Gig Watch: Robbie Williams - Close Encounters Tour, Telstra Dome
By Sean Lynch
Click Here To Read the "RudeBoxx" Album Review
Click Here To Read the "Intensive Care" Album Review
The Ego has landed, and has he landed in style! Robbie Williams,
the undoubted King of Pop (with Justin Timberlake more of an R'n'B
chap), finished his year long world tour on Monday at Melbourne's
Telstra Dome. Sean Lynch was there to catch all the action. I've
been to many concerts in my time. I've seen some of the most
spectacular stages, visual light shows, and I've also been to my
fair
share of danky, shitty pubs with amazingly cheap beer as well.
Yet nothing has compared to the entertainment spectacle that the UK's
pop chart bad boy put on display at Melbourne's Telstra Dome in his
final performance of his "Close Encounters Tour". The first thing
you notice, from the moment you make you're way up the bridge towards
the Dome (fast becoming the best large scale musical venue in town - U2 and Green Day have visited lately) is that Robbie Williams has one of the most attractive - and downright hot - fan bases I've ever seen. The
music was already blaring as I trundled past the throngs of fans
forking out upwards of $50 per piece of memorabilia. Aussie dance act,
Sneaky Sound System, had already taken the stage and had the crowd
raring to go with their current hits Pictures and I Love It.
Despite playing to "Their biggest crowd ever", SSS seemed perfectly at
home on the grand sized stage (which challenged U2's in pure
magnitude). Pint sized vocalist Miss Connie not only kept the crowd on
their feet - but added another level to the already funky and sexy
crowd (what a spunk!). What followed was one of the most exciting
and energetic lead ups to a performance I've ever seen. The vibe of
the crowd was positively electric. There was not one of the 66,500
plus crowd - a stadium attendance record as Williams would later
announce - that wasn't already having a good time. It was a phenomenal
feeling walking amongst it, as the excitement was utterly contagious. And then the lights went down. The enormous stage, made up of
thousands of LCD lights, lit up in sequence as the instantly
recognisable sound sequence from Spielbergs Close Encounters of the Third Kind
shook the stadium to it's core. And in a blaze of pyro-technics, Robbie
emerged from under the stage to an unimaginably deafening roar. What
followed was one of the most entertaining two-and-a-half hours of my
short little life. While no one will ever argue that Mr. Williams songs
are great musical achievements, or songs that will go down in history
next to Hey Jude, Imagine or Knocking On Heavens Door - it couldn't be argued that he doesn't know how to put on a good show. Opening up with Radio and quickly followed by Rock DJ,
Telstra Dome seemed to turn into one giant house party. Everyone was up
in the isles dancing, young and old, looking like they had never had so
much fun in their life. That is the appeal of Robbie it seems. He has
made himself so accessible to fans over the years (through his bare-all
DVDs and documentaries) that there isn't a sense of rock star/fan
division - the show is an all inclusive event. All the hits were on display: Sin Sin Sin, Love Supreme, Feel, Millennium, Come Undone.
And for every hit, there was an equal amount of time spent just
chatting with the audience. There is no denying the wit, charm and
stage presence of the man. He really knows how to speak to the audience
on their level; he has no misconceptions about how wanky musicians can
be and their role as entertainers (there was even a subtle jab or two
at Bono while getting the crowd to do an Australian version of the
Mexican wave "[In his best Bono accent] You know, by the time the wave
reaches all away around, we will have raised over a million
dollars..."). He would often stop and talk about the "Entertainment
factor" and how everyone has paid good money to be "entertained for a
good two and a half hours". There was so much packed into the show. A series of duets including Me & My Shadow and Strong
with Robbie's long time touring buddy Jonathon Wilks lightened the
moods, as the concert turned into somewhat of an old fashioned '70s
variety show. The much maligned Rudeboxx
(one of my personal favourites) won some new fans, sounding absolutely
amazing with the enormous base and speakers, while classics such as Angels, Kids (sadly without a surprise appearance of Kylie as expected) and Let Me Entertain You made for an unstoppable encore. It
has been mooted that this would be the final ever tour and show that
Robbie would do before retiring, and his depression
and dislike of touring has been well documented. However, judging by the response
of the record breaking crowd and Robbie himself - this isn't the last
we've seen on him. "There's been a lot of talk of me retiring," he said
he looked teary eyed into the 60,000 strong crowd, adding, "But how can I give
this up? This is f***ing amazing. I will be back here to retire - but I
ain't going yet!". And with that, he took his final bow and left the
stage. A jam packed two hours of unrelenting entertainment and fun, easily one of the most outstanding shows I've ever been to.
Overall: 90%
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