Robbie Williams does it for me in a big way. Don't ask me why, I haven't a clue. He just does. He kept his word and kicked off his world tour in South Africa. So this year I decided that instead of doing the seaside holiday thing, I am going to spend my leave going to the three Robbie Williams concerts in our country. I went to each concert with a different friend or group of friends and had an absolute ball. I also wrote reviews for an Australian fansite called www.robbiewilliamsoz.com and posted my concert pics there. I have published the reviews on todays posting and you can go and see all my pics at the website. If you are not a Robbie Williams fan, don't bother reading further, and if you are, or were possibly at the show/s I hope you get it. I'm still decompressing from the shows as is the rest of the country. It's been two weeks and I still hear people talk about him and his shows in coffee shops and restaurants. So here goes:

Durban, South Africa - 10th September 2006 (brief review)

It\'s 8am on Tuesday morning, the owner of the B&B I'm staying at in Durban has kindly let me use her computer for a little while. I'm travelling back to Johannesburg today and tomorrow I will be able to send you something more substantial.But quickly, the show was awesome! He was amazing. In his own words, "that was ACE!" He gave it his all, and afterwards everybody seemed overawed by what they had just witnessed. South Africa certainly has not seen a show of this calibre ever! He was so nice to everyone, totally charming and full of fun. Robbie style. I'm going to run through the set list and put short comments for the moment. Detail and lots of photographs will follow later when I get home to my computer and stuff.

Radio - he appeared in a blinding flash of light and smoke!

Rock DJ - wonderful - the crowd went nuts

Tripping - amazing lighting - green seems to be the new favourite show colour

Monsoon - danced like a dervish at the end of his walkway.

Sin Sin Sin - lovely story about the making of the video, more later

Trouble with Me - ahhh lovely

Millennium - hands in the air - looked fantastic

Back for Good - nobody knew it!!!

Advertising Space - amazing footage, stage looked incredible!! Lovely lighting

There She Goes - He played the guitar, we loved it

Ghosts - nice nice nice. He stood victorious, the only man to make you ....

Come Undone / Take a walk on the wildside - did a singalong with us.

Feel - Yep we felt it alright - once again amazing lighting and a lovely singalong

Place to Crash - this one bombed out totally!!! No one knew it - even Robbie was devastated in his nice way though!

Kids - we bounced like a bunch of mentalists

Make Me Pure - he lit a cigarette and just charmed usWent of stage for a little bit

Let Me Entertain You - OMG! It was amazing, loads of special effects, rocked the house, the crowd went ape

Strong - biggest karoake Durban has ever seen. The words were really clear on the screen and everyone, but I mean everyone sang along.

Angels - he was really nice to some special fans during this one, brought them on stage, but I promise to tell you more about that later.

Okay, that's it for now. Must quickly mention that before There She Goes, he mentioned that his friend Jonathan's wife is in labour and asked if someone could tell him if something happened during the show. I think he was supposed to perform There She Goes with Jonathan!

Durban, South Africa - 10th April 2006

I’m back home, in Johannesburg, It’s Wednesday morning and I think I’m slowly beginning to decompress from Monday evening’s show. This was my first ever Robbie concert, and he did not disappoint. If you are expecting another Knebworth, you will be disappointed. Knebworth was about three times larger than this show, but you have every right to expect something spectacular. If like me, you sometimes don’t want to know the detail so that you have no expectations of the show then stop reading now. But - IF you are into the detail, I hope you will enjoy my ramblings. I remember once hearing or reading an interview by one of his roadies who has seen virtually every show Robbie has performed and he said that Robbie has NEVER been crap. Amen to that!

Durban had never seen anything quite like this. Everyone who is anyone was at the show on Monday, and a lot of fans came from out of town. Reports have it that a group of German fans, who couldn’t get tickets in Germany, travelled to Durban for this show. 48 000 people packed the stadium (an it wasn’t even sold out!) Yet the atmosphere was great. It poured with rain during The Wired Daisies and Freshly Ground’s performance – which was a real bummer for them. Still the crowd on the field loved them. Those of us in the stands ran for shelter, including me (I’m a woos!)

