Oh for goodness sake. I really despair of the press.

 

Now it's 'I Want a Boyfriend' reported all over the world. :rolleyes:

 

And what did we really have? Johnny and Robbie joking in a documentary. The annoying thing is, millions of people who didn't see the Documentary will believe it. :angry:

on one of the news sites I saw the story on (the boyfriend one), someone commented that it was Johnny that said it. I take it Johnny said the "or a boyfriend" bit and Robbie said the "you never know..." bit?

 

whatever, the press always misconstrude everything he says anyway.

he loves those kind of things

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With thanks to purerobbie:

 

Just hours before his first gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Robbie's going to join us for a chat and to choose some of his favourite songs.

 

Robbie has never been one to shy away from publicity and now our favourite boy from Stoke reveals all in his latest and most candid interview to date. Don't miss your chance to listen live here...

 

From boyband success to solo stardom, Robbie Williams is a truly British treasure and noted as one of the most credible entertainers in the music industry. While his mind may be a creative safehold, we're going to be delving a little deeper to find out what exactly it is that makes Mr Williams tick.

 

On Friday 15th September we're going to let Robbie entertain you. Yes at 3pm, just hours before his first gig at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Robbie's going to join us for a chat and to choose some of his favourite songs.

 

You'll be able to hear Robbie talk about:

- his thoughts on Madonna

- the fear of having children

- the 'intimate relationship' he has with some of his fans

- what's next for Robbie

 

If you miss the show live at 3pm, fear not, as you'll be able to listen back to the interview right here from 4pm.

 

Robbie's Close Encounters tour, which has been watched by thousands across Europe, arrives at Milton Keynes on Friday for four gigs in five days.

 

Source: http://www.brmb.co.uk/Article.asp?id=270969

 

I might be a bit busy to hear that ;)

Not sure if this has been posted or not. Bits of it seem very familiar. :unsure:

 

 

From http://ichounslow.icnetwork.co.uk

 

 

 

 

A close encounter with Robbie

Sep 12 2006

 

 

ROBBIE Williams is on the British leg of his Close Encounters tour. WIL MARLOW takes a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into putting on such huge live shows.

 

For a man who once said he hated touring, Robbie Williams is doing plenty of it this year.His 2006 world tour began back in April with dates in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, then the singer shoehorned in an appearance on ITV's Soccer Aid before heading back out on the road.

 

Now, after gallivanting around Europe for much of the summer, Robbie Williams has come home. On September 1he played the first of nine sold-out gigs in Glasgow, Leeds and Milton Keynes, to a total audience of over 500,000 people.

 

Robbie, 32, might not ever be able to top the record-breaking three nights he played at Knebworth back in 2003, but he's certainly having ac rack at it. The 2006 Close Encounters tour is undoubtedly his biggest yet.

 

The interestingly-named Wob Roberts who has been the singer's tour manager since he launched his solo career, says: "It's along way from that first gig [in 1997] at Norwich UEA."

 

 

Back in early August, at Cologne in the middle of the German leg of the Close Encounters tour, Wob and the rest of the 215-strong entourage were dealing with the rain. Lots of it. And with each show being open-air, the bad weather could have been a big problem.

 

 

But Wob, an easy-going bloke with agenial sense of humour, takes the downpour in his stride.

 

 

"The whole stage is designed with water in mind," he says. "We've got an industrial non-stick floor which we did a few experiments on. I mean, if it really rains hard, it can get a bit dodgy out there, but for most parts it's fine.

 

 

"What we do is set up the stage so it looks as good as possible, and then waterproof the bits that we have to. The musicians are water proof anyway, so they're all right," he laughs."Why don't we put up a roof? Because it doesn't look anything like as good."

 

 

He's not wrong. As you may have guessed from the title, the Close Encounters tour has an alien theme. The stage set is designed to look like a spaceship by tour producer Lee Lodge, along with set designer and architect Ray Winkler, who has worked with The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner.

 

 

"We wanted the stage to look like ahuge alien contraption that had landed in the middle of the stadium," says Ray."It stems from Robbie's obsession with aliens and all things extraterrestrial. The geometry of the stage set is built around circular motifs -resembling crop circles."

 

 

The beginning of the show starts with the musical notes from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind as well, with Robbie bursting out on to the stage to the power pop blast of hit single Radio.

 

 

But before that can happen an awful lot of work has to go into erecting the enormous set, as well as making sure that everything goes without a hitch during the support acts and Robbie's own two-hour show.

