After The Black Keys (and The Big Nose Attack, let's not forget about them), it was now time for the 2nd day of Rockwave Festival (21 days later than the first) and the second big name : Robbie Williams.
Now, I have mentioned before that pop gigs don't sell many tickets in Greece (unless it's Madonna of course) and the half-empty stadium at last year's Lady GaGa appearance was testament to that. Now if we add that to the fact that the ticket was much pricier than The Black Keys one, at a period when Greece is going through a deep economic recession it did not look promising... I assume that Robbie's fee was much higher, but hey, no hard feelings Robbie, you deserve it. Reports were mixed as to how many tickets were sold in the days leading up to the concert, but there were lots of promotions going on enabling fans to win tickets. We took advantage of one of these and we got two tickets for the price of one with my girlfriend.
Contrary to the first day of the festival, there was a VIP area at the front of the stage with higher priced tickets, so, once again we had to arrive early in order to secure a good place since we only had standard tickets. And so we did, and we got a place right at the front of the standard ticket section having arrived even before the first band started playing.
The aforementioned first band were Inconsistencies which I've only recently read an article on a magazine about them. They were formed by a guy in his twenties, who having gotten tired of his office job after only five years decided to pursue his lifelong dream : music. So, full marks for dedication which seems to be paying off in his case.
Next on, were the band with probably the best and most imaginative name ever : Ex-Girlfriend's perfume. Even though at that time we probably wanted to sit down to conserve some energy before Robbie came, we were forced to sit up and take notice, first by their ska sounds and then by their stage presence.
Up next were Kovacs, the last act before Robbie and in their case their stage presence was dominated (and quite rightly so) by their singer. I was told that a couple of their songs were quite popular in Greece and I actually noticed some people singing along. However, as a friend of mine who was close to the stage later told me they were actually singing the title and just moving their mouths meaninglessly to the rest of the words. Oh well...
By now it was time for Robbie and any fears that attendance might be poor were proved wrong. Terra Vibe was full. While waiting, "Uptown Funk" ny Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars was played on the speakers and the waiing crowd started singing along like it was being performed live!
But then Robbie came on with "Let Me Entertain You" partying like it was 1998 or something. He gave us the whole package "Come Undone", "No Regrets", "Rock DJ" were some of our favourites.
Plus... Having been told that there's a song of his that for some reason was only a hit in Greece and nowhere else ("Me And My Monkey"), he proceeded to play that too, although he normally does not include it in his sets.
Plus... he played songs from his "swing" mode ("Supreme" was played in its swing version) and he sang a duet with his father.
Plus... he seemed to be enjoying himself taking selfies, calling his friends back home on the phone and getting a girl from the audience up on stage to join him on a dance routine.
Plus... Robbie is a big Queen fan and that's more important if you are a Queen fan as well like I am. So we got both "We Will Rock You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the same night (And "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" by the way).
And finally seeing that he got such a warm reception he asked the audience to make a date with him in 18 months time. Now the audience may want to, Robbie may want to, but in order for a promise like this one to come true the organizers must want to as well. Said organizers this time let us enjoy the music without bothering us with self-congratulatory messages and celebrations about the festival's 20th anniversary. Although they did try to stir our political instincts by displaying the "Unf**k Greece" sign on the big screen which was made famous by U2.
It's important to note at this moment that before Robbie came on stage there was an ill-meaning rumour circulating among the audience that he was only going to perform for one hour. He most certainly proved this one wrong and so, one of the best concerts of this summer was over and we left Terra Vibe with the secret hope that in 18 months time we are indeed going to see him again...
SETLISTS:
Inconsistencies
01. Late Evening Runs
02. Foreign Str. Confessions
03. August 23rd
04. Sailed Away
05. Summer of '69 (Bryan Adams cover)
06. Who I Am
07. Birthmark
Ex-Girlfriend's Perfume
01. Run
02. Dansistor
03. Icarus
04. Cache Cache
05. Rome
06. Mindless
07. My Baby Blue
08. Flying World
Kovacs
01. Whiskey & Fun
02. 50 Shades of Black
03. Night of the Nights
04. Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey cover)
05. I've Seen That Face Before (LiberTango cover)
06. Hold On
07. Sunday Dress
08. Fool Like You
09. He Talks That Shit
10. When the Lady's Hurt
11. Diggin'
12. Shirley (Sound of the Underground)
13. 7 Day Fool (Etta James cover)
14. Wolf in Cheap Clothes
15. My Love
16. The Devil You Know
17. Song for Joel
Robbie Williams
01. Let Me Entertain You
02. Rock DJ
03. Monsoon
04. Come Undone (with "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For)
05. Me and My Monkey
06. The Road to Mandalay
07. Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway and His Orchestra cover)
08. Feel / Angels / Wonderwall / Supreme (just vocals by Robbie & fans)
09. Swing Supreme
10. Ignition (R. Kelly cover)
11. Better Man (with his father Pete on stage)
12. We Will Rock You / I Love Rock 'n' Roll
13. No Regrets
14. Candy (with Conga outro)
15. Feel
16. Millennium (with "Royals" snippet intro and "99 Problems" snippet)
17. Kids (with "Whole Lotta Love" riff intro)
Encore:
18. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
19. She's the One
20. Angels
21. My Way (Claude François cover)
