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Former Take That star Robbie Williams is bringing his Heavy Entertainment Show Tour to the Ricoh Arena on June 13. We spoke to the singer to find out what fans can expect
IF you include Progress Live (with Take That), this is going to be your sixth stadium tour. Do you now feel at home performing to such large crowds or is there still an element of awe?
Oh, definitely an element of awe, that never stops. It never becomes ‘Oh yeah, I’m playing a stadium tonight’. It’s always, overwhelming and terrifying and I take being the conduit to people’s good times very seriously – and there’s an awful lot of them!
You released The Heavy Entertainment Show album at the tail end of last year. Is there a track off the new album that you’re looking forward to being able to translate to a stadium setting?
Yes, definitely - Mixed Signals, which is the song that The Killers gratefully gave to me. I’m also looking forward to singing Party like a Russian – in Russia! That’ll quite be a moment. How involved are you in the stage production process?
Well, you have a few ideas and then you employ someone who’s incredibly creative to enlarge your ideas and that’s what I did with Es Devlin, who is producing the stadium tour, which is incredible. Then you’ll be taking the tour all across the UK and Europe?
Yes, not just Europe – everywhere! Maybe South America too. I’m sure we’ll be in Australia – everywhere apart from North America.
It was 20 years ago this year when you released your debut solo album. Do you find it hard to connect on a personal level with some of your older tracks as you’re in a different headspace?
Yeah, but you know, with live stuff I always take the stance that people want to hear the stuff that they’re most familiar with. So it doesn’t
fans’ lives – first dance at a wedding or a song that reminds them of a particular occasion – so do you take that into consideration?
I do, because it feels disastrous when you lose the energy of 80,000 people. I’m a big believer in giving them what they want, because I know what I want as an audience member. If I go to somebody’s show and I don’t know three songs in a row, I’m bored. If I go to somebody’s show and I don’t know four songs in a row, I want to go home! I know what is demanded of me and I can’t wait to do that. So what’s your favourite track to perform live would you say?
Angels because it’s the last one! Also the adrenaline of Let Me Entertain You... it’s like I’m saying ‘Coming, Ready or Not!’ Erasure are joining you on all the dates. What made you decide you want to bring them on the road?
Because they’re incredible! And they’ve got so many hits and I’m a fan of them. I can’t believe they said yes. I don’t think you’ve played a headline stadium show in Coventry before. What made you want to put this date in to your tour cycle, and are you looking forward to visiting Coventry?
Yes, but you know I’m the guy that just sings and my career and life is on rails. They put me in a car and I turn up, and if they say I’m going to Coventry, then I’m going to Coventry! As you mentioned, Mixed Signals was kindly given to you by The Killers. What other track makes you think ‘I wish I had nabbed that one’?
Oh, wow there’s just like way too many… I’d be pretty chuffed if I’d nabbed Bohemian Rhapsody. That’s the first one that comes to mind. What artists do you listen to? I listen to TalkSport! I genuinely do, and I listen to whatever I’ve just written to try to think of how I could make it better, how I could whittle it and then when it’s whittled enough I then think of what album it’s going to go on, how it’s going to go on it, when, where. But apart from that, I like John Grant, he’s the last artist I took real notice of. I remember reading that you wrote 80+ songs for The Heavy Entertainment Show. Do you think you’re going to save those for albums in the future? Oh they’ll see the light of day, hook or by crook, one way or another. They’re not just going to stay on my computer. What advice would you give to your younger self on the release of you’re debut album? I wouldn’t give myself any advice when I was releasing my debut album, I’d give myself advice six albums in, and say ‘don’t over think this’. At one point I thought it was more important to be interesting than actually good. If I could go back in time I’d say, ‘look, just do big songs. People love it, you love it’. You performed on TV’s Let It Shine alongside Take That’s Gary, Howard and Mark. You could sort of feel the electric atmosphere and it always feels so special to see you perform together. Does it feel like that for you as well? I was genuinely overwhelmed with the love that beamed on us when we walked on stage. To see it in people’s eyes how much we mean to them and how much we are the fabric of their lives. It was an incredible moment. There’s an invisible cord that keeps pulling us back, and it’s a cord I’m quite happy that the universe tugs occasionally. So you’ll do more with them in the future? Absolutely. If I was a betting man I would bet on that.
If I go to somebody’s show and I don’t know three songs in a row, I’m bored. If I go to somebody’s show and I don’t know four songs in a row, I want to go home!