 

 

"It takes 24 hours to set the whole thing up, do the show and then take it down again," says Wob. "As soon as the show's done, as the punters are leaving, we're starting. And the main production will be out by four in the morning, that's 31 trucks.

 

 

"The black bits at the back, the steel system, we have two of those that leapfrog throughout the tour, as they take another 14 or 15 hours to take out. The logistics of this are unbelievable."

 

 

Robbie himself is a strong presence among the tour crew, turning up agood two hours before showtime to get himself psyched up.

 

 

"He's got his own routine that he goes through before he goes on stage," says Wob.

 

 

Only Robbie and the walls of his dressing room know what that routine is. But the dressing room itself is an important part of making Robbie feel comfortable and relaxed before he heads out on stage.

 

 

"We have a team of two guys who sort the dressing rooms," Wob explains. "We try and duplicate their room in every venue, so the dressing room is like a sanctuary for Rob and the band.

 

 

"They know that before they go and do their job, they've got your own calm area where you don't have to worry about the fact that the chair is a bit rickety or they can't stand the smell of the candles they've picked."

 

 

Not that Robbie hides himself away in his dressing room. Half an hour before the Cologne show he's out in the catering area with best friend Jonathan Wilkes (who joins Robbie on stage for three songs in the Close Encounters show) and a bunch of friends from Stoke.

 

 

It's a relaxed atmosphere backstage, but security is tight. You need at least three wristbands to get anywhere near where the man himself might be. Not that this stops fans from trying.

 

 

"One of the best ones is when they actually faint and get pulled over the barrier," Wob laughs. "Then once they're in with the medics, they make a run for the dressing rooms or whatever. Believe me, it's happened."

 

 

The show itself is an assault on the entertainment senses, a powerhouse of hit songs, pyrotechnics and Robbie's end of-pier humour (at one point he wonders what it would be like if the 75,000-strong crowd all blew on him -he's not impressed with the results).

 

 

The two-hour show flies by and 75,000 people go home happy and hoarse. He might have been a solo artist for a decade now, but even Robbie is amazed at how far he's come since that first gig in Norwich, breathlessly telling the audience at one point that, just in Germany, he's playing to a million people this summer.

 

 

"What's changed since the early days is the size," Wob says. "A lot of the band and crew are original. Rob's very much the same. He just gets out thereand performs and enjoys it. Most of the time, these days.

 

 

"The early days he used to walk off stage not being happy [due to the singer's well documented insecurities about performing], but these days he gets out there and the crowd really gives him a thrill."

 

 

ROBBIE WILLIAMS factfile

 

 

Real name: Robert Peter Williams

 

 

Birthdate: February 13, 1974

 

 

Significant other: Single

 

 

Career high: Staged the biggest UK pop concert ever when he performed live to more than 375,000 people over three nights in August 2003 at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire

 

 

Career low: His early solo career was blighted by drink and drug problems

 

 

Famous for: Being the UK's most successful solo male pop star

 

 

Words of wisdom: "Actors talks about acting as if it's saving someone's life, but it's not rocket science - it's just pretending to be someone else."

 

 

 

From http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk

 

 

ROB FOR RAUNCH

LISTENING to Robbie Williams during sex enhances the experience, :wub: says a study.

 

Professor Werner Habermehl, of Hamburg University, found that listening to music causes the pleasure hormone endorphin to be released into the bloodstream.

 

Music by Robbie and Mozart were among the most stimulative, causing couples to lose their inhibitions.

 

 

 

:P Especially if it's Robbie you'e having sex with ;)

ROBBIE WILLIAMS FANS TO SET MOBILE PHONE RECORD IN MILTON KEYNES

 

Robbie Williams fans will spend a total of almost 300 days making calls and will compose a body of text messages two-and-half times the length of the Complete Works of Shakespeare during the superstar’s concerts in Milton Keynes this week.

 

Number crunchers at T-Mobile reckon gig-goers will spend a total of around 430,000 minutes on the phone over the five days of the concert from 14th to 19th September - that’s a total of 298 days of voice calls. And if you reckon that the average text contains 12 words, Robbie fans at the gigs will write more than 2.1million words - three times more than the King James Bible and two-and-a-half times more than the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

 

The T-Mobile Trends Laboratory analysed figures from past concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl, including the Take That comeback gigs earlier this year. Take That crowds made an unprecedented 108,249 calls and sent 67,882 text messages using the T-Mobile network during two concerts in Milton Keynes earlier this year as they desperately tried to share the experience with as many of the their friends as they could. Analysts, however, predict that Robbie fans will top even these record figures.