The stage is huge. It spans the width of the rugby field, and a ramp extends out into the inner circle. Massive video screens flank the sides projecting plasma screen crystal clear images of whatever is going on. There is also one in the back of the stage. “Tripping mazes” are a design feature on the sides of the stage, which look really cool when lit up. The rest of the lighting rig is massive, it’s just lights, lights, lights everywhere as well as two massive follow spots situated at the top of the stadium.

At 21h00 sharp our man made his debut appearance in South Africa and on this tour. He took my breath away. The video screens lit up with images from the Radio video, his new logo and a lot of static. Redorange light poured from the stage and flames burst into the sky from the side of the walkway. Just when I thought, “I am going to pass out from excitement” he appeared like magic at the bottom of the walkway, dressed in his trademark black long coat, jeans and popstar sunglasses. “OUCH!” He certainly made our engines go “WO OH OH!”

He just took off from there. Radio went into Rock DJ, followed by Tripping. Somewhere in between he managed to say “good evening”. The lighting dazzled me. Green and blue were the colours for Tripping – oh wow – felt like I was in his dream. I must also mention his backing vocalists are incredible, powerful voices adding a gospel element to the show. During Monsoon he came down the ramp and stood at the end of the walkway. He grabbed someone’s camera, took a pic of himself and tossed it back into the crowd (I hope the owner got it back) Then, oh then, he stood at the end of the walkway and ……. “so put your hands across the water. Mushroom, Monsoon” and while singing this he dances in a circle like a … Monsoon, I guess (corny I know!) He looked phenomenal. Finally he starts talking to us and after admonishing everyone in the boxes for not switching their televisions off he reads the banners in the audience. Of course the obligatory “Rob show us your knob”was there. Except of course they mispellt it, they left off the K which he gave them a right bollocksing for. He introduced Sin Sin Sin, with a story about the video he has been shooting in Cape Town. He told us that the video is his fantasy and he had 18 models on set and “F me! They all have boyfriends! Except for two - who didn’t care!” Ahhh laugh out loud. Why does this make him so adorable? Sin Sin Sin moved into Trouble followed by Millenium. The hands in the air looked amazing, almost evangelical. He then mentioned Take That and sang Back for Good – asked us to sing a long. He soon realized we didn’t know the song. Take That wasn’t that well known in SA. He then joked about Take That reforming without him. He called them “Ache That” Clever! Wonder how many people got that? Advertising Space is number one on our local top forty, so the audience went ape when images from the video played in the background during the song. Even as a cheesy Elvis impersonator he is so darn good looking. My oh my! And his Elvis hipshake - I was swooning!

Alone at stage center Robbie picked up his guitar and told us about his best friend Jonathan who’s wife is in labour – his excitement was tangible. And I distinctly got the impression that Jonathan was supposed to have performed the next number with him, which was “There She Goes”. I really don’t get why he has to do covers when he has so many fantastic songs of his own. Ghosts was followed by Come Undone which went into Take a Walk on the Wildside. He tried a sing a long with the audience but it didn’t seem to work. I expected him to pull a girl onto the stage at this point, but he didn’t. Feel was a definite crowd pleaser, with everyone singing their hearts out.He went off stage for a little while and the music and lighting became all space agey and weird which then burst into my absolute favourite - A Place to Crash. He sang and performed as if possessed and the audience went totally flat!!! I think they didn’t know the song. He was devastated and asked us if we could hear him and teased us about effing with his mind! Kids was powerful and lots of fun, the backing vocalist who does Kylie’s part (didn’t catch her name) is superb. He chatted to some girls in the audience and he mentioned an article he had read in which he was referred to as a Veteran Popstar. “Veteran, I’m 32! F you!” Funny!! He sat down to perform Pure, the lighting turned blue green again, and he smoked a cigarette. How does he do that without choking? For LMEY they pulled out all the stops. Incredible lighting, fire, smoke, you name it. Hugely energetic performance and the audience went absolutely dilly. Strong, the traditional Karaoke , the words scrolled up on the back and side screens in a strong, clear and bold font. You had to be blind to miss that. It worked! He spotted a few more girls in the audience and invited them up onto the stage. Earlier these girls had pretended they couldn’t hear him during A Place to Crash. One of them was 9 years old and I think her name was Jordan. He was so sweet and kind to her, I nearly cried. He sat her down on the stage next to him and then sang Angels. She went hysterical and so did the audience. Lighting went into hues of blue and we all sang as if this was our salvation. The band took their bows, he teased us about how we have been his loudest audience on the tour so far and thanked us for making the opening show so special – he also said “Angels was amazing” And then it was over. I hope my ramblings convey just how great this show was. His voice is amazing. He is breathtaking in the flesh. Better looking than any picture, video or DVD. He truly is the worlds’ most handsome man.

