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Robbie Williams - BRITPOP Tour

Sydney11
in Robbie Williams and Take That

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  • frogec
    frogec

    I went on the gig on Friday 6h in Emirates! It was so cool! Robbie was fantastic and I really loved the C stage in the general admission. He was like 10m away :D

  • Laura130262
    Laura130262

    Nice to see lots of youngsters at the barrier there. We noticed how many men there were in the audience last Saturday - way more than 20 years ago

  • elisabeth1974
    elisabeth1974

    I am positive surprised how full the stadiums have been until now. Even Paris is sold out and France has never been his core audience

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The man behind the flow of Robbie Williams' shows

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As a singer, Robbie Williams is known for his big hits - Let Me Entertain You, Rock DJ and, of course, Angels.

But when the music star goes on stage, what happens behind the scenes? Karl Brazil knows, as he is the singer's musical director and drummer who is, in his words, responsible for the "flow of the shows".

He said there were pre-show "wedding reception discos" on the recent world tour, before a performance in front of thousands.

"What we do before the shows, is a have a little pre-disco," Brazil said.

"We have a playlist, we get together in a room with flashing lights and vibe each other up.

"So by the time we get on stage, it looks like we have been at a wedding reception together, it's fantastic."

Williams has been playing shows across the globe as part of his BRITPOP 2026 stadium tour, due to conclude in New Zealand in November.

Throughout it, Brazil, from Solihull in the West Midlands, said set lists changed depending on different destinations.

"If someone buys a ticket for a show, they have got to hear the hits, so of course we make sure that the set list is right for each territory. Because Rob is so big everywhere. Thirty years of music, you have to make sure," the 49-year-old added.

"We look at it with huge detail, every show.

"For example, Candy, huge [in Europe]. But when we go to Australia, it's not that known. It's not something that needs to be in the show out there."

The on-stage tour team consists of a 10-piece band, eight dancers and Williams himself.

While performing on the current stadium tour, the drummer said he made sure to be "there for Rob" with his "eyes on everything as the driving force".

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He added that the performers were all friends, working together each night to put on a unique show.

"Each band member has to be great at what they do, they have to be as good on stage and off stage," Brazil said.

"I think it's really important, like with any team, the togetherness is so important.

"When people see us on stage, they can see that we get on and that we're friends."

Throughout the years, Brazil has been musical director for several other high-profile music artists such as 5 Seconds of Summer, Five, Rita Ora, and he had toured and recorded as drummer for James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Niall Horan.

Another artist he worked with recently was Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, drumming on his latest album From the Dark.

"This started back in the Covid era. I went into the studio, didn't know what was going to come of it," Brazil said.

"I'm delighted to say I made the record, and the first day I went in and Tony was there we got on so well. Tony really let me express myself.

"I thoroughly enjoyed being on this record, it's a massive career highlight."

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Brazil said the new album had in his view "gone down a storm", with Iommi himself describing the collaboration as "something different, but really honoured".

Iommi added that the recording was rooted in talent from Birmingham.

"The great thing, the whole thing has come from Birmingham," he said,

"All the merchandise, all made in Birmingham. We've tried to keep the whole thing wrapped around Birmingham."

The man behind the flow of Robbie Williams' shows

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Air traffic chaos in the UK, hope fans flying to Switzerland for tonights gig are not left stranded sad

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Robbie Williams: Big hits, fart jokes and a marriage proposal

Robbie Williams' concert in Zurich's Hallenstadion is not perfect, but it is still remembered - also thanks to a genuflection.

Author:Schimun Krausz

Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" sounds and transitions seamlessly into the stadium rock final boss "Let Me Entertain You": After just over a minute, the English pop star has the Hallenstadion audience in the bag on Wednesday evening.

The 52-year-old introduces himself as "Robbie f***ing Williams" and promises that this first of two virtually sold-out shows at Zurich's Live-Palast is "a love letter to entertainment".

Will he keep the promise in these almost two hours?

The Hits

At least half of the choruses on this setlist are probably known by heart to anyone who has lent even half an ear to pop music in the last thirty years. «Come Undone»! "Supreme"! "Kids"! «Rock DJ»! "Millennium"! And of course "Feel" and a hastily treated "Angels" as an encore.

This time, Robbie sets the reminder that he once sang in the boy band Take That (as "the fat dancer") to music with their cover of the disco hit "Relight My Fire", which, however, sounds more like an unmotivated late-night show than a 90s house banger.

