by Edward Hunt
Robbie Williams, now aged 51 but in some ways immortal, played his one and only Italian gig last night here in beautiful Trieste. Exactly why in Trieste remains somewhat unclear, but no one was complaining. At several stages he chatted with the crowd and when an audience member answered that she was from Milan he whispered in her ear, at which point she corrected that she was actually from Trieste (to general applause).
For those unfamiliar with Mr Williams, he achieved UK stardom as part of the 5-piece 1990s boyband ‘Take That’, a group that rather defined late ‘90s mainstream music. In a comment that set the cheerful and self-deprecating tone of the show, he remarked that of the group he was ‘the fat one that couldn’t sing or dance’. As someone that recalls all this the first time around, I was a little apprehensive that the show would be depressing or at best maudlin and nostalgic. I was very happy to be proven entirely wrong.
The audience was clearly familiar with his back catalog and the singalongs were near continuous. It opened with the classic “Let Me Entertain You”, that was used as segway into his stated objective for the evening as to be two hours of entertainment (this included a NSFW joke about Michael Jackson that I will not relate). He definitely succeeded in his goal, with a deft mixture of songs, general interaction, inclusion of the band and backing singers and some out-of-left-wing aspects about his younger self. All was great fun and very tongue-in-cheek. As an example of his general attitude, he included references to old rumors of homosexuality. For some Italians, that might have proven awkward to explain.
The atmosphere continued to blossom over the course of the night. At no point did it become boring or self-absorbed. The use of 3 stages (he explained that the mid-crowd stage is ‘C’, so I learned something) kept everything moving, with the wider backing elements waltzing in and out. Having two huge screens meant everyone could see the action, and though no musician I did admire the slide guitar skills of the lead, shown close up in full 5 x 10-meter glory.
Robbie (or, as it is properly pronounced in an excited teenage girl voice; “Robbieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”) was clearly enjoying himself and this was cheerfully reciprocated. Various other jokes at members of the crowd were nicely balanced at the ‘cheeky but not offensive’ level, including substituting the lyrics “I come undone” for – at a middle-aged fan – “And that’s your Mum”. Well pitched and appreciated by the audience.
If I could pick a couple of shortcomings, and should Mr. Williams happen to read this, they are genuinely cheerful critiques; he teased some covers of other music and while I appreciate the legal aspects. I would have loved to have heard him perform these; the pseudo-discussion with his younger self should have been subtitled for the 60-70% of the audience that likely missed the jokes; and I ran out of beer quite early on so an interval might have been nice.
These key points aside, it was a fantastic evening, and Robbie still has the energy and charisma that I recall from 20 years back. Should anyone get the chance for concert tickets I would absolutely recommend snapping these up for a genuinely fun and funny evening with a guy that understands his trade and knows how to put on a great show.