 

Robin O’Kelly, head of corporate communications at T-Mobile, said: “The war of words between Robbie Williams and his former boyband Take That isn’t just confined to the artists.

 

“We are expecting to see a 5% increase in the number of calls and texts made by Robbie fans compared to Take That fans. And as there are five Robbie gigs in Milton Keynes as opposed to the two that Take That put on in June, we are expecting fans to make a massive 284,000 calls and 178,000 texts from the concert.

 

“Music fans love telling the world about their tastes and sharing their views with anyone who’ll listen. It’s natural that Robbie devotees will want to share their experience of the gig and tell everyone they know just where they are, what they are doing and, most importantly, who they are listening to. So we’re prepared for a massive increase of calls and data using on the T-Mobile network.â€

 

Last week, schools in Leeds were criticised for closing early because of predicted traffic chaos in the run-up to the Robbie concert in Roundhay Park.

 

Things you can do in 430,000 minutes:

1) Watch Star Wars: Episode IV special edition 3,440 times

2) Swim the English Channel 538 times

3) Fly from London to New York and back 478 times

4) Read all 1,400 pages of War & Peace 307 times

5) Listen to Robbie Williams’ new single Rudebox 114,666 times

 

Source: www.therobbiewilliamssite.com

 

 

 

Let Matt entertain you

The Sun

September 13, 2006

 

WHEN ROBBIE WILLIAMS and GUY CHAMBERS parted company as a hit-making duo, songwriters scrambled to link up with pop’s biggest name.

 

But I never thought Little Britain’s MATT LUCAS would be the lyricist to fit the bill . . . well, almost.

 

DAVID WALLIAMS’ sidekick — more famous for his gag-writing skills — found himself chipping in last Christmas when Robbie suffered a bout of writer’s block.

 

Matt was staying at the former TAKE THAT star’s Los Angeles mansion when he came up with words for a melody Robbie was struggling to find lyrics for.

 

Matt suggested a song written from the point of view of a man suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

 

Robbie loved it, recorded the track and even convinced Matt to sing vocals on it.

 

A source told me: “The track worked out brilliantly.

 

“Matt was staying at Robbie’s with his boyfriend KEVIN McGEE last Christmas.

 

“Robbie wasn’t happy with this song’s lyrics, so he just asked Matt if he had any ideas.

 

“He came up with some words about a bloke with OCD who wants to go out on a date but whose condition stops him leaving the house. Robbie loved it and asked Matt to sing backing vocals.

 

“Matt was too nervous to sing in front of Robbie, so he waited until Robbie went off to play football and then recorded his vocals alone.â€

 

I’ve heard Robbie’s new album Rudebox, out on October 23, and there is no sign of Matt’s song.

 

But Matt has an MP3 version on his laptop and has let close friends hear it — and I’m told his vocals are very impressive. The only singing I can remember him doing was on VIC REEVES and BOB MORTIMER’s Nineties quiz show Shooting Stars, when he belted out the odd tune as “adult baby†George Dawes.

 

But I think the nation deserves to hear a track conjured up by the nation’s leading comic and our biggest pop star.

 

Over to you, Robbie and Matt . . .

 

Robbie song has Little Britain help

http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/xp/pressass/t/3672131814.jpg

 

Move over Guy Chambers. It seems that pop prince Robbie Williams has a new muse.

 

The 32-year-old had help from an usual source last Christmas when he had writer's block - Little Britain's Matt Lucas.

 

David Walliams' sidekick was staying at the Stoke-born singer's house in LA when he chipped in with some words for a melody that Rob had written.

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/site/images/news/icons/source.gif Full Story: Yahoo! News

 

Thanks e-motion :D

 

Shame it is'nt on the album. Lets hope it appears as a b-side :D

From http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk

 

 

ROB FOR RAUNCH

LISTENING to Robbie Williams during sex enhances the experience, says a study.

 

Professor Werner Habermehl, of Hamburg University, found that listening to music causes the pleasure hormone endorphin to be released into the bloodstream.

 

Music by Robbie and Mozart were among the most stimulative, causing couples to lose their inhibitions.

 

:P

From http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk

 

 

Nasty but quite funny too. ( And there were 55,000 at Hampden each night,actually -_- )

 

 

TAKE THAT SAY ANGRY ROBBIE FANS

Tam Cowan

REMEMBER the Robbie Williams gig I reviewed in this column last week? Well, on the night in question, I can tell you there were 32,587 people packed into Hampden.

