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Robbie to do Electric Proms

Sparkle
in Robbie Williams and Take That

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Clearly nothing had been left to chance – behind him onstage there was a string section, harpist, three guitarists, three keyboard players, six backing vocalists (one of whom was Lol Creme, formerly of 10CC) but whatever efforts were made clearly paid off.

 

 

I KNEW that backup singer looked familiar!!! I spent all night last night on YouTube, LOL! :yahoo: :cheer:

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Very good article/review http://www.therobbiewilliamssite.com/clapping.gif

 

GQ.

Live review: Robbie Williams at the Roundhouse

Alex Bilmes 21 October 2009 11:45

 

A lot of tosh has been written about Robbie Williams since his appearance on ITV's The X Factor ten days ago, with various invertebrate journalists and "industry insiders" (other invertebrate journalists, usually) gleefully writing off his comeback on the strength of one calamitous TV spot. Few of these naysayers have heard the album Robbie is shortly to release, and even less can be said to be acting from the purest of motives. Much of the negative comment is motivated by anger at missing out on interviews or promotional tie-ins. It's always this way: give an interview to The Sun, risk being slated in The Mirror; giveaway a CD in the Mail on Sunday, risk a vituperative hatchet job in the Sunday Times.

 

Newspaper readers can be forgiven for not spotting the joins, though, and noxious press coverage ahead of an album release - even such obviously lazy hackery - can be damaging, as Robbie discovered in 2006 when Rudebox, his last album, was effectively strangled in the womb by a single negative notice in the Sun. That's not just the fault of journalists: the British public doesn't need much encouragement to kick a man when he's down, and in Robbie's case the nation piled in like cowardly ruckers in a closing-time car park.

 

Still, The X Factor was a strange choice of venue to reboot his career. Robbie is a hugely charismatic and talented entertainer but he's also awkward and restless, forever battling between sincerity and sarcasm, and it's that strange and combustible combination that makes him so compelling. The X Factor is not at home to oddness and irony. It does neither sincerity nor sarcasm. Instead it seeks to create bland facsimiles of pop stars, witless Whitney and Mariah knock-offs who might enjoy brief success, like current incumbent Alexandra Burke, before disappearing. The song Robbie performed, new single "Bodies", has a propulsive Frankie thud and a challenging lyric. The X Factor audience would rather watch underprivileged kids warble tunelessly through "I Believe I Can Fly" before bursting into tears. It's worth noting that Whitney herself came a cropper the week after Robbie, her own comeback performance being somehow upstaged by Cheryl Cole's solo debut. This is the popworld in which we now live.

 

The fact is that "Bodies" is Robbie's fastest selling single since Rock DJ, in 2000. But this encouraging news is lost amidst crowing over the fact that Burke's single, an almost dementedly unremarkable stomp, sold even more. Someone at Robbie's record company needs to rethink this strategy of scheduling releases against products of the Simon Cowell hit factory. They may not like it, but they can't win.

 

All eyes, then, on last night's show in north London for the BBC's Electric Proms, Robbie's first concert for three years. I don't know what it looked like to the many thousands watching on TV and in 250 cinemas across Europe, but from the floor of the Roundhouse, it seemed a powerful and conclusive restatement of the qualities that made Robbie Britain's biggest, brightest pop star of the Nineties and Noughties.

 

From the moment he took the stage, backed by a 38-piece band led by producer Trevor Horn, as well as an orchestra, Robbie was in control. He looked lean and hungry and, crucially, comfortable in his skin. Here was a man among friends, and he rewarded us with a set that included plenty of new material - "Bodies"; the Beatlesy album opener, "Morning Sun"; the lovely "Deceptacon" - but also Robbie standards "Come Undone", "Feel" and, inevitably but no less magnificently, "Angels". All this punctuated by Robbie's trademark showbizzy rambles. At one point he demonstrated "George Michael dancing", encouraging the audience to have a go. At another he dedicated a song to his Auntie. She'd be looking down on him tonight, he reckoned. "She's not dead," he clarified. "She's just really, really condescending." You don't get that kind of punchline from Leona Lewis.

 

By the time of the final encore, a brilliant version of Horn's "Video Killed the Radio Star", the headlines were already written: Robbie's back, and not before time. If we're prepared to give it the chance it deserves, the album will be a huge hit (I've heard it; it's terrific) and The X Factor fiasco and attendant rubbishing won't even be a footnote.

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/gq-daily-news...roundhouse.aspx

 

What a brilliant article that is :o :D It is so rare to have such a thruthful article written about Rob by the UK press. I am so delighted with all the brilliant reviews. He must be delighted :cheer:

I'm watching Won't Do That. It was really great, and that kiss at the end to Ayda. He's so cute. :wub:

 

After listening songs few more times, I can say I quite like You Know Me and Won't Do That, well, as I expected. :D And that GM song will be also good, I think. :dance:

Great video of Blasphamy and Starstruck. Blasphemy is a brilliant performance and before Starstruck it shows him doing the George Michael dance :lol:

 

Rob's done a new blog - I am glad (but suprised) he was unaware of the XF negetivity, and only found out about it via the brilliant reviews of the EP gig. And it is hilarious that he broke a World Record and wasnt even aware of it :lol:

 

"What a lovely audience the other night"

22 Oct 2009

Blog Author: Robert Williams

What a lovely audience the other night..

I know listening to new stuff can be a bit of a bore..But everyone was

lovely and received it with kind hearts and consideration

so thank you very much....

 

I wasn't aware until last night (after the gig) that the X Factor

peformance was given such an horrendous kicking.....

Oh well,you win some......

 

neither was i aware that the roundhouse thing was being beamed into

cinemas..i kind of heard it being mentioned but i think selective

hearing must have been in action at the time.....

 

hope it was enjoyable there too

x

 

 

I'm sure they didn't tell him those things on purpose...if he had stage fright in front of the XF audience, can you imagine how wigged out he would have been knowing 1) XF got horribly panned and 2) he was about to set a worldwide record for simultaneous audience?!?

 

:blink: :blink:

I really didn't think the Xfaxtor performance was that bad! I actually thought it was good. Sure he was hyper and the voice wasn't good all the time but the joy and exitement were

there aswell. Completely pathetic how the english press was slagging him off for that performance. Tells me something about the press and the english readers who put up with that crap!

 

I can't believe he wasn't awear of the fact it was shown all over Europe in cinema's :o Although I did wonder why he didn't say HI AMSTERDAMMMMMM like he did the last time he had the concert in Berlin :lol:

Video Killed The Radio Star....what a bloody brilliant rendition of that song......I jus love it :wub:

 

Loved Decapcton & Starsturck as well

 

 

Robbie is well & truly back ;)

 

 

:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

I've been thinking. About the UK press.

 

I think they all follow each other like lemmings. Bandwagon jumping.

 

I think the journos wait to see the first review. If it's ace, they all follow on in a similar vein. 'It was fabby,darling'.

 

However, if the first review is negative, they all post the same type of 'ripping to shreds' article. I actually thought he was ok on X-Factor. And when I went into my work the next morning people were commenting how great he was. Until the papers were read. Then people started slagging him off and saying he was 'on something'.

 

I bet if the Sun had posted that he was fantastic on the X-Factor they'd all have followed suit. :rolleyes:

I've been thinking. About the UK press.

 

I think they all follow each other like lemmings. Bandwagon jumping.

 

I think the journos wait to see the first review. If it's ace, they all follow on in a similar vein. 'It was fabby,darling'.

 

However, if the first review is negative, they all post the same type of 'ripping to shreds' article. I actually thought he was ok on X-Factor. And when I went into my work the next morning people were commenting how great he was. Until the papers were read. Then people started slagging him off and saying he was 'on something'.

 

I bet if the Sun had posted that he was fantastic on the X-Factor they'd all have followed suit. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

It should be called ' The Sheep Factor'...not the X Factor :lol:

I thought it was brill when he did Rudebox at the end of Millennium ...good for him.... :lol:

 

 

& Radio Killed The Video Star....OMG !!!!!! the guy was 'hot to trot'....

 

:cheer:

 

 

 

Someone managed to get a proper clip of Morning Sun on youtube. I just love this song, it really reminds me of the brilliant Coffee Tea and Sympathy :wub:

 

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