Robbie Williams vows to be next Tom Jones and will still perform when he's 80

02 November 2023 , 08:36

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Robbie Williams vows to be next Tom Jones and will still perform when he's 80

Robbie Williams has vowed to be continuing rocking on stage into his 80s and wants to follow in the footsteps of Tom Jones and Rod Stewart.

The former Take That star has sometimes struggled to cope with the pressure of live performance but is in a more relaxed and sober state as he nears his 50th birthday next year. And he intends to be belting out hits like Angels and Rock DJ for three more decades.

Robbie said: "Who's the future of me? The future of me is Tom Jones and the future of me is Rod Stewart, hopefully, touch wood. Rod Stewart, at my age, releases the Great American Songbook, of which he did like 10, which sold 70 million records or something. He's still on tour, he's still performing, he's still putting albums out. So is Tom. Why? Rolling Stones. Why? They love it. They're compelled to, what else would they do?"

Speaking to comedian Rob Brydon for his podcast 'Brydon &', Robbie also told how he no longer uses drink or drugs but does have one secret trick if he is flagging during a gig - copious amounts of caffeine.

Robbie Williams has vowed to be continuing rocking on stage into his 80s (Getty Images)

The 49-year-old singer, who was photographed getting a fake tan yesterday as he prepared to do promo for a new Netflix documentary, said at a recent gig he was struggling through lack of sleep.

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He explained: "You get on a plane and then you try to go to sleep, and you either do or you don't. And then whether you do or you don't you're still getting up to perform in front of 50,000 people and my head space is actually all over the place.

"And then I got up and the show was great, the audience were very loving and I'm about eight or nine songs in and my body just went 'night night now, go night nights now, sit down, that's enough now. Sit on this step and go sleep'. There’s a tray full of double espressos at the back of the stage that I hit when that happens."

Robbie also said in the interview he helps to conserve his voice because his brilliant fans sing along to all the words of his songs and so he "only sings 35% of my choruses" to rest his voice. He will give fans a warts and all look at his career in his new documentary for Netflix released next week.

He was so depressed at his lowest point he felt it might be "best if he just passed away". He makes the admission as he watched archive footage of himself over 15 years.

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At the weekend in a new interview, Robbie also described how hard it was making the new series and how he had to sometimes pause or fast forward some footage as he found it too painful. "It was like watching a crash you were involved in, but in slo-mo. It was like enduring your mental illness at a very, very slow pace, over a very, very long time. And it's a niche thing to experience, you know. There aren't many support groups for it."

Another section shows his mental health suffering as is criticised heavily in the media. It reaches a climax with a gig in Leeds and Robbie has a panic attack that lasts the entire gig. "It's like those nightmares where you don't know what's happening and you can't remember anything and you're terrified. It was like that all night."

Brydon & podcast is available on Wondery+ and Amazon Music from today. Robbie Williams is released on Netflix on November 8.

Mark Jefferies