You could have put Stoned Pumpkin Jamsandwich on the support bill at Slane Castle and no one would have minded. Most of the 80,000 young people who crowded into the Castle grounds on Saturday night were here to see only one person: Robbie Williams. The rest was just a warm-up for the arrival of Britain's biggest solo star.
Former Golden Horde singer, Simon Carmody, opened the musical programme early in the afternoon, followed by Welsh singersongwriter, David Gray, and Mercury Music Prize-winning British band, Gomez.
The reformed Happy Mondays shuffled onstage at around 4 p.m., and lurched into their classic hit, Loose Fit. Placebo are saddled with an interesting look but an uninspiring sound, and the trio's grunge-lite sound seemed to have little impact on the senses.
Welsh band The Stereophonics lifted the crowd's spirits with gritty, sing-along anthems such as The Bartender and The Thief, Pick a Part That's New and Just Looking.
The atmosphere shifted abruptly with the arrival of the main attraction, and Let Me Entertain You introduced Robbie Williams to his biggest audience to date. The audience was bathed in soft blue and red light as the Williams showbiz extravaganza turned Slane into a large-scale version of Las Vegas.
Chewing Gasoline and Lazy Days went one further than Oasis, delivering rock thrills and visual entertainment, as Williams strutted about like a cock-of-the-walk, drinking in the adulation.
Backed by a full band and brass section, Williams came on like a cross between Tom Jones and Liam Gallagher, mixing monster rock song such as Strong, Karma Killer and Old Before I Die with schmaltzy tunes such as She's The One, No Regrets and the mother of them all, Angels.
In true showbiz fashion, Williams encored with cover versions of Tom Jones's It's Not Unusual, Oasis's Wonderwall and U2's One. He came, he saw, he entertained - what else did we expect him to do?
