We are barely a song in to Robbie Williams' big Co-op Live gig in Manchester and he has already strapped himself to a giant golden rocket, flown into orbit, ejected himself and is now dangling perilously in the air returning back to earth.
I mean, talk about making an entrance. But then this is showman Williams back at his very best on his Manchester return, here for the first of two sold-out shows at the Co-op Live arena.
There could only be one way to follow up those rambunctious rock theatrics of his new tune Rocket as his opener, and that's with a euphoric blast of Let Me Entertain You.
Robbie strips off his rocketman suit to reveal a bright red Adidas trackie, evoking memories of his now infamous 1998 Glastonbury appearance, but with added showbiz sparkle as his dancers hand him a sequinned jacket to pound through his much-loved anthem.
He's great and he knows it as he peacocks: "Look at me, Robbie Williams back in Manchester," stalking his natural habitat on stage.
But of course, this is 2025 Robbie, not 1998 Robbie, and we now know all of the insecurities and anxieties that make up the consummate performer we see today.
The stage is set before his arrival with a massive thought cloud canvas of those worries, that he has regularly been sharing on his Instagram feed in recent times, and his 2024 movie Better Man gave fans an even better understanding of the star.
Throughout this show he stops for long moments of reflection, informing the audience of the complexities that make him who he is today.
But alongside the vulnerability there is the pomp. He announces at one point that just like Michael Jackson had proclaimed himself the King of Pop, now he was self-styling himself the "King of Entertainment".
Luckily for the audience, he delivers on that promise at every level in this true humdinger of a show.
"Life is tough the world’s gone mad, we need a place to come together to leave the real world behind - this is the place," he says.
Before taking us through a Freddie Mercury-style vocal warm up and then straight into Monsoon, leading the crowd in a sea of arms - it's a magic moment in a night that keeps on serving those up in spades.
He gives us comedic impressions, chats with AI-generated versions of both his 17-year-old and 80-year-old self; we even get an extraordinary, and very exclusive, backstage tour of the Co-op Live arena when Robbie takes his video cameras on a crowd walkthrough on Road to Mandalay that ends up in the Artist Village before he emerges back to the C Stage to entertain the back half of the arena too.
We also get romps through some of the best pop classics of the past 20 years - the likes of Rock DJ, Come Undone and Feel sounding as fresh and vital as ever in this vast arena setting.
"Tonight is my love letter to entertainment guys," he explains, as if we hadn't already got it.
It’s also his emotional love letter to his family. He pays tribute to wife Ayda and his four children with tears in his eyes at one poignant moment.
He says: "Before I had family I didn’t really know what I was doing here. They gave me something I didn’t even know I was missing.
"My kids, my family, they didn’t just change everything, they ARE everything." It’s the natural preamble to Love My Life, delivered with a flourish of confetti bomb at its end.
There are surprises too, when he's on that C Stage and the "Relight My Fire" moment takes place. He had already brought back out to stage The Lottery Winners frontman Thom Rylance, fresh from Leigh's finest opening this show as the support act, to join him for an acoustic run-through of Let Love Be Your Energy, Sexed Up and Candy.
The two singers, who have become "best friends" Robbie informs us, joke about what they could name their double act, Robbie suggesting along the lines of Cannon and Ball or Little and Large.
“Who’s little and who’s large?" laughs Thom, before Robbie cheekily retorts: "You can have some of my Ozempic," before they instead decide on naming themselves "The Balls" with some eyebrow-raising banter along with it.
When Relight My Fire then kicks in, the crowd are full of anticipation of who might be coming out to do "the Lulu bit", with previous shows on this tour welcoming actual Lulu as well as guest stars including The X Factor's Michelle McManus.
For Manchester, it's the turn of another X Factor alumnus, with Robbie announcing Lucy Spraggan out to the stage amid huge cheers. The crowd are on the feet to dance and sing along to the Take That 1993 chart-topper with Lucy on top form.
The pals embrace at the end of the song, as Robbie booms: "Show her the love she deserves," to yet more cheers.
He goes on to serenade fan Rebecca with She, as her husband looks on - “am I ok to have her for three and a half minutes?” He quips. She looks beside herself as you might imagine.
This show is never less than a lavish blockbuster - with huge screens, a talented live band and full dance crew with ever-changing costumes, and full on fireworks and confetti.
But the quieter moments, and "real talk" from Robbie mean this is a show with heart as well as soul.
As we head towards the finale, he pauses for another poignant moment to talk of getting old, with his mum Janet now living with dementia and his dad Pete home-bound with Parkinson's Disease. It leads him to reflect: "I don’t know if I’ll get to do this next year. I don’t know if I’ll get to do it tomorrow."
He's poured everything bar the kitchen sink into this show, and after over two hours of big hits and tender moments, fans get to leave on the inevitable high of Angels.
He concludes: "I’ve never loved it more than I do right now," and do you know what, it shows.
Setlist - Co-op Live, June 10, 2025
Robbie arrived on stage at 8.45pm and the show ended at 10.55pm
- Rocket
- Let Me Entertain You
- Monsoon
- Old Before I Die
- Rock DJ
- Love My Life
- Strong
- The Road to Mandalay
- Supreme
- Let Love Be Your Energy / Sexed Up / Candy (with Thom Rylance)
- Relight My Fire (with Lucy Spraggan)
- Something Beautiful
- Millennium
- Theme From New York, New York
- Come Undone
- Kids
- She's the One
- My Way
ENCORE
- Feel
- Angels
