many covers Williams threw into the mix along the way.

But Robbie was taking no chances. This was a big production designed to make an impact…I counted 12 musicians and singers on stage in addition to Williams including a three-piece horn section and four additional vocalists/dancers.

Its clear Robbie is a big fan of Freddie Mercury and Queen…he sang not one, but two of their songs over the course of the evening…and like that band, bombast was his favourite tool. The sound, the lights, the stage props and the personality were all bigger than life, designed to do everything possible to put smiles on the faces of those who had paid their money to see a show.

For myself, like many “serious music journalists”, I have little time for Robbie’s brand of pop, on the radio or on TV it comes across as little more than a vehicle for his own larger-than-life character…one that he has spent years developing and one that you either love or hate. But I must admit that when all the elements come together in one room, the spirit of “let me entertain you” is infectious.

The crowd was standing and singing along from the first notes of the first song and on through Rock DJ. Meanwhile Robbie was intent on doing whatever was necessary to keep his fans happy, even if that meant doing several push-ups while his guitarist soloed on top of him during Rock DJ. He also was quick to take a few jabs at his own persona…performing Win Some Lose Some for the first time since 2002….”When I was famous”, or noting that this was his first tour when he wasn’t forced to spend some time in rehab.

There were plenty of imaginative set pieces…the best featuring a young female fan named Morgan plucked from the crowd and invited to join Williams in a stage-prop bed while he (and she) sang Hot Fudge with some rather dodgy video played beneath them.

He also spent a fair bit of time singing snippets of his own, his old band Take That, and just about everyone else’s songs including those of U2, The Beatles, Joan Jett, Lorde, Oasis and, of course, Queen.

Bohemian Rhapsody got the full treatment as the encore, complete with Queen’s original video playing along with Williams. It was shameless karaoke and the crowd loved it. Vocally, Robbie is no Freddie Mercury, but that didn’t seem to matter.

The show ended with William with two of his biggest hits, She’s The One and Angels, before Williams strolled out to the centre of the venue on last time for a singalong of My Way.  This was the final stop on a tour that began back in March and the end did indeed feel special.

There was one other aspect to the show that I thought I’d address. It is the subject of Wellington music writer Simon Sweetman’s scathing review of this same show a few days earlier. At least In assume it was the same show, since, after reading Simon’s review, which you can find here, it was difficult to know exactly what Williams did during the show. What you did find out was that Simon really, really doesn’t like Robbie Williams and he took his opportunity to say so. This resulted in Williams responding with a tweet calling Sweetman a “baby eater”, accompanied by a photo of Simon holding up his son. This then resulted in plenty of buzz just before last night’s show and it also made its way into the show. Just after performing Win Some Lose Some, Robbie strode out to the edge of the ramp that took him to the middle of the Vector arena and began reciting a poem. It was “Hello Sir” a bonus track off his 1997 album, Life Thru A Lens. The poem addresses a former teacher who apparently bullied the young Robbie, telling him he’s never amount to anything and reducing him to tears.  The final line was slightly changed for this occasion:

But thanks for the advice and I’m sure it’ll do
For the negative dickheads just like you.
As for now I’ve a different weapon
Stage and screen is about to beckon.

And here I sit in first class
Simon Sweetman, kiss my fucking ass…

Of course the crowd went wild and then the show went on.

So, on the surface it looks like everyone got what they wanted. Simon got plenty of attention and notoriety with his hatchet job disguised as a concert review and Robbie Williams got himself in the papers leading up to this show and also chance to get in the final word from the stage.

Meanwhile, fans and non-fans were…entertained.

When I woke up this morning to write this, the first thing I saw on Facebook were links to articles in the US and Australia reporting on this little spat between Simon and Robbie.  So, now everyone’s really happy…right?

Well, not exactly.

I understand why Simon wrote what he did…I even agree with some of it…but readers should know that he was a guest of the promoter….given free tickets (as was I) to write a review for the Dominion Post. This is different than some random person buying a ticket, and then writing his opinions on his blog somewhere. Simon’s situation comes with some responsibility and expectation. He has a responsibility to his readers to at least accurately report what went down…then add his opinion. But to be honest, after reading Simon’s review, I had no idea what to expect from the show. There is also an expectation from the promoter that these free tickets will at least result in a professional attempt at letting fans know what the show was like…not a pre-meditated character assassination, which is how Simon’s piece read.

It’s not the first time this has happened and I’ve been appalled by some of the personal attacks Simon has made against artists…ones that I’ve liked and not liked. There is a line between giving brutally honest assessment of someone’s skills as a musician and then there is just plain meanness.

I’m not sure how this will finally play out. I do know that Simon has been banned by certain promoters from getting complimentary tickets to review their shows, which will surely put a strain on his relationship with his employers. I do know that he already had to do some backpedalling and write a “glowing review” of the venue in Wellington that the Robbie Williams show was held in order to avoid repercussions from the venue’s management.

Does any of this serve the reader or the arts in general? I don’t think so. It feels more and more liker media manipulation and ego stroking…making a noise for the sake of it, rather than creating a really useful discourse.

So now Simon Sweetman can claim to have Robbie Williams mention him by name from the stage and Robbie himself has generated some more publicity for himself. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve just witnessed something quite ugly.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by David Watson:

Robbie Williams set list:

1. Let Me Entertain You
2. Rock DJ
3. Monsoon
4. Come Undone
5. Win Some Lose Some
6. Hello Sir
7. The Road To Mandalay
8. Back For Good
9. Motherfucker
10. Better Man
11. Medley: Fell/Angels/Wonderwall
12. Supreme
13. We Will Rock You/I Love Rock & Roll
14. Hot Fudge
15. Feel
16. Royals/Millennium/Hey Jude
17. Kids
18. Bohemian Rhapsody
19. She’s The One
20. Angels
21. My Way