Robbie Williams in Trieste between fragility, children and the dream of being the king of entertainment: “My family did not save the pop star, saved the person”

Trieste’s sky is still clear when Robbie Williams He enters the scene, hoisted on a rocket that lifts him on the Nereo Rocco stadium, before wearing upside down on the notes of Rocketthe new single that anticipates Britpopthe album coming. It is the only Italian date of the tour, Posted in the program of Go! 2025 & Friendsthe calendar of events for Nova Gorica – Gorizia European capital of culture.

The stadium is full, iThe audience is already standing, and he knows: here it is not just about singing, but of telling a story. His. “Are my best days now behind?” Asks with an ironic smile, leaving the question suspended in the air. “Are they still the fat dancer of the Take That?” Then he looks everyone in the eyes: “Tonight is my love letter to entertainment.” It is a declaration of intent: «My dream is to become the best entertainer of the planet. And I will do what Michael Jackson did. He only decided to call himself the king of pop, and he became it. Well, I decided to call me the king of entertainment! ».

The stadium explodes, but Robbie does not let himself be taken away by the applause: «Here is my problem: I can only do it with your help. You see this – I, all this – exists only because you allow it to exist. I can’t do anything of this without you. Otherwise I would be just a man with mental health problems that jumps alone in a stadium. You are the show. We are the show ».

Promise kept. For two hours Robbie sings, but above all enchants, plays, moves. It is the showman that does not need catchphrases or a new album to push: he is enough, his energy outside the box and that ability to transform each concert into a collective experience. There are hits (Strong, Something Beautiful, She’s the One, Feel, Angels), the covers (New York New York, My way), but above all There is “Robbie f **** ing Williams”.

Between one song and another (Let me entertain you, Rock DJ), Robbie dismantles his career with irony, alternating confessions and sketches that seem to come out of a stand-up comedy. Sing Sinatra, Balla YMCA In complete shocking rose, he makes fun of his own vocal limits and laughs at aging, his and the public. At the beginning, phrases on Tiktok and artificial intelligence flow: “They are creating new forms of entertainment”, warns a recorded voice. But then he reiterates: «There will always be a need for live. There will always be needed Britpop. The world is a mess, forget to be cool. Let’s see ourselves, we are together and we are fine ».

And the scene changes tone. “To be honest, the show and I only started when I met my wife Ayda. And then Teddy came, my first child. They are fantastic. I have four ». Speak slowly, Robbie: “Before I had a family, I didn’t really know what I did here. I was lost. Maybe rowdy. Maybe success. But completely lost. And then they arrived, one after the other, with their little hands and their great hearts. They didn’t care about the prizes or stadiums. He only cared that I was there. They did not save the pop star. They saved the person. “

Then the smile returns, the irony: «And do you know one thing? I made peace with myself. Indeed, I recommend it to all those who still try to be cool: stop it. It is exhausting. What’s cool in going to the bathroom five times in one night? ». It is not just self -irony. It is an invitation to slow down, not to always run. “You see, I believe that entertainment is everything. Well, at least for the next two hours. Life is hard. The world has gone mad. We need a place to meet and share an experience that makes us forget the world. This is that place».

Robbie lowers the rumor, as if they were talking to each of the 24 thousand present: «behave as if I had to play in the stadiums every summer for the rest of your life. You don’t have the guarantee that you can do it again. So instead of being afraid, why don’t you focus on what you have in front of you? This beautiful evening. These wonderful people. This beautiful stadium. And it’s true: we don’t have the guarantee of tomorrow. We don’t know if there will be the next show. All we have is right here, right now ».

Simone Di Luca

Then, the extreme fragility: «You have seen my film Better ManTrue? The most incredible thing was my relationship with my grandmother. She was for me the incarnation of unconditional love and, since I saw this in her, she gave me. Maybe I will be able to transmit it to my children too. Without her, I don’t know what it means. In the film she was suffering from dementia. And now my mother has dementia. He almost doesn’t know who I am, where I am, what I’m saying or what I’m doing. And my father has Parkinson’s and now he can no longer get out of bed. Once he left every evening to sing with me … and now he can no longer get out of bed. And this is where I find myself, as a human being, at this moment: to face the possible, well … the definitive loss of my parents. My mother -in -law has three diseases: lupus, parkinson and cancer. And she is the bravest woman I have ever known. He is fighting. He is fighting. And it is fragile. And she is sick ». And again: «It is very strange to be adults. I’m not ready ».

At 51, Robbie Williams It could be satisfied with a celebratory tour, put the hits one after the other and let the nostalgics do the rest. But he chooses to do the opposite: he challenges social networks, the discography he never sells, and even the very idea of what it means to entertain today. He does not care if the new generations consider him Boomer, if he has aged, if we too have aged with him (Spoiler: Yes, we are). Robbie F **** Ing Williams has put aside the shadows and the ghosts of the past. He learned the most difficult thing: to do what he wants, and have fun while he does it.

Simone Di Luca