Sing-a-long with Robbie

Source: This Is London

'Just over two years on from Knebworth, the madness begins again. Some 200 people queued overnight on rainlashed Tottenham Court Road for tickets to Robbie Williams's comeback show. We last saw him performing to 375,000 over one recordbreaking weekend, so this was a rare opportunity to see the whites of his eyes. In a grey T-shirt that showed every drop of sweat, he previewed tracks from this month's sixth solo album, Intensive Care, with the blasé confidence of a man who knows that these days he could sell a million recordings of him belching and banging some pipes.

He strolled on, hands in pockets, to deliver a typically cheeky opening line on grandiose new song Ghosts: "Here I stand, victorious, the only man who made you come." The lyrics of other new ones, such as the jangly The Trouble With Me, showed that his principal subject matter is still himself and he's a long way from running out of things to say. New writing partner, former Duran Duran guitarist Stephen Duffy, looked quietly amused on the guitar. In total, the band played eight new songs against seven old. "It's a bit weird playing you new songs because I want you to sing along," Williams complained, pinpointing the broad appeal of his music. Stonesy party tune A Place to Crash and Sin Sin Sin, with its racing electronic backdrop and instantly memorable chorus, will not be strangers for much longer. He also unveiled his winter single, a towering ballad called Advertising Space, making bets on any other Christmas number one immediately pointless. However, Make Me Pure was a smoulderer with a better tune, and neither song was Angels, "the old career-maker", as Williams called it. "If it wasn't for this song, I'd be Gary Barlow." As usual he barely sang any of it, simply turning his microphone towards the crowd and looking amazed. He tried the same trick during Feel, one of only a handful of Williams songs that can be sung without a smirk. Even now he has passed his 30th birthday he is still the childlike entertainer, pulling Mr Universe poses, doing silly voices and sniffing his armpits. After the glory of Knebworth some thought he would hole up in his mansion for years, counting his money, but here he is again for phase two. One look at his gleaming face during Angels explained why - he may not need the cash, but he needs this madness, badly.'