This is not going to be an unbiased review of the three gigs I went to and I won't apologise for that. I had the best time! I'm going to split this post into three parts, because each of the shows I went to were very different.
16th June 2014, Leeds First Direct Arena
If you read my last post, you'll remember that I only got home from my holiday on the morning of the 16th. My mind was all a bit of a whirlwind so I hadn't even really got excited for this show. I knew our seats were at the back of the arena so thought our view would be awful but it was actually decent!
I pretty much knew the show backwards before I saw it because I'm that person who scours the internet for all spoilers possible and I had a playlist made of the setlist.
I had a wonderful time in Leeds; the show was wonderful, the setlist amazing and the banter with the crowd was very funny. It was weird to be at a rob show and sitting the entire time but thats just the genre he's playing at the minute. Having been at the Palladium show, I knew what to expect and still loved it. However, in the back of my mind I knew it was my warm-up show and that once I got in the inner pit in Newcastle I'd be able to appreciate the show properly!
22nd June 2014, Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
This leads me on perfectly to my main night of this tour. FINALLY THE INNER PIT. I wanted to start queueing at 7am but my auntie wouldn't have it so we ended up sat outside the arena from 11:30, being numbers 54 and 55 in the pit queue. I knew the front row near the stage would fit around 30 people so I was disappointed but one day I'll get front row centre stage. I might have to buy all the tickets but it'll happen. Anyway, we queued from 11:30 to 6:30. Ridiculous, I know, to all who don't understand being a big fan but it was so worth it. Those 7 hours didn't even seem that long and we had some banter with the girls around us. We were given our sparkly wristbands and I was so excited about these because I'd seen them on instagram and I bluddy love a gig wristband.
Also whilst in the queue Jerry Meehan, Rob's bassist, walked past me and I had a fangirly freakout and my auntie thought I was insane. They started letting us in the arena at about 6:45 and I managed to get a spot on the side barrier, stage right.
I was freaking out when we made it inside, and my tweets contained many many many expletives. I felt a bit faint because all I'd eaten all day was two bags of crisps but I refused to collapse or be sick and ruin ticking off number 1 off my bucket list, being 'front row' at a Rob gig! I know it's not real front row but it's good enough for now.
I can't even critique his show because Sunday night was all about me being close to Rob for two hours. I was so close I could see his tattoos through his sweaty shirt for goodness sake. My only issue was that he kept grabbing peoples hands from the standing section and not the pit but I'm only angry because he was so close to my hand on like seven occasions and decided not to touch me :( I got some blurry but nice photos though.
We had a lot of eye contact through the show and I danced and sang my little heart out and had the best time. Getting to hear him sing 'I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen' and 'Come Undone' so close to me was incredible. Also, if you've seen the show you'll know that during 'Go Gentle' he gets everyone to swing their arms. I felt like a windmill I was doing it so strongly. Anyway, my arms were in the air like a loony and Rob looked right at me and smiled. So OBVIOUSLY I smiled back. And he did a thumbs up. And I hesitated. And then I did a thumbs up back. AND HE NODDED AND SMILED. Oh man. I know it could be to anyone and my auntie said the girl behind me thought it was her but I know in my heart it was to me. Like when I saw him in Wembley 2011 and he stuck his middle finger up to me during 'Come Undone' or in Leeds 2012 and he pretended to shoot me in 'Road to Mandalay' or at the O2 in 2012 and he waved to me during 'Feel'. Question these moments if you want but I know they're real.
The show was perfect. Seeing him in my hometown for the first time was amazing and I love that he says Newcastle like a normal person and not a posh person, nyoocassul and not noocarsul (say it outloud and you might understand). The only thing that was bad was that during 'New York New York' he didn't change the lyric to Newcastle Newcastle but that can't be helped. I got home and just could stop smiling. I spammed my instagram with all of my photos from that night so go have a look when you've finished reading this. Then I started feeling sad and wanting to go back and then remembered I WAS GOING BACK.
23rd June 2014, Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
I'd actually won tickets on robbiewilliams.com for this date a few days before I went but had bought tickets a month before so gave them to our family friends. Ours were block 102 and theirs 217. I thought because ours were lower tier that they'd be better but that ended up being a mistake - more on that later.
Not only were they closer but the people in that section seemed way more up for the show than our section. Having been in the pit and seeing the whole crowd's reaction to Rob the night before I thought everyone would be up for a good time but we ended up in the boring, quiet section. Rob is such a showman and this tour shows that off perfectly. However, I think some people expect a stadium show off him all the time so, despite the show being called 'Swings Both Ways Live' (aka Rob singing the songs from Swings Both Ways, live) people expect all of his hits and then maybe Mr Bojangles. What pissed me off though was that the people in my section didn't even sway or wave their arms or even stand up during ANGELS! That's just sacrilege. I know not everyone feels the way I do about Rob but to not even stand for him at the end of the show is ridiculous.
I'm currently listening to my live CD from Sunday and you can hear the crowd is louder and that Rob is happier singing to that crowd. Monday was very disappointing for me and that had nothing to do with Rob. He was wonderful as per usual. I do think being in the pit ruined me; I now will not be able to sit for any Rob gig ever ever again.
This was less of a review and more just me going 'oh my god rob is amazing and I'm a fangirl and you're rubbish if you don't join in' but oh well.
I did want to buy more tickets but have decided to put that money away for his next tour so I can do multiple dates for that one because I am never doing a one date tour again. I only did one Take the Crown date and I regret that so much.
The cherry on top of my amazing week came today when I popped onto the chatroom of Rob's Upfront site and he happened to be in there! And this happened.
It's not much to some people but the chatroom went insane after this because people realised he was in there and the text was going sooooo fast! So I was very happy to have told him what I thought of Newcastle and see him type my name. What a man.
ROLL ON THE NEXT TOUR MR WILLIAMS! (please come back to Newcastle).
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