Robbie Williams LIVE @ First Direct Arena, Leeds 16.04.14

Swinging, winning and singing about topless women.
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How Robbie Williams compressed his ego to fit almost seamlessly back into Take That is perhaps one of pop music’s biggest mysteries. Stood behind Gary Barlow’s piano, adding backing “oohs” and “aahs” to ‘A Million Love Songs’, this was Robbie building himself again from where it all began following his fall from grace. Fortunately for fans of, arguably, one of Britain’s best showmen (and, undisputedly, one of the biggest show offs) the leap back from boyband backing dancer to fully fledged solo star took just a year with the return-to-big-hits album Take The Crown, followed a year later by return-to-big-band collection, Swings Both Ways.

Compressing a sold-out arena crowd into a theatre setting (looking like the inside of the Titanic for the first half and out on the deck for the second), Rob appeared, alone, to open with ‘Shine My Shoes’. Unlike his first foray into swing (2001’s Swing When You’re Winning), Swings Both Ways featured more than one self-penned tribute to the genre (more often than not with tongue firmly planted in cheek) with the setlist almost entirely made up of numbers from the two LPs.

robbie williams singing live“It’s a swing show, it’s meant to have some class,” Williams told the crowd (following an ad-lib song about a female fan’s breast) and while ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz’ and ‘Mr. Bojangles’ almost demanded respect for their authentic takes on the originals, complete with a big-band fronted by reunited collaborator Guy Chambers, the newer songs gave the evening a more Bruce Forsyth take on show business. ‘No One Likes A Fat Pop Star’ saw Robbie lifted from the floor in a padded-out tux (looking not unlike BGT winner Paul Potts), while ‘Swings Both Ways’ (featuring Rufus Wainright on the album and including the lines “And after I’ve done her well you can do me”) was accompanied by confetti cannons and feather boas. (And that’s without mentioning the duet with his dad, the monkey suits for ‘I Wan’na Be Like You’ or the on-stage wedding with “Sian from Cottingham… Where the fairies came from…”)

For the most part, however, the evening served as a testament to Robbie Williams as one of our strongest, wittiest entertainers. Whether (co-)fronting stadium-spectaculars with Take That (although the announcement that he won’t be joining them for their next project should come as no surprise), filling arenas himself with ‘Angels’ and ‘Candy’ or entertaining the fan’s Grans on nights like this, there’s still some truth in those Freddie Mecury comparisons following his Live 8 performance almost a decade ago. He was born to do this (far more so than Craig David), and if he didn’t he’d be that annoying one in the office who you didn’t have a choice of seeing or not.

Before the show ends the audience are taking back to the 90s (“Where I was riding the charts… like a fat Justin Bieber”) with a swing-themed medley of his early hits, before the obligatory ‘Angels’ in all its glory. While not everyone will let him entertain them – including Radio 1 – Robbie is doing it his way, broadening his audience and reaping in the applause. And with Guy Chambers back on board, the good ship Williams looks set to sail for a good while longer… until the next proverbial iceberg at least. *COUGH* Rudebox.

Dan Bull

Dan Bull

Reviews Editor
London. Likes: Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, Prince Charles Cinema, Duran Duran Dislikes: Soreen, All-hits setlists, "I liked them before everyone else..."