Robbie Williams, G Flip, The Lottery Winners @ Adelaide Oval, Adelaide 7/11/2026

Phenomenal! It was a major coup for Adelaide to have Robbie Williams kick off the Australian leg of his BRITPOP World Tour right here at the iconic Adelaide Oval. Adelaide was buzzing in anticipation of a huge night of music. Earlier in the week there was a preview of what to expect and wet the appetite playing the hits at the Melbourne Cup but last night was Adelaide’s moment to shine turning out in big numbers to fill the ‘Oval’. One thing is for sure is that when you go to a Robbie Williams concert you will be entertained… guaranteed! He’s a man of the people and all round good guy so it comes of no surprise that the affinity and love of Robbie Williams is tight and has been for many, many, many years.

Opening up was The Lottery Winners who brought a whole heap of fun and Hijinx to get this party started. Front man Thom Rylance is an absolute hoot and funny as taking the p-one-double five out of himself, his band and crew which was all in good fun. Coming out on stage saying “hello Adelaide, this venue is tiny!” Adding “we are a big deal in the UK, it goes Robbie, us then Ed Sheeran”. Asking Adelaide to pretend that his first song is Rock DJ the humour kept coming saying they didn’t have any hits but they were working on it then being game playing an impromptu cover of Angels having been egged on by the crowd to do it with Rylance joking suggesting they should sing it quietly so Robbie Williams doesn’t hear and get kicked off the tour. The quote that was unbeatable in describing day one of the tour is “this is nice in my belly and my willy” [yep, we’ll leave that one right there]. They have some great songs with Letters To Myself and Much Better and I’m sure after this performance they would have sold more than the one ticket to date for their return visit next year. Finishing on Steady We Go is an absolute winner hence the band name!

G Flip is an elite performance and last night was case evidence of that playing a slick and very classy set. It was quite the backdrop with the setting sun behind the members stand as G Flip went through their paces packing plenty in over the next forty five minutes. G Flip’s set was a really good balance of old and new with a surprise at the end. Looking like the Bonafide rock star kitted out with black sunglasses, white sleeveless tee and black leather pants the crowd were really in to as G Flip worked the entire stage starting with Disco Cowgirl then pulling out the big ones with GAY 4 ME and I Don’t Wanna Regret. G Flip took a moment to reflect on the early stages of their career packing the commodore to play venues like The Exeter in the city and The Jetty Bar at Glenelg. Real Life morphed in to Hyperfine followed by Good Enough. The crowd’s interest piqued with a cover of Taylor Swift’s Cruel Summer getting everyone involved singing the words. Finishing on a couple big ones in Worst Person Alive and Bed Alive to leave the stage warmed for the main act Robbie Williams.

The atmosphere was excitable and fever pitch with fans making the most of the last break before Robbie Williams took the stage just after half eight. The temperature drop made it a tad chilly but that paled in to insignificance as the lights dropped and the video projects started on the big screens heralding the start of the show. A narrated intro focusing on AI, technology, social media in music underpinned by the theme of the future in entertainment asking the near forty thousand strong crowd to tune in to Robbie Williams. Hells bells! Opening with the first song from “BRITPOP” in Rocket was incredible emerging in a spacesuit and the free fall from the rocket was an incredible scene. Well played and this was the first song! The anthemic Let Me Entertain You got the crowd up and was quick to reintroduce himself as “Robbie fucking Williams”.

The banter with the crowd was top notch pitting Adelaide against Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane asking the question who do you hate the most with a resounding response for Melbourne! Then there was Bruce, who was a fan he slept with in the 90s but could not remember because he has a beard now! The larrikinism is why we love Robbie Williams and there was bucket loads of that right throughout the night. He even said that this show was “a love letter to entertainment” asking the question of himself whether he has still got it or whether he was the fat dancer from Take That. The love of his family was a major theme throughout a number of songs even though he said with four kids he needed to get out of the house.

Hot Fudge made a reintroduction in to the set (first time since 2022). The big hits were huge like Rock DJ but the likes of The Road To Mandalay and Pretty Face were great. Williams spoke of his movie and the feeling of being lost until he met his wife saying that you wouldn’t believe that all four of his kids were with the same woman and that “you fuckers wouldn’t have guessed that!” Perfect intro to Love My Wife. It will be remiss to not say anything about his band either who were elite and absolute guns on stage. Testing the rivalry between Crows and Port was game but indicated it didn’t matter as he “had no skin in the game here”.

Wanting a “fucking C-stage” as Coldplay had one added another element to the show suggesting it was a “Coldplay concert on the cheap” saw an awesome version of Betterman with Thom Rylance rejoining the stage (earlier asking for a bigger applause than Robbie) for an Oasis cover of Wonderall with an interesting story reflecting on a phone call with Noel Gallagher asking to join as the singer (and being hung on). It was a bit of “market research” to test if Adelaide could sing it. Plenty of great moments to come with Something Beautiful and Millenium. The show shifted in to cabaret mode with Theme From New York, New York and No Regrets.

The band intros was interesting as well with the crowd asked to say whether it was “shit or not” giving each band member a moment in the spotlight delving through popular hits Man! I Feel Like A Woman / Down Under / Livin’ On A Prayer / Seven Nation Army / Y.M.C.A. / Hey Jude. Time flies when you’re having fun with forty odd thousand people and as the end was near the likes with the powerplay of Come Undone, Kids and She’s The One (dedicated to Georgie who got a nice “$20,000” plug for her Fringe show) were absolute winners. The importance of family to Williams was seen again in the poignant My Way (Paul Anka) cover dedicating it to his dad and going through the family photos of his kids on screen.

There was still more! The encore of huge Robbie Williams staples Feel and Angels topped off what was a brilliant night leaving the Adelaide faithful in great spirits. As Robbie Williams took his final bows there was a touch of emotion, he felt it, we felt, and that affinity with Adelaide has been crystallized once more. Show of the year? Quite possibly, quite possibly! The sentiment leaving Adelaide Oval was “gee, I wish we could do this again tomorrow”.

Live Review By Rob Lyon