The long-awaited Robbie Williams tour of South Africa kicked-off at Absa stadium in Durban last night. The South African concerts are the first in his latest world tour 'Close Encounters'.

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The singer made a grand entrance emerging from a shroud of smoke. Pyrotechnics and lighting effects set the stage. A well oiled production showcased some of his older songs together with tunes from his latest album Intensive Care.
The next concert is in Cape Town on Thursday, followed by Pretoria on Monday.

See a video report here. (http://www.sabcnews.com/video_ram/0,1573,38656,00.ram)
Thanks to Robbie Williams Italy and Turkey

Rocking Robbie has Durban screaming for more
April 11, 2006

By Matthew Savides

Despite heavy rain early in the evening, the 45 000 people who packed into Durban's Absa Stadium for the first leg of British pop icon Robbie Williams's South African tour were not disappointed as the charismatic star rocked the stadium with his usual style and enthusiasm.

The concert opened with what looked like balls of fire shooting out from the stage as Williams, clad in a black trench coat, rose from the floor through a trapdoor, much to the screaming audience's delight. He opened with one of his biggest hits, Radio.

Throughout the performance Williams, always the entertainer, played and talked with the crowd, building them up before performing every one of his chart-topping singles.


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Rocking Robbie has Durban screaming for more

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Throughout the performance Williams, always the entertainer, played and talked with the crowd, building them up before performing every one of his chart-topping singles.

He walked up and down a ramp built in the middle of the stage and spoke about Durban and how its people had made him feel welcome. Hit after hit, word after word, Williams had the crowd screaming and wanting more.

Towards the end of the two-hour show he invited three girls and their mother on stage to meet him and share in the on-stage action. Williams closed with one of his biggest hits, Angels.

Earlier in the evening, Williams was preceded on stage by South African favourites Freshly Ground, whose hit, Doo Be Doo, was a crowd favourite and provoked a mass sing-along.

Source: http://www.themercury.co.za/

S'bu Mfeka, The Witness.


Durban - Heavy rain in the early evening didn't stop 45 000 excited fans from packing into Durban's Absa Stadium for the start of British pop icon Robbie Williams's South African tour, the Mercury reports.The concert opened with a grand spectacle of what looked like balls of fire shooting from the stage, as Williams, donned in a black trench coat, rose from the floor through a trapdoor.Throughout the show, which kicked off with one of Robbie's biggest hits, Radio, Robbie enthused the crowd, getting them going before performing every single one of his chart-topping singles, the Mercury reports.He walked up and down a ramp built in the middle of the stage and spoke about Durban, its people, and how welcome they'd made him feel. He left the crowd begging for more.Towards the end of the two-hour show Williams further spiced up the show and invited three girls and their mother on stage to meet him and be a part of the on-stage action.Williams ended his long-anticipated show with one of his biggest hits, Angels.Williams will be performing in Cape Town on Thursday, April 13 at the Green Point Stadium and on Monday, April 17 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

Well I'm back from Durban. Made a lightning weekend visit to visit the in-laws, poke my toe in the ocean and see Robbie Williams live - love him or hate him no one can deny he puts on a kick-ass live show.

Apart from a little confusion getting into the grounds this was way better organised than the Coca-Cola Colab concert (http://www.monkeyboy.ws/monkeyboy/2006/03/coca_cola_colab.html) I attended a couple of weeks ago.....what can you expect from ABSA stadium Durban...events there are always well organised.....and selling beer in 2 litre plastic jugs...whoever thought of that deserves a medal.....and a job at Centurion (where the Coca-Cola concert was hosted).


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The show was veteran (bet he hates the v-word)

Robbie.....bursting on to stage with fire and smoke.....skipping and prancing back and forth and a ramp that extended into the inner circle crowd.....not sure if it was intentional but from where I sat.....in the stands about 1000 feet-up in the nose bleed section.....the ramp looked rather like a big prick. The flames were very effective and I'm sure a few of the front rowers(?) lost eyebrows cos even I could feel the heat round my oxygen mask (I'm telling you we were really high up).

The crowd rocked, despite the earlier quite heavy downpour, and screamed, and sang and threw their panties (I tried but I don't think my skivvies reached the stage...so if anyone picked up a pair of white Y-fronts, and provided your initials aren't RW.....can I have them back please.....they weren't intended for you).


[URL="http://www.monkeyboy.ws/photos/uncategorized/angels_on_stage.jpg"] (http://www.monkeyboy.ws/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/meat_and_2_veg.jpg)
For closing Robbie invited 3 girls and their mother on stage to participate in the final song.....Angels.....RW sure has a good thing going with that.....he sings the opening bars then the stadium sing the rest of the song back to him.....that was pretty awesome having 48,000 people at ABSA stadium singing a song that doesn't involve grinding Australian, or New Zealand rugby teams into boerewors....or mince if the boerewors word means absolutely nothing to you.....pretty awesome.