Instead, the crooner covers "New York, New York" and "My Way" are spot on, and while he introduces his eight-piece band for just under a quarter of an hour, they blast over numbers by Shania Twain, Queen and the Beatles to the delight of the approximately 13,000 guests. With "Hey Jude" the audience sings along almost louder than with Williams' own hits, but hey: the main thing is the atmosphere.

The eye-catcher

The Englishman starts the evening in a red glitter trainer, sunglasses on, sides trimmed. Later, he throws a gigantic pink feather boa – 70s Elton John would nod in agreement – over and immediately throws it off again to present his neon pink suit.

This time, Robbie sets the reminder that he once sang in the boy band Take That (as "the fat dancer") to music with their cover of the disco hit "Relight My Fire", which, however, sounds more like an unmotivated late-night show than a 90s house banger.

Instead, the crooner covers "New York, New York" and "My Way" are spot on, and while he introduces his eight-piece band for just under a quarter of an hour, they blast over numbers by Shania Twain, Queen and the Beatles to the delight of the approximately 13,000 guests. With "Hey Jude" the audience sings along almost louder than with Williams' own hits, but hey: the main thing is the atmosphere.

The eye-catcher

The Englishman starts the evening in a red glitter trainer, sunglasses on, sides trimmed. Later, he throws a gigantic pink feather boa – 70s Elton John would nod in agreement – over and immediately throws it off again to present his neon pink suit.

This time, Robbie sets the reminder that he once sang in the boy band Take That (as "the fat dancer") to music with their cover of the disco hit "Relight My Fire", which, however, sounds more like an unmotivated late-night show than a 90s house banger.

Instead, the crooner covers "New York, New York" and "My Way" are spot on, and while he introduces his eight-piece band for just under a quarter of an hour, they blast over numbers by Shania Twain, Queen and the Beatles to the delight of the approximately 13,000 guests. With "Hey Jude" the audience sings along almost louder than with Williams' own hits, but hey: the main thing is the atmosphere.


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Keystone/EPA/Mikkel Berg

Trashy? Of course. But if you make fun of yourself and your scandalous pop star past every minute, you can't help it. Especially not when the final outfit is a shirt with "robbie" as the knock-off Oasis logo. By the way, it's also available at the merch stand.

The humor

Trash also exists away from music. Williams talks about the penis of his former Take That colleague Gary Barlow ("he only has one", aha) and emphasizes again that the white matter in the viral World Cup interview clip this summer was just a remnant of a nicotine Zältli.

During "Millennium" he asks one of his dancers to pull on his finger. She does it and Robbie lets go of a mouth fart. He apes the mixed vocal skills of the audience on "Come Undone" and, if it doesn't go crazy, roasts it as soon as he mentions that he has been living in Gstaad for three years.

Not every saying is a direct hit, but thanks to his still irresistible mischievous charm, the musician rarely misses.

The marriage proposal

Instead of prickly, however, it is sometimes cuddly. When he raves (very often, but it is granted to him) about his family happiness with his wife and four children. And especially when he recognizes and greets Robbie superfan Barbara from Bern in the front row – and enables her boyfriend Ben to propose to her.

Fortunately, she accepts, otherwise the following "She's the One" would have had an unpleasant aftertaste.

Also thanks to the genuflection, the evening was extremely entertaining, as promised. Not perfect, but Robbie never was. And fortunately, it never will be.

Robbie Williams in Zurich: Sold-out shows at the Hallenstadion - Radio SRF 3 - SRF



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"Not because of the taxes! Certainly not! Because I like chocolate!"

Robbie Williams offered the first of his two Hallenstadion concerts. It was a show full of emotional speeches and sayings about Switzerland.

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Photo: Getty Images

«Switzerland, did you miss me? Of course, you f***ing did!" Robbie Williams and Switzerland, what can we say: They can't get away from each other? Again and again, the English superstar appears in the stadiums and large halls of the country, in the meantime he even had residences in Geneva and Gstaad. Older fans remember his appearance in "Benissimo", when he took a liking to Beni Thurnheer's uncle showmanship. Then there was the no less special "Blick" confession of a Swiss Robbie groupie.

