Whilst a lot Robbie's more successful songs are in fact remakes of forgotten hits, his strength comes in being able to make these songs successful again. By propelling his fame and excellent entertaining/singing skills into the mix of each song Robbie has become a success beyond success. I am still able to pick up one of his older CDs and enjoy it thoroughly with hits such as Millenium, Angels and Strong. I very much regret not having seen him live yet. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of people who saw him live at Knebworth left with extremely positive comments.

This particular concert was something of a spectacular occurrence. At the time I never even knew it was going to take place or I would have considered going. Whilst it may be considered in some instances that Robbie is thieving great songs, in my opinion he is actually bringing credit to them. The songs in this concert are of a great and dying era of swing music. With this, Robbie Williams has brought back to the masses the spectacularity of swing music, bringing it into the hearts of the young and and reviving it in the hearts of the older. I personally am a 'young un' and since hearing this particular collection I have been hooked onto swing music.
The execution of the songs is absolutely fantastic, I even dare to (at the risk of being shouted at by old swing fans) say that Robbie has managed to perform these songs even better than their creators. Mr. Bojangles in particular is played with such conviction and such style that your eyes might even start to well up with tears after hearing the sad story of the tap dancer. Coupled with this, the performances of Jon Lovitz, Jane Horrocks and even Robbie's flatmate Jonathan Wilkes! Respectables from the original Rat Pack's accompanying bands and composers also make appearance on the stage.

This is without a doubt the quintessential gem of Robbie Williams' performances. If you're young and think swing music is a golden oldie, watch this and you will be turned. Not only does this performance have that quality, but also as the realisation of a young superstar's life dream, this concert becomes an emotionally charged musical dream. Try it, if you have a friend who has this DVD borrow it and I promise you'll be opening your wallet soon after.

***** THE EGO HAS LANDED *****
Review date: 2002-12-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

The rat pack's cool image made something of a comeback in 2002 with Stephen Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's Eleven, although it seems that for Mr Robbie Williams, in his 2001 concert Live at the Albert, the rat pack sense of style never went out of fashion.

Live At The Albert is primarily a showcase for Robbie's multi million selling Swing When You're Winning, an astonishing album of vintage classics from the '50s swing era, originally sung by Robbie's heroes, namely, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr and of course, the legendary Frank Sinatra. Live At The Albert features several live duets including "Well, Did You Evah?" with Jon Lovitz and thanks to the miracle of modern technology, a duet with the late great Frank Sinatra himself. Live At the Albert is a young man fulfilling a childhood dream; wearing a tux, backed by an old style big band and playing to an adoring (sold out) audience at London's famous Royal Albert Hall, with his mom in the front row.

The first time I watched Robbie Williams live concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, on a Saturday evening last November, I was so impressed I went straight online at Amazon to review his debut U.S. release The Ego Has Landed. "The Ego Has Landed" refers to Robbie's often brash public statements about himself, which (if taken at face value) suggest that he is a bit of an ego-maniac. However, despite much of his rhetoric, Robbie Williams has in the past turned to both booze and drugs to conquer his fears and self-doubt. Thankfully he survived both or we would have been deprived of the world's greatest showman. For in a pop world inhabitated by characterless pre-packaged record company girl and boybands and goody two shoes solo-singers (a la Ricky Martin and Britney Spears) Robbie Williams is something of a rarity; the genuine article, a complete showman with a checkered past and a very bright future, having recently signed a British record deal with EMI worth a cool £80 million (approx $110 million), to deliver four more albums.

Robbie Williams formerly of Boy band Take That graduated to the forefront of the British music scene with his single "Angels" and has never looked back since. Several number ones and many many hits later he is not only established as a credible singer/songwriter, he is quite simply Britain's biggest and brightest star. Robbie Williams makes fantastic, original and very funny videos (Rock DJ, She's The One, Millenium and A Love Supreme for example) and regularly plays to sold out stadiums around the world and the only two nuts he still has to crack are America and the movies.

But why is America still cynical? A lack of airplay in America? A lack of record company publicity? I don't know. All I know is that, in my opinion, he is the greatest showman to have graced a music stage since the late great Freddie Mercury. He is so good live that he has played at several festivals on the same bill as Indie bands such as the Prodigy, and stolen the show from them, in front of what would traditionally be hostile audiences for a pop performer. Live tickets for Robbie Williams shows are like gold dust in every place bar North America, such is his reputation for putting on a great live show. If you don't believe the hype then you need to watch Live at the Albert and be converted. Robbie Williams has got a great sense of humour, a great sense of style and a great deal of class and frankly America, you don't know what you are missing!!

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