LIVE: ROBBIE WILLIAMS, Perth – 9 Oct 2015

Shane | 21 October 2015 | Reply

LIVE: ROBBIE WILLIAMS, Perth – 9 Oct 2015
Perth Arena, Friday, 9 October, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Maree King

You’ll have to search far and wide to find a showman as entertaining as Robbie Williams. The former Take That boystar knows his audience well, and as soon as the Perth Arena lights dim, the show is all about to playing up to his image as a bad boy, a mischievous scamp, and a pop/rock star extraordinaire.

The huge backdrop video screen behind the stage sparks to life, teasing the screaming audience to ‘shake your ass’ and more before a Bond-like silhouette of the star of the show saunters across the screen. That’s the cue for the lights to slam on, a horde of musos to take their places, and a greeting of, “I’m Robbie Fucking Williams” to work the sold-out crowd into hysterics.

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That the crowd he holds in such rapturous thrall are 70% women should be no surprise – nor should his run through many of his biggest hits, starting with the song that the tour is named after: Let Me Entertain You. Despite the energy of his entrance, the song is strangely subdued – not that many of his ardent admirers noticed.

Lazy Days carries an Oasis vibe, Williams strumming along on guitar before leading the room into a chorus of Hey Jude.

Rock DJ hits all the right buttons though – any cobwebs or jetlag are thoroughly shaken off and the band are blazing. He ain’t fooling when he declares, “my name is Robbie Williams and for the next two hours your ass is mine!”

Monsoon, Come Undone, a run through Take That hit Back For Good, a profanity-laden serve at his family in Motherfucker (dedicated to his own newest addition), a duet with his Dad Peter Williams on Better Man, tick all the boxes, while he plays with the crowd – especially the girls up front, and one in particular named Lauren for a raunchy Hot Fudge – like a cat with a mouse, and his people scream at the slightest provocation.

Robbie leaves his band to play for a short while before returning in what appears to be a leather kilt, and getting down with Queen’s We Will Rock You and Joan Jett (by way of The Arrows) I Love Rock n’ Roll, before Pink Floyd-esque lasers drench the stage for Feel.

Snippets of other songs make an appearance seemingly at random, with a singalong to U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and a mostly acapella take on Lorde’s Royals going down best.

If we needed a sign that Robbie Williams had brass balls, it’s his encore performance of Bohemian Rhapsody – surprisingly very good – and a soaring go at World Party’s She’s The One, before the beloved Angels taps into the evangelical energy of the room. A snippet of The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go yields the expected response, and then it’s just Robbie, playing up to that cheeky chappie image again with a stab at My Way, making a big show of reading the lyrics from an autocue at the camera, pretending to give the fans a peek behind the curtain. They lap it up, of course – and why wouldn’t they. After all, the Church Of Robbie Williams has never let them down.
Set List:
Let Me Entertain You
Lazy Days
Rock DJ
Monsoon
Come Undone
The Road To Mandalay
Back For Good (Take That)
Supreme
Motherfucker
Better Man
Me And My Monkey
Hot Fudge
We Will Rock You/I Love Rock n’ Roll
Feel
Millennium
Kids