Today, Williams is once again on the stage of the Hallenstadion, which he fills twice in a row, and opens the evening with "Let Me Entertain You". The song also fits terribly well as an opening, because that's why the fans are here: to be entertained. Of course, this applies to every audience, to every concert. But Williams sees himself first as an entertainer and only then as a musician. In the Hallenstadion, he even got to the bottom of it and asked his audience: "What is entertainment?" Great perplexity in the hall. Williams sings a few sing-along lines, everyone joins in. "Okay, I'm a narcissist, and you want me to be one. That's entertainment."

Wedding proposal in front of 12,000 people

The trick with Williams' stellar entertainment talent is that songs that aren't hits are more or less survived by the audience. Williams knows this, and that's why about 30 percent of his concerts consist of announcements and games with the fans. He does this with so much charm and self-irony that people hang on his every word, even if not everyone understands English perfectly. "I used to live in Switzerland, did you know that?" Big cheers. Williams: "Not because of the taxes! Certainly not! Because I like chocolate!"

In between, he tries new songs, for example "Rocket", a song from his last album "Britpop". This sold modestly by Williams' standards. Maybe because the Britpop genre has been dead for a good 30 years? Anyway, the guitars howl, the audience screams similarly loudly. Will Williams actually manage to charge his hits show with new sounds – or will "Rocket" remain the alibi guitar riff before "Angels"?

He owes you the answer, because the next audience game is already coming up: song guessing with the guitarist of the support band, who plays Robbie songs on his acoustic guitar. Later, Williams moderates a wedding proposal from a fan in front of the assembled Hallenstadion. With every other musician a moment of great falsehood – you can believe Robbie's unctuous words.

Even a Robbie Williams ages

"I slept with a Swiss woman in the 90s, she's here too!" jokes Williams between two songs. "But she has a beard now?!" Of course, there are also Williams jokes on this evening. But the 52-year-old also keeps adding personal things, such as the fact that his father has Parkinson's.

If you listen closely, you can see a pattern: It's about getting older, especially in show business. This is usually mainly talked about by female musicians, preferably with the example of Madonna, who famously denies her aging with dogged gerontogymnastics on the open stage. Williams chooses the counter-strategy. "Are my best days behind me? Will I still be able to do it?" Rhetorical questions, but he turns them into the central theme of the evening: "Getting older is bad." It is no coincidence that he belts out Frank Sinatra's "My Way", the retrospective anthem par excellence. In addition, photos from the old days appear on the screens.

For the audience, however, the emotional highlight is the song "Angels", which Williams brings to the end as always. And as always, he doesn't have to sing the chorus himself. The Hallenstadion willingly takes over, this is what the 12,000 people have been waiting for. Robbie Williams stands there, lets go of the jokes and looks moved. At this moment, his secret flashes up, which distinguishes him from the vast majority of superstars: He doesn't give his fans the feeling that they have to be happy to see him. He knows that it is his luck that they are there.

Robbie Williams in the Hallenstadion: Jokes, emotion, "Angels"

Edited by Sydney11

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Robbie Williams: Coolness is far too exhausting

The British pop star not only sings his own hits in Zurich's Hallenstadion, he also tries his hand at various cover versions. But he prefers to talk about his life experiences.

Ueli Bernays

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Bruno De Carvalho / Imago

Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" creates the appropriate heroic ambience. Then the British superstar, all in glittering red, storms onto the stage. "Robbie f***ing Williams," he shouts to the audience in Zurich's packed Hallenstadion on Wednesday evening (there will be a second concert here on Thursday), and then immediately gets down to business. He performs "Let Me Entertain You", accompanied by a large rock band including brass and two background singers.

Robbie Williams in Zurich: Hits and wisdom

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The British indie pop band Lottery Winners will open the concerts that Robbie Williams will perform in Lima on Wednesday the 23rd and Thursday the 24th of September at Arena 1 Park on the Costa Verde. 👉" https://ow.ly/Gimb50ZMnuu

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Ready to live one of the best parties of the year at #PulsoGNP26? ❤️‍🔥" Robbie Williams, Caifanes, Bruses, DLD, and many more artists will gather to make Querétaro vibrate with a day full of music and great moments. 🤘

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ROBBIE WILLIAMS IS COMING BACK TO BULGARIA! 🔥 He's headlining the first night of #PhillGood2027 on July 16 in Plovdiv! After his incredible 2025 Sofia show, he's back for another unforgettable night. Presale starts tomorrow at 10:00!

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