Cape Town tomorrow…..

ROBBIE WILLIAMS , CAPE TOWN THURSDAY 13 APRIL 2006
GREENPOINT STADIUM

What a great show that was! Cape Town has Robbie Fever real bad. Fans lined up from early in the morning at the stadium picnicking (as only the Capetonians can do) and having a great time chatting to one another. Some went to a great lengths to dress up and be noticed. Greenpoint stadium is much smaller than the Durban stadium so the concert had a real intimate feel about it. Robbie must be the only man who can have a conversation with a crowd of thousands of people and make it feel like he is speaking to you and your friends. And he was in a chatty mood indeed. Less jokes this time and more chatter. From admonishing the press for “trying to turn an entire country against him, bunch of effing….. !” , referring to the Nelson Mandela story which he says is totally untrue, to telling us that he “woke up this morning with a slightly chesty cough”. Then he joked about the obligatory “Rob show us your knob” banner because this time it was spelt correctly. Told the crowd about the misspellt Durban banner and stated that “if you can’t spell it correctly then how can I be sure which parts I’m supposed to show” This is what I like about the guy – even in front of gazillions of people, he speaks about everyday things and he can be so very funny.

I say again the atmosphere was fantastic, even though the sound seemed a little wobbly at the start of the show. I’m no fundi on this, but it seems to me they either correct it a few songs into the show or my hearing adjusts to it. The set remained the same as Durban ’s except he didn’t perform Kids. Instead he performed the first verse and chorus of Hot Fudge because he heard the fans asking for it. Really wished he had done the whole number and I hope he includes it in his next show in Pretoria . Again, the lighting and the on screen images are amazing, amazing, amazing! Rock DJ, Monsoon, Feel, Millennium and LMEY brought the house down. He even joked after Feel that he had one single tear in his eye but unfortunately the camera missed it. I’m beginning to appreciate songs like Pure which really works well live, it sounds great when he performs it and he looks fantastic, sitting on a stool, smoking away. And Sin Sin Sin has a great energy all of its own – perhaps I’m biased because I know that he shot the video in Cape Town .
Speaking of which, he had some really nice things to say about the place and thanked everyone for their kindness and hospitality during his stay. He told them that “ Cape Town is the best kept secret in the world”. Ahh that was nice. Made us feel all warm and fuzzy.
For Angels he called a young boy of about 8 years old, onto the stage, along with his dad. He watched in awe and amazement as the crowd sang along. And then - the second night of his tour was over. Two solid hours of performance felt like five minutes to me.
Chatting to some people afterwards, they were once again, completely dazzled by the man’s brilliant performance and the fantastic show. Some said that it took them a few numbers to get into it (wonder where I have heard that before?) and once they did - it totally rocked.

Going home now to catch up on some sleep, getting ready for the really big one …. Pretoria on Monday.

PRETORIA SHOW PREVIEW
I'm truly an obsessed fan aren't I? I've just come back from Loftus Stadium in Pretoria and have taken these pics of the set up for the final Robbie WIlliams Show in South Africa tomorrow. This is going to be his loudest and biggest audience, because Pretoria and Johannesburg are where it is happening. They are the biggest cities, in SA and although they may not be the prettiest they sure do have a big buzz about them.
At the stadium this morning I counted no less than 80 people on the field and stage, climbing up scaffolding and working their butts off to put this massive set together. It truly takes a village to stage this and I take my hat off to these people, they are the unsung heroes of these shows.
I'm really excited for tomorrow. I have standing tickets, although not Inner Circle (bummer) so I shall be standing in line bright and early. Can't wait to meet some more interesting Robbie Williams fans. Will send a review of this show on Tuesday. Hold thumbs that he performs Hot Fudge, dying to hear that one live.
Am very excited.... Robbie Fever has grabbed me big time!
Until Tuesday

REVIEW - ROBBIE WILLIAMS PRETORIA LOFTUS STADIUM

MONDAY 17 APRIL 2006

IT'S OFFICIAL. SOUTH AFRICA ROCKS!
It's official, the gospel according to Robbie Williams, "SOUTH AFRICAROCKS!" When he said that during his show on Monday evening in Pretoria, we went berserk, cheering and screaming and loving every minute of Robbie loving us. The show was without a doubt, the best of the three concerts he performed in South Africa. There were 61 000 of us in the audience and he was on top form. I'm still on a magical high from Monday night, even though it is already Wednesday morning. Intensive Care will never sound the same tome again. Every time I play the album or hear one of the songs on the radio, I know that I will go right back into that stadium and to that show.Everybody that was anybody in broadcasting was there. Listening to the various morning radio broadcasts on Tuesday, you could hear that the DJ's all loved the show as much as their audiences and that they were completely enamored by Robbie. One DJ even got to play in a secretly arranged footie match with the Robster and his team. Yep Robbie fever had reached its pinnacle.Like so many other fans my day started early and ended extremely late. The girls and I started cueing from 10am and by the time they let us in at 4pm we managed to get quite close to the Inner Circle barricade. Robbie did the real pop star thing and arrived in a black and gold helicopter which circled the stadium twice and then landed - so we had our own little Knebworth moment there. We know it was him because he told us so during the show.Once inside the stadium we still had a 5 hour wait ahead of us, which fortunately, was tempered by a really sweet performance by the Wirediasies in which the lead singer asked us to shout "Thank you Robbie" with her and an absolutely brilliant performance by our own Freshly Ground. In fact they did exactly what a warm up act should do, their funky African rhythm and melodies had us clapping and dancing and cheering in preparation for the big one. And then, our man made his appearance to Radio, in a blinding flash of light. The crowd went crazy, crazy, crazy. I couldn't hear a word of what he was singing because of all the screaming and shouting. He told us to"stop it or I will cry!" He once again, took my breath away with his swagger and sunglasses. (Can somebody please tell me what brand of sunglasses he wears?). Clearly during Rock DJ a girl in the audience managed to take his breathe away, especially when after the song he asked her to flash her breasts and she did! She was projected up onto the big screens baring everything. A huge cheer of appreciation from the "lads" in the audience, and Robbie saying he will be watching the DVD of this show. I must say, her breasts were huge. I can understand why he was so enamored and needed to share the moment with everyone. He also seemed determined to break a couple of world records during his show. After Tripping he told us that while being unable to sleep the previous night he wondered what would happen if we all simultaneously blew a breath of air at him. (Yep strange things occupy his mind!) So he asked us to and there I, along with 60 999fans, was completely suckered into blowing at him on the count of three. We must have looked really strange. The result? Absolutely nothing! Or in hiswords "effing nothing!" It was funny and that -ladies and gentleman, boysa nd girls - is - what makes Robbie Williams the most brilliant entertaineri n the world right now. He didn't stop at that though - he also asked everyone who could burp to burp in one go - he led the way and belched out a big one (Eeewww). Totally mad shit, don't you think? He told us he got theidea from Sade who back in the 80's did that at one of her concerts."Strange, never figured Sade for a burper" said he.
