Ronan on Robbie

Quoted from: http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au

'RITCHIE YORKE
02jul06

Respect: Robbie Williams is one of the best, says Ronan

YOU'D think there would be a competitive spirit flowing between the likes of former boy-band members Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake, Ronan Keating and their ilk.And you'd be right. Keating doesn't back away from what could be dangerous territory.
"I think that Robbie is probably the best entertainer of all of us – us being Robbie (from Take That), Justin (N'Sync), myself and a couple of others that do that kind of thing. People like Brian McFadden (Westlife), as well, and he's a good friend.
"Of all the boy-band guys that came out of bands and became solo artists, I think Robbie's probably the best entertainer. He's got a certain charisma, and a tongue-in-cheek humour that really just works."
It obviously works in Australia, where Williams has managed to sell out nine huge outdoor shows in December, including two at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane (December 13 and 14).
But in the US, he could barely draw the numbers required for a football team. The Yanks don't want a bar of Williams, which is astounding considering his domination in Britain and here.
"Americans," Keating says, "don't like that cheekiness and that tongue-in-cheek humour that Robbie employs. That 'ego has landed' thing just doesn't fly in the US.
"If they'd released Angel and went to radio with that, Robbie might have been a big star in America by now. But because several of his singles haven't gotten away, there's a sort of stigma attached to his name there at the radio level.
"Having said that, though, his Dublin concert that I attended a couple of weeks ago was an amazing spectacle. The stage is enormous - he's spent a lot of money on this rig.
"He opens his set with Rock DJ, which I think is a great pop record. It was very cool to open with that. Apart from the new songs from his next album, it's a show just full of hits."'