 

How do I know the exact figure? Simple, really. Over the past seven days, I've received an angry email from each and every one of them...

 

To be honest, though, I feel quite honoured. After all, it's only Santa Claus who receives a regular letter from fans of the Robster.

 

But I must admit I was still a little bit surprised by the poisonous nature of your hatemail - regardless of my snidey comments.

 

After watching the former fat dancer from Take That failing to crack the American market - coupled with the fact his current records struggle to hit the Top 20 - I thought Robbie's fans would have been made of sterner stuff.

 

But, nope, it seems they were very easily offended. Particularly Record reader Nancy Ward who ought to lighten up and realise I was only having a laugh at the expense of a karaoke singer who charges mug punters £45 for the privilege of listening to his diabolical double act with the host of You've Been Framed.

 

 

However, I must apologise for suggesting in last week's piece that Robbie's fans couldn't spell IQ. You see, judging by the hilarious emails I received, it seems there's actually a whole host of words they can't spell.

 

 

Worst offender was probably Tracy Thompson. Tut-tut, dear. I thought about reproducing extracts from your email, but I wouldn't like to hear the sound of your old English teacher spinning in her grave.

 

 

Seriously, though, I also must apologise for comparing the females at Hampden to Vicky Pollard. I now realise I was wrong. That comparison only applies to the younger members of the audience. The older brigade inside the stadium actually looked more like Su Pollard from Hi-De-Hi.

 

 

Just about every emailer asked the same question: Why did I go along if I knew it was going to be c**p?

 

 

But if I could answer that one, I'd have stopped going to watch Motherwell years ago. To tell the truth, I'm afraid my wife dragged me along to the Robbie concert. Payback time. That's how she described it after three years of accompanying yours truly to the sort of proper musical gigs I enjoy.

 

 

The first night I met my future in-laws, the four of us went to see Sydney Devine at the Glasgow Pavilion. Ever since that autumn evening in 2003, I've "treated" their wee girl to a wide variety of nights in the company of Engelbert Humperdinck, Neil Sedaka, Sydney Devine (another twice), Andy Williams and Tony Christie.

 

 

But, come on, Robbie Williams?

 

 

I think it's fair to say that Mrs C is clearly the sort of woman who thinks revenge is a dish best served very, very, very cold...

 

 

Meanwhile, staying with popular music - a subject my younger readers clearly enjoy - I see hip-hop superstar Puff Daddy (not to be confused with his Scottish counterpart Puff Candy) has been told he can't use the nickname 'Diddy' in the UK.

 

 

Apparently, a music producer based in Britain already uses it.

 

 

Not to mention at least half of the current Motherwell team.

 

 

Anyway, folks, my sandal-wearing, octogenarian Off The Ball sidekick Stuart Cosgrove (a trendy 82-year-old who's more concerned these days with a hip-op than hip-hop) says this story reminded him of the nicknames competition we run every year on the wireless.

 

 

In the past, we've heard about Neon (the six-foot tube), Sledge (he regularly gets pulled by dogs), Olympic Flame (he never goes out) and someone's father-in-law who was known as The Exorcist (when he visits at New Year, all the spirits disappear).

 

 

Feel free to send your emails to the usual address if you can think of any other crackers.

 

 

My own personal favourite? An old pal from Motherwell knew a guy at his work was known as Boaby Butterbean.

 

 

Why?

 

 

Well, nobody likes butterbeans...

 

:arrr:

From http://www.miltonkeynestoday.co.uk

 

 

Schools will not close for Robbie gigs

SCHOOLS near the National Bowl will not be closing when Robbie Williams performs this week.

The announcement follows 11 schools in Leeds shutting because of fears of traffic chaos last week.

 

Education bosses in the city told parents to keep their children at home while 100,000 descended on the city.

 

However, in Milton Keynes the Local Education Authority is confident that no schools will be affected by the 325,000 fans attending five concerts which begin on Thursday.

 

Council spokesman Craig Barton said: "There will not be any school closures as a result of the concert. We will be managing the traffic accordingly."

 

For more details about the concerts look at What's On on Milton Keynes Today's home page

From http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk

 

 

Robbie Williams fans to use 430,000 minutes of calltime over 5 concerts

Posted by Amber Maitland

13 September 2006 - Hot on the heels of T-Mobile’s last fascinating insight into the mobile phone calling habits of Brits abroad comes its latest study of human behaviour at this week’s Robbie Williams concerts.

