The week of the Brit Awards (where Robbie Williams performed a tribute to Robbie Williams) saw the ex Take That member announce a small, intimate gig at the Aviva Factory Studio. A venue that seemed to be new, I had never heard of it – my third new venue of 2026 in as many shows. It was a charity show, for War Child – a great cause.

I saw Robbie live over 20 years, back when he was in his ‘imperial’ phase. It was at Milton Keynes Bowl, and I was stood up the hill with my sister and some good friends. We were miles away.

This time it was a small room where my son and I ended up quite close to the stage. It was a bit daft how close we got bearing in mind the local news had stories of people queuing all day and even fighting. My son is at the age where he likes live music so it was good he was happy to accompany me.

Robbie is clearly a bit of a tit, however he is clearly one of the best performers of his generation. I think a lot of the bad press he gets, the annoying way he can appear is due to his mental health issues, including ADHD and autism. I wouldn’t compare his voice but he does carry himself like a Freddie Mercury type figure. He is, in my view, far more talented than he is given credit for.

He has been solo for nearly 30 years now and has had dozens of hit singles. While he has always worked with collaborators he does write his own lyrics which are very British (explaining why he failed in the USA which often doesn’t ‘get’ irony) and catchy.

Support was provided by the Lottery Winners – a band I had never heard of. To say they were unique would be an understatement, so funny and entertaining – even persuading the crowd to sing Angels quietly.

Robbie played two albums, almost in full, in track order. First came his debut, Life Thru a Lens, followed by his 16th number one album Britpop. I think the show might have worked better with the same songs in a different order because it was strange to have Angels (during which he let the crowd sing and ate a banana), Let Me Entertain You and his other early hits in the first 20 minutes and for the back half of the show his new record. It’s actually pretty good and consistent, even if the first single Rocket (with Tony Iommi playing on the studio version) tries a bit too hard.

He finished with Feel, one of his biggest singles (and typically one of the ones I like least!). It had been a decade since his last studio album, bar a patchy Christmas project, so it’s good to have back and energised.