(For those not in the know ABSA Stadium is the home of the Natal Sharks a South African rugby team...their team colours are black and white so Robbie, unintentionally I'm sure, scored quite a hit when he ran out in his black and white tracksuit for the second half.)

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MonkeyBoy (http://feeds.feedburner.com/MonkeyBoy)

*Warning huge pictures

Author: Leli aka DaMan (http://www.studentvillage.co.za/article/author/view/104) [Publishing date: 18.04.2006 14:59]

Robbie came to entertain

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Long queues and screaming girls. Beer drinking and screaming girls. Frustrated parents and screaming girls?.


As I was driving up to Green Point Stadium there was an obscene amount of traffic going towards town for the Cape Town leg of Robbie Williams? South African tour. Looking at my fellow prisoners doing hard time on the tar, I saw a lot of happy young people. There was a sense of excitement and lurking in the air. Waiting to get inside the stadium was an absolute joy as friends were made and booze was drank. (There was a bottle store right across the road from the stadium and they must have done pretty well that day). You could hear the firm denials from guys about whether they actually like Robbie or not. Most stuck to the tried, tested and approved excuse of ?Nah mate, it?s my girlfriends fault. She forced me to come.? Never mind the recently purchased concert T-shirt hiding underneath his jacket?. I was on the job for Student Village. And I did not make an embarrassment of myself to my glorious employers.

If I could describe the Robbie Williams concert in one word, that word would have to be explosive. The concert was a once in a lifetime experience. But before I get to describe the great man?s antics, I have to touch upon the backing artists, which were Freshly Ground and the Wire Daisies. These groups were phenomenal even though they knew they had to contend with the great Robbie Williams himself.

The Wire Daisies, a 5-piece set from Cornwall, England who are currently making a name for themselves across Great Britain and Europe, wowed us with their smooth blend of indie and rock. Though they are relative unknowns in South Africa, they managed to capture the crowd for their allotted time. They deserve more then a mention; they actually deserve a good listen.

After that was South Africa?s band of the moment: Freshly Ground. And I can confidently say that this band is doing great things and are headed for even greater achievements. They were magical, and I?m not just saying this because I?m a fan. I?m saying this because they?re a bunch of talented performers who took us on a ride and made us forget our daily existence just for a little while. And isn?t that why we go to concerts: to share the artists? vision and try to see what they saw as they composed a particular song? Well Freshly Ground did that and they did it well. Greatest moment of their performance was them singing SA?s favorite single, ?I?d Like?. The whole stadium sang along and that song touched the hearts of one and all.

After that, people began to get impatient. The other bands were good but we wanted to be entertained by the man himself; the reason why some people had been queuing from 9am in the morning to get good seats; the reason for the T-shirts. Some of my favourites included ?ROBBIE I?m Urs?, ?ROBBIE?S ANGELS? and my funny favorite: ?CHANGE YOUR NAME TO RODGER, ROBBIE. SO U CAN RODGER ME?. We were here for Robbie Williams and nothing else would do.

And as we salivated, roared and screamed for blood (all similes and metaphors. I don?t even like Robbie Williams, anyway? ahem?) they let him loose upon the crowd. His 1st song had to be ?Radio? and from then on it was just uphill all the way. The boy was born to entertain and he does it so well. For the two hours of his performance it seemed that Robbie was performing to a group of his mates. He made fun of his ?Take That? period, touched upon his problems with addiction and declared his undying love for the shores and landscapes of Cape Town. Even though he probably did it to Pretoria and Durban, too, we still believed him. We loved every minute of it. He performed songs from all the albums he has released. Hits like ?Angels?, ?Millennium?, ?Let me entertain you?, ?Tripping? and many more. He loved being up on that stage and we all loved him for it.

As we headed to Long Street (not quite sober) to continue the revelries (and change the ?not quite? bit to ?not at all?), I turned to Lwando (my brother who claimed he would have me killed and fed to chipmunks if I didn?t take him) and I asked him he had a good time. He turned to me and said 5 words. And these 5 words summarized the experience that we were able to share with a dude that really likes his job. Those words were ?Good times, man. Good times?. And that?s what we had.

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Wonder what song this was? Make me pure ??

Lucky girls and mum meeting Robbie on stage.

:clap: Great reviews, post 5 was very funny

this is really great to read reviews from south africa, thanks for posting shell! i feel a little bit special - you know what i mean! :lol: