Project Description

An Evening On The Green

With

Robbie Williams

@ Rochford Wines

22/02/18

By Kelsey Hentschel

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Thursday marked the first ever Victorian A Day On The Green event held on a weeknight and as such, has been aptly named An Evening On The Green. Known for its picturesque surroundings and exquisite wines, Rochford Wines in the Yarra Valley played host to the notorious Robbie Williams on Thursday Night. Concertgoers were aplenty on this warm summers night in “The Valley”, bringing along their picnic baskets full of supplies and their fold out camp chairs. All buzzing, partly from excitement, partly from all the wines.

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The first act of the night was sibling-fronted band Sheppard. The band hailing from Brisbane opened the night with their latest single Coming Home, an infectious, feel-good anthem. The track is the third single from the band’s second studio album, “Watching the Sky” which is due for release sometime 2018. Their set was packed full of indie pop tracks keeping the crowd entertained for the entirety of their performance. Even my 60 year old father was absolutely loving their music The six-piece group ended their explosive set with their number one single Geronimo.

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Moments before the headliner Robbie Williams took the stage, the audience was asked to stand for the “National Anthem” our focus fell to the giant screens which projected the lyrics to a track titled “God Bless Our Robbie” a parody anthem depicting Robbie as King. The Global star emerged in a boxing robe followed by his dancers decked out with boxing gloves and helmets. We were welcomed to The Heavy Entertainment Show by a catchy tune about what we were in for.

Fittingly, the first recognisable track we heard was the smash pop anthem Let Me Entertain You. The excitement of the crowd pulsated across the gorgeous Rochford fields. Robbie is gifted in the art of crowd banter. I’ve never seen a performer interact with his audience as often and as effectively as Robbie. One of the highlights of his performance was just before the track Come Undone when Williams singled out an audience member to finish off his lyrics, stating if she completes the line correctly he will personally buy her a T-Shirt, but if she was to fail to sing the line right she would be kicked out. And funnily enough the fan was not as familiar with Robbie’s songs as she thought, and was met with cheeky banter from the brit. It was a light-hearted way to involve the crowd & he pulled it off effortlessly.

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Robbie sprinkled a couple of surprising covers into his setlist, including a beautiful tribute to George Michael. It came as a sweet surprise when Williams brought his father out on stage to perform a cover of Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond.

Williams was sure to drop in a few cheeky anecdotes about his past experiences in Australia which I shall refrain from going into detail about (Trying to keep this G rated). He couldn’t reiterate his love for Australia and the Australian attitude to life enough, to which he was met with thunderous cheers every time it was mentioned.

Finishing off the set with his hit tracks Rock DJ, Better Man, and Angels. Dare I say I believe Robbie Williams had just as much fun on that stage as each of us did in the audience? A+ Performance, Thanks Robbie.

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PHOTO CREDIT: DAVID JACKSON

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