ONE MORE FOR THE ROGUE

Kicking off the biggest tour of his career so far, Robbie returned to the arenas for the first time since his days with Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark. I've Been Expecting You had soared to No. 1 in the UK, as had Millennium - Robbie's first No.1 single.

Grilled by Radio 1 before his opening night, he admitted: "I'm cacking meself! I've got bigger stages to run about on. It's like my own Glastonbury every night - sort of. I've always had a great belief in my ability but I didn't think it'd be this quick until I got back here. I'm very proud."

Support on the tour came courtesy of Divine Comedy and Robbie was honoured to have his favourite band join him. It was also the tour of the infamous BOG - Robbie's motorised lavatory - later sold at Robbie's Bid It Sum auction to raise funds for his charity, Give It Sum.

In a change of dynamics for the tour, it was decided that Guy would go from guitar to keyboards, Alex Dickson was brought in and Claire Worrall was introduced as a second keyboard player. Chris Sharrock, previously of World Party, was also added to the band line-up.

As the tour moved on to Europe, Robbie's second set of dates on the continent, things were starting to work.

Coinciding with the release of I've Been Expecting You, the tour saw some of Germany's venue capacities double in size.

Gradually fans were bringing their boyfriends and Robbie Williams the solo artist began to form a separate following, away from the association of Take That.

It would be a while before Supreme would finally give Robbie the big break he was looking for in Europe, but tour dates were a sell-out and fans were going wild across the continent!

Reviews

"While Take That were occasionally funny by default, dolphin-loving Robbie is hilarious by design. He lived out his songs about stardom, the limited shelf life of fame and the search for redemption, by sticking his tongue in the audience's cheek. Its undying adulation was met head-on as he conducted the crowd with the kind of control that made Pavlov's dogs look unruly."
Evening Standard, March 1999

"When triple Brit award winner Robbie Williams took to the NEC stage last night the atmosphere turned electric and the crowd went beserk. If there was one concert to be witnessed in 1999, then Millennium Man Robbie has got to be top of the list."
Birmingham Evening Mail, February 1999

"For the next 65 minutes Williams danced, sang and generally goofed about like pop's answer to Norman Wisdom. Everything got a cheer - you got the impression if he'd picked his nose the audience would have brought the house down."
Sunday Mercury, February 1999

Setlist

Let Me Entertain You
Man Machine
Life Thru a Lens
Strong
Lazy Days
Ego a Go Go
Win Some Lose Some
Heaven From Here
Grace
No Regrets
Phoenix From The Flames
Teenage Millionaire
Karma Killer
Old Before I Die
Millennium
Angels
Pinball Wizard
Stand Your Ground
One Of God's Better People