Of course, the lighting was magnificent and this show is spectacular. I would hazard a guess and say that this show is as big as anything that U2,the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and Green Day produce and with the exception ofU2, is better than anything they have ever done (I know Robbie will forgive me for U2, cause he likes them as much as I do, which is a lot!) It has everything, shooting flames, fireworks, special effects, lights. It's dazzling. The shooting flames are so big and so hot you can feel them at the back of the stadium - Robbie and the band must fry on the stage. He didn't change the set list much, except that he left out Kids and APTC (my absolute favourite!) and alas he didn't do Hot Fudge either. Ah well, suppose I can't have everything. He seemed to battle with the altitude (we are approx 1700m above sea level) and told us that during his costume change he had to suck on some oxygen cause he was battling to breathe, so perhaps that's why he left out most of the fast dancing numbers. He cracked his usual jokes about the models during the Sin Sin Sin video shoot (by now I'm so dying to see this video) as well as Mick Jagger being ancient and still able to do this for three hours on the trot, when after three songs he (Robbie) is"completely effed". He ripped off Take That and our own local version of Heat magazine, saying that Heat magazine "is a very very good magazine indeed and you should believe everything you read in it!" He also set the rumour straight about him supposedly not wanting to meet Nelson Mandela,saying that he would never do that. "Mandela is one of the loveliest men onEarth - Viva Mandela Viva!" Of course we went mad for this! The BlueSteele pose was there too. And then he also told us about Minki van derWesthuizen and expressed his surprise at how big her breasts are, which he says he only noticed when he Googled her. (Now I wonder did he really meanit as in "Internet Google" or was that just another pun on oooggle?) Clearly he thought she was lovely "but she has a boyfriend. Plays table tennis or something...." he said. He just has such a lovely way about him and why is it that he can swear like a trooper and we love him for it? Even he says it's uncool and tells all the kids in the audience to ignore him and not take his language "into the playground". Perhaps the highlight of the evening for me and everyone else was when he told us how much he loved South Africans. He was so humble and expressed major gratitude towards us for theway we looked after him and his band mates during their stay. He told us we were the best kept secret in the world and that he has never ever seen so many beautiful woman and men anywhere. He also jokingly thanked our men formaking their women so available! Ahhhh you've got to give it to him - he just oozes charm. The funniest moment had to be his Michael Jackson and Prince impersonations. So, when it came to chatting and joking with the audience he was in top top form and I don't think that any other artist in the world, is as good at it as he is. Those of you who have seen him on previous shows, I'm sure will agree, he has this uncanny ability to reach out and touch you. You find yourself responding and oohing, ahhing, booing and laughing along with thousands of other people.
By now you are probably wondering did he actually sing anything? Of course he did, and he was great. Monsoon, Feel, Come Undone were awesome. LMEY rocked the house and as for Angels..... well, there were some girls standing near me that were sobbing. He didn't pull anyone onto the stage and after the final bow, he alone, came back onto the stage and sang the chorus for us. We truly felt "blessed with love". Then it was "I just wanted to hear that one more time. Thank you South Africa, God bless and good night". 10 minutes later a black and gold helicopter circled thestadium and flew away.
Looking back on all three shows, my favourites:
Show - Pretoria.
Performance - APTC - even though the audiences didn't know it.
Special Effects - On screen images for Advertising Space - it's freaky how good his Elvis impersonation is.
Lighting - Sin Sin Sin - it's just gorgeous (I suppose other countries mightget images from the video he made here).
Comment - On Take That reforming without him, so now they are "Ake That". I thought it hilarious.
Costume - Black Addidas tracksuit he wore at the Durban show.
Disappointment - no Swing numbers and no Hot Fudge and the frikking trafficgoing home from Loftus!
My pilgrimage has come to an end and life now returns to normal. Interestingly, the day after the show, the weather turned cold and our winter has set in. Thank you Robbie for coming here, thank you for the effort you put into your performances, for keeping yourself, fit, for your great music and for being informed and relevant. Thank you also to the village of people who look after Robbie and his show - your work at making him "The world's most handsome man" is incredible. I loved every minute of my concert journey and I would do it again - in a heartbeat! Robbie has flown onto Dubai and we are winding down from Robbie Fever. He promised to return to South Africa but I miss him already.
So thank you for letting me pour my feelings out in these reviews, and thankyou Nikki for publishing them on your site. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. And when he performs in your part of the world, I really hope that you receive as much love from him as he has given all of us here in sunny South Africa.
CheersGela