Robbie Williams, The O2 - music review

With some feisty newbies and jazzed-up classics, Robbie Williams did it his way at this frivolous and fantastically entertaining show
Ever the entertainer: Robbie Williams at the O2 (Picture: Brian Rasic/Rex)
Rick Pearson29 August 2014

Start spreading the news: Robbie Williams is swinging again.

Having briefly rejoined Take That, the Stoke-on-Trent man has dusted off the tuxedo and headed out on the Swings Both Ways tour, which came to the O2 last night.

Every effort was made to convince the audience they were in the presence of the missing member of the Rat Pack: a 1960s-style stage design, a 17-piece band (including long-time collaborator Guy Chambers) and a performance divided into two acts.

But Williams, 40, has always been as much Frankie Cocozza as he is Frank Sinatra, so the straight-laced crooner act was never going to last for long. After some musical preliminaries – feisty newbie Shine My Shoes, hammy oldie Ain’t That a Kick in the Head? – the silliness began.

First, Robbie was suspended above the stage wearing a fat suit for the saucy swing of No One Likes a Fat Pop Star (“no breakfast, no luncheon, just carpet I’m munching”).

Robbie Williams at the O2 - in pictures

1/5

Then, he sang the percussion-heavy I Wan’na Be Like You while wearing a monkey helmet. He may not be “the king of the swingers” that the song claimed, but he remains a royally good entertainer.

For the second act, the stage was given a nautical makeover. And when Williams opened with toe-curlingly naff covers of Hit the Road Jack and Shout, we were dangerously close ‘cruise-ship entertainer’ territory.

But there’s a little more to him than that. Go Gentle, a heartfelt piano ballad to his young daughter Theodora, proved there was sensitivity amid the silliness.

When he followed this with jazzed-up versions of old favourites Rock DJ, Millennium and Come Undone, the audience were on their feet and the night was won.

This wasn’t swing for the traditionalist, but it was fun, frivolous and fantastically entertaining. Robbie, as ever, did it his way.

Robbie Williams is at the O2 from 8-12 July. theO2.co.uk/events/detail/robbie-williams

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