Regular readers will know that I have never been a huge Robbie Williams fan and that in fact I have been quite negative towards him over the years. That changed when I went to the cinema to see the Robbie biopic ‘Better Man‘. I saw him in a very different light after that. As soon as we returned from seeing the film my wife Catwoman (a.k.a. Catherine) suggested that we book tickets to see him in Edinburgh, so we did and here we are! So was Robert Peter Williams any good? You will have to read my thoughts on the support acts before you find that out.
First it was the Lottery Winners and this was the first time that they have ever played a stadium. This Manchester band are riding the crest of a wave after two UK number one albums and playing a number of UK festivals. Off the back of that I think they might be the perfect act to open the show on Robbie’s Britpop tour. Frontman Thom was incredibly excited just to be there and that carried through into a sparkling performance from the band. There were many highlights, “You Again” was great but “letter To Myself blew us all away on a wave of emotion. Next up it was Rory Charles Graham a.k.a Rag’n’Bone Man. I have loved his voice from the first time I heard his soulful baritone on his first album ‘Human’ back in 2017. I have seen him a few times since then, but this was the first time for quite a while. His band is incredibly tight and wonderfully funky. “All I Ever Wanted” was good but even that was topped when he ended the set with a two song knockout punch. First it was a supremely powerful “Human” followed by a stomping run through of the huge hit he had with Calvin Harris in 2019, “Giant”. The recorded version is good, but live it takes on a whole new life.
Finally it was time for Robbie to hit the stage. He opened with the first ever live outing for rocking new single “Rocket”. He took the stage bedecked in an astronaut costume and thanks to some excellent wire work soared above the stage while performing. When he came back down to earth and lost the spaceman gear he exploded into “Let Me Entertain You”, what a performance. It is clear that whatever you think of Robbie you cannot deny that he is a towering performer. Then it was time for an eclectic medley which included “Song 2” (Blur), “Seven Nation Army” (White Stripes), “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” (Proclaimers) and “Minnie the Moocher (The Ho De Ho Song)” to name just a few. If anyone in the stadium was for some strange reason not enjoying the show by the time “Rock DJ” was unveiled they would have had to submit then to towering take on a Robbie classic. An emotional highlight for me personally was “I Love My Life”, those words mean so much and I did shed a little tear.
“The Road To Mandalay” was performed while Robbie took a long walk to his C- Stage in the middle of the crowd. He was joined on the C-Stage by Thom from the Lottery Winners for a walk through some songs that might have made the setlist, well technically they all did, right? Anyway that included snippets of a few songs including “Let Love Be Your Energy” and one of my favourites, “Candy”. But the best part of the C-Stage set was the first solo live outing for Robbie doing “Relight My Fire” the Dan Hartman song that became one of Take That’s biggest hits. For the part that Lulu sang on the original Robbie was joined by the winner of the second and final Pop Idol contest in 2003, Michelle McManus. That woman knows how to belt out a song. An epic performance from the girl from Glasgow. Robbie returned to the Main Stage for “Millennium” and “The Theme From New York New York”. By this time I don’t think there was anyone still sitting down. I loved the emotion in “Come Undone” and in “She’s The One”. The latter was dedicated a a delighted and emotional Debbie from Dundee who was picked from the crowd by Robbie to give a personal serenade to. The encore piled on emotion, pathos and soul with “Feel” followed by “Angels”. There were not many dry eyes in the house at this point. Even I enjoyed “Angels”
Robbie made a point about not being cool which was warmly received by the crowd. He implored us to embrace our cringe and to get in touch with our inner twat! I have done both, and probably have done something similar for years. Mr Williams comes across as a supreme showman who knows exactly who he is and it is hard not to love him for that. Confession time, I am most definitely a Robbie fan now. “Angels” is no longer my least favourite song ever. In fact I loved it as the show closer in Scotland. Would I see Robbie again? Certainly I would. It rained a lot through the show but that dampened no one’s enthusiasm. This was a stunning gig, one of the best stadium shows I have ever seen. Finally a big shout out to the organisers for giving us such an easy bus ride back into the city. Thirty minutes after leaving the stadium we were back in our hotel room in the city centre.
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