Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review

in Live Reviews, Reviews / by / on September 16, 2012 at 12:55 am /

Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin on September 14th 2012

No production, no gimmicks, no massive light shows or riggings to add to the spectacle that normally would accompany any Robbie Williams show in stadiums and parks all over the world. 40 odd chart singles to choose from would make most artists green with envy. This man could do no wrong as long as nothing on the setlist was from Rudebox.

A gig for charity, repaying a comment to play a free gig after an issue riddled show in 2006. UNICEF and Childline the beneficiaries, which Robbie states “We raised a shit load of cash for them”. He is joined onstage with just his band, joking “There’s no big production, it’s just me, and you!”. The show races off with Let Me Entertain You, Old Before I Die and Should I Stay Or Should I Go (Clash cover) as he explains his precarious paternal situation, with Ayda well overdue and a special phone in his pocket that if it rings, he has to decide if he stays or goes.

Robbies vocals tonight are really on the money, I have never thought him to be the strongest vocalist, infact I have always considered him more entertainer than singer but tonight we got the best of both worlds. Flawless in his execution of the vocally more difficult Come Undone, She’s The One, Road To Mandalay and getting The O2 jumping for the likes of Rock DJ, Monsoon, Hot Fudge and Kids, the party was in full flow with a set-list filled with crackers.

New single Candy received a tepid response as new songs tend to do, but Robbie assures us “It’ll grow on you, I promise”.  Despite his mind perhaps being on family matters, Robbie was still in great humour, posing for the crowds and cameras, engaging the revellers from all over the world who flew in for this gig – mocking one for wearing unofficial merchandise saying she looked shit, before providing her with two official tee shirts – and taking some prawn cocktail pringles and a bag of minstrels from the crowd, “A breakfast of champions” he said. A sign in the crowd saying “Robbie you rock, show us your….” grabs Robbie’s attention too as he pretends to unzip for the crowd before stating “It might not be big but it fills a pram”.

An encore that rattles off 90s’ hit Life Thru A Lens and his biggest hit Angels, which as expected is sung verbatim by the adoring crowd before finishing with one last ballad, a promising track called Losers, sang with his female accompaniment. Robbie leaves us by singing a line of Angels and walks off stage with the band as the crowd sing him off stage.

It could have easily gone wrong this show. A man known for his entertaining ways and massive stage production, cutting his show back as raw as it can get and giving Dublin more than just a showpiece. It however didn’t go wrong. It was a classy reminder that not only is Robbie still the enthralling entertainer he always was, – even if the intensity of his shows has dropped a mark over the years (let’s not begrudge the man getting older) – but it proved once again that he is probably one of the great entertainers of our time, born to be on a stage and exuding the confidence and energy of a man half his age even at this stage of life and career.

From now on all his dancing with officially be ‘dad dancing’, but if the end result is a show as fun to sing, dance and enjoy as the one witnessed by 15,000 lucky people in The O2, Dublin last night, then long may he dad dance, because it will mean he is still out there bringing one of pop’s great back catalogs, mixed with possibly the worlds best entertainer to stages worldwide.

Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin Setlist

Let Me Entertain You
Should I Stay or Should I Go? (The Clash cover)
Let Love Be Your Energy
Lazy Days
Karma Killer
Old Before I Die
Monsoon
Rock DJ
Freedom
The Road to Mandalay
Eternity
Come Undone
She’s the One
Feel
Hot Fudge
Candy
Kids
—
Life Thru a Lens
Angels
Losers

Robbie Williams Photo Gallery

Photos by Aidan Cuffe

Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review
Robbie Williams at The O2 Dublin | Review

Robbie Williams – Losers

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  • Scrummy mummy

    As the person who threw the Minstrels and then had my very own personal “Girl from Knebworth” moment – your review is spot on. An absolute treat to witness Rob and his new band as they start their journey together and to see him in his element doing what he does best. Simply magic. Best I’ve ever seen him. Bring on the tour…..

  • http://www.goldenplec.com Aidan Cuffe

    Thanks Scrummy Mummy

    How could you part with the Minstrels though. They’re my fave. :)

    Apparently a world tour to be announced soon so sounds like he’ll be back again next year.

  • Julie Wright

    Great review, reading it brought me right back there! Loved every minute of the gig ,Rob seemed very at ease and certainly the self doubt that was there at Croke Psrk last June has thankfully disappeared! Looking forward to the tour…

  • Dee

    Spot on – thanks for the opportunity to relive the gig – as a 40 something (closer to 50 really!) I was wary of standing at a concert for first time in years but it was awesome – pure talent. Great review

  • Joan

    Hey Aidan. This is from Barcelona. I want to know how long the Robbie Williams show took at the O2.

    thank you

  • http://www.goldenplec.com Aidan Cuffe

    Hey Joan

    Just shy of 90 mins I reckon. The setlist should give you a good guideline!

  • Amy

    hi Aidan, I was wondering if you could write a bit on his 2006 concert at the Croke Park? What did you think of him promising a free concert?

  • http://www.goldenplec.com Aidan Cuffe

    Well it’s a hard one. an 80,000 person gig for free is an extremely expensive event to put on. Pair that with the fact that Croker (only place capable of 80,000) has a limit on the number of gigs per year allowed and promoters are unlikely to ever be willing to hand over one of the slots for a free gig without recompense.

    And it would have had to be an 80,000 sized venue, because he had promised them a free gig. So if I’m honest, I’m not surprised that the actual gig ended up being a charity gig. It was logistically the best option, he brought minimal staging and kept ticket prices reasonable. He had 500,000 people apply for tickets, unfortunately 14,000 is the capacity of The O2, but The O2 isn’t going to just give itself away for free either. So you have an issue, 10 nights at The O2 would be hugely expensive. 1 night in Croker looks unlikely due to licensing and the Aviva would require 2 nights but then they would need to sell another 40,000 tickets after allocating 60,000 for the first night and 20,000 from the second night to previous ticket holders.

    You also have a problem that Ticketmaster, as far as I’m aware, does not retain the information of who went to what gig, meaning there would have to be some ticket claim, those people would have to prove they have the tickets (4-6 years after the gig) which is another logistical issue. Far as I can see, Robbie made a claim that really wasn’t possible and tried to put it right by doing a charity gig.

    I’ve thought long and hard about it, and I cannot think of any logistical way out. As far as I can tell, Robbie claimed to play a “gig for free” for the people of Ireland. He played for free, and a charity benefitted. I don’t think he could have done any better with the situation. The cost of staging a gig with 80,000 people at it is huge, from venue hire, to insurance, to rigging and stage production, to security and staff, logistics. I think as much as he probably really did want to play such an event, his advisors probably told him, it’s not possible, we will have to do a charity event as damage limitation.

    I know that’s probably not what you want to hear, and I know you probably really wanted that free gig to see Robbie, and it’s a shame it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have minded it myself.

  • ashling

    I would like to say Robbie gig in o2 was the best ever ive been to all his gigs in Ireland and i thought it was class we don’t need a free gig the one in o2 was best ever and the money went to Charity so i was happy .the gig in croke park was great and he didn’t need to give us a free gig so i was happy ans i cant wait till he comes back
    IM A BIG ROBBIE FAN SO HURRY UP AND COME BACK TO DUBLIN