 

The stunning fact is that Robbie Williams fans are expected to spend about 430,000 minutes on the phone over the five days of the concert, and write more than 2.1 million words in text messages. That’s three times more words than are in the King James Bible and 2.5 times more than in the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

 

How did T-Mobile come up with these stats, you may well ask. Its Trends Laboratory analysed figures from past Milton Keynes concerts, including recent ones by Take That, and then rejigged the numbers.

 

As for all those 430,000 minutes that T-Mobile users will be on the phone during the concerts, they total up to the time it takes to fly from London to NYC and back 478 times, reading War an Peace 307 times, and listening to Robbie Williams’ newest single, Rudebox, 114,666 times.

 

 

 

From http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

 

Robbie Williams and Little Britain's Lucas make sweet music

Last updated at 15:32pm on 13th September 2006

 

 

Little Britain’s Matt Lucas has teamed up with Robbie Williams to forge an unlikely songwriting partnership.

 

The baldheaded funnyman, best known for his character 'Vicky Pollard', helped the pop star with lyrics for a song he was struggling to finish and recorded backing vocals.

 

Matt was staying at the former Take That star’s Los Angeles mansion with his boyfriend Kevin McGee last Christmas, when he came up with words for a melody Robbie was struggling to find lyrics for.

 

In typically irreverent Little Britain style, Matt suggested a song written from the point of view of a man suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

 

Apparently Williams was so happy with his contribution, he recorded the track and convinced Matt to sing backing vocals on it.

 

A source said: "The track worked out brilliantly.

 

"Robbie wasn’t happy with this song’s lyrics, so he just asked Matt if he had any ideas.

 

"He came up with some words about a bloke with OCD who wants to go out on a date but whose condition stops him leaving the house.

 

"Matt was too nervous to sing in front of Robbie, so he waited until Robbie went off to play football and then recorded his vocals alone."

 

Robbie’s new album Rudebox is out on October 23, but there is no indication yet that the song will be included on the album.

 

Matt's singing talent was first revealed on Vic Reeves 90s quiz show 'Shooting Stars', when he sang songs dressed as "adult baby" George Dawes.

 

http://i8.tinypic.com/2ypkl05.jpg

 

 

From http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

 

Robbie Williams helps Natascha through her ordeal

Last updated at 15:31pm on 13th September 2006

 

 

Robbie Williams is helping Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch regain a normal life.

 

 

The girl who was dragged into a white delivery van when she was 10 on her way to school and held by her kidnapper for eight-and-a-half years inside a dungeon is enjoying his albums as she spends hours each day in therapy sessions.

 

 

Natascha, who grew up without MTV, without girl's magazines or newspapers, without television soap operas, uses words like "cool" and "wicked" to describe Williams’ music – words she learned on an Austrian radio channel while in captivity.

 

 

Now the first book and film offers are coming in.

 

 

"Nothing has arrived from Hollywood yet, but that's the direction we're moving in," said one of her advisers.

 

"From a purely capitalist point of view, this woman is a goldmine. Of course you're not supposed to say that sort of thing out loud."

 

The house of Lansky, Ganzger & Partners, a legal firm with 55 employees and a two-storey office building in central Vienna, are representing her.

 

 

 

 

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp

 

 

Sexed Ugh!

 

 

And now for a story that that you just couldn't make up, unless your name was Robbie Williams, talking to a journalist, off the back of a new album. Apparently, right, people enjoy er, y'know, doing it, to Robbie Williams tunes. That's topped the wrong-o-meter, surely?

 

Seems not. According to the Daily Star, it's very right to want to get jiggy with Robbie breathing down your stereo speakers. And remember, this isn't coming from Robbie, proper scientists have done tests and everything. Icky tests. Probably.

 

A researcher told the Star: "It seems that Robbie's music is the perfect way to heighten the pleasure of any sexual encounter." Ew! Why?!

 

"His tunes are either smoochy and sexy, or upbeat and energetic, so he seems just the choice for lovers to romp to."

 

Don't think about it, folks. Just pray for a cure.

 

 

:rolleyes: And I love you too dearie.

That first article made me sick :puke2:

 

I am shocked that that would be published in a paper :o

TBH that one doesn't even bother me all that much. He slags off everyone.

 

He hates Robbie mainly because his wife loves him so much. <_<

 

Didn't think he would publish fans names though. Unless the names are just made up. :blink: