During his great show at Bilbao BBK Live, Robbie Williams He defines himself as a “narcissist”, but how can he not be? T-shirts with his name imitating the Oasis logo are worn throughout the venue and his concert is the most crowded event of the festival, with a full day remaining. During the first half of the show, the Stoke-on-Trent artist surrenders to this side of himself – egomaniac, cocky, clever – but at the end of the set the only thing on stage is an excited father next to his daughter. We are just as moved.
Williams set out to deliver his particular “love letter to entertainment” during his visit to Kobetamendi. Right from the start with ‘Let Me Entertain You’, this proves to be a true force of nature. His ‘bigger than life’ personality is the heart of the show and usually appears through humor: “I haven’t returned to the stage for glory or fame, but because I have four children and I need to get out of the house,” he jokes. At another point, he wonders if he was just “the fat dancer from Take That”.
Despite his addictive vanity, Robbie’s set contains a surprising number of covers, playing on the same night ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Theme From New York, New York’ by Frank Sinatra. While most of these come in Williams’ original introduction to the band, here’s the key to why their show is a monument to entertainment. By the time their own songs come back, like the hilarious ‘Kids’ or ‘Come Undone’, we’re all at their mercy. It is at this moment when he decides to soften our hearts by recreating his memorable performance of ‘My Way’ at the Royal Albert Hall, 25 years ago, which he rededicates to his father. I never thought I would be so excited watching a Robbie Williams concert.
See this post on Instagram
CMATon the other hand, did not bring us to the point of tears, but it did achieve absolute devotion. Probably, since she uttered one of her first phrases in our language: “My Spanish is terrible, but my ass is incredible,” the Irish woman said. This was presented on the Repsol stage at the wee hours of the morning, at a time when there are only DJs, to shatter expectations with a spectacular country rock concert. His band, dressed in red and committed to death with silliness, provided an energy comparable to that of AC/DC, if they were queer.
The artist did everything that our colleague Fernando García says in his Mad Cool chronicle and more, by not having the great nuisance of the scorching heat in the middle of her show. She is hilarious and crazy in the best sense of the word, drinking half a beer in one sitting or constantly kicking in the air, but if you take your eyes off for a moment and look at the rest of the band, things don’t stop: the keyboardist “throwing” the instrument, the guitarist running around the stage at maximum speed, the bassist almost breaking the stage speakers just to show off his boots… Wonderful.
As if that were not enough, at one point Ciara Thompson asks the audience if we liked Robbie Williams’ concert and he begins to sing ‘Angels’ improvised. Suddenly, Williams himself bursts onto the stage, reasonably leading CMAT to collapse on the floor: “He might have seemed prepared, but I assure you, he wasn’t,” the artist swore. The madness broke out with ‘Stay for Something’, in which he came down to the floor to sing, dance and even hug his fans. For how brief it was, it will remain etched in our minds as one of the most fun concerts of BBK Live 2026.
See this post on Instagram
The day could not have ended higher after a day that swung between good and best constantly. The very young Westside Cowboyalready well seasoned on stage after opening for Geese on their European tour, are sure to have won dozens of fans with their gritty ‘Britishness’; The same could have happened with the emerging 1111, who appeared on the BBK Live hill as the surprise of the day. Alabama Shakes They strengthened the listeners they already had with their exquisite soul rock, but anyone who wanted a less pure experience could go to the concert of Thee Sacred Souls, better known to the TikTok generation.
Something that everyone could agree on was the good body that the concert of Belle and Sebastianwith an audience willing to let themselves be enveloped by the power of a good melody and a Stuart Murdoch full of jokes. He said he used to play football with Robbie Williams and asked if we had any “drugs” left. This was by far the closest artist of the day, as if he were one of us: «You took them all yesterday. Don’t take drugs kids. Well, you’re not children anymore. You are now moms and dads,” he said endearingly.
The Glasgow band gave a concert practically focused on fan favourites, from ‘Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying’ to ‘Another Sunny Day’. And for classic, filling the stage with people with ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap’. We all thought that this was not going to be possible, after everything it had cost to get the vocalist back on after getting on the track. We couldn’t be more wrong. And it couldn’t have been more beautiful.
