The European Weekends Of Mass Distraction tour of 2003 saw Robbie play to a massive 1.2 million people with 21 shows across Europe. A stadium tour of monumental proportions, the gigs drew in huge crowds - never had Knebworth Park, home to a string of legendary shows, played host to such a triumphant occasion.

Ticket sales for the UK dates broke all sales records, selling out in less than eight hours. The tour was preceded by a warm-up gig in Paris, and then finally kicked off with two nights in Edinburgh where Robbie played to crowds of more than 60,000. And that was just the start of things to come...!

The tour had a massive impact on Robbie's fan base across the continent. France had previously been slow to embrace the Robbie Williams phenomenon but was now gripped and sales of Escapology began to soar. The latest wave of publicity and live appearances had propelled the album into the top three of the album chart.

The Knebworth gigs made their mark on music history by attracting the biggest crowds ever recorded. More than 375,000 fans rocked up to the event over a 3-day period of blazing hot sunshine.

The band line-up featured a new acquisition of Robbie's good friend Max Beesley as guest pianist and saw the departure of Guy Chambers as musical director and guitarist Fil Eisler. In came new recruits Mark Plati as musical director on keyboards and guitar and Neil Taylor also on guitar.