Robbie Williams: ‘Hugh Jackman is a real potent force’

Robbie Williams has said seeing Hugh Jackman in concert made him want to “up his game”.

Australian actor and singer Jackman has been on a world tour and performed in London at the beginning of June.

Talking about mentors and influences in his own career, Williams told the Press Association: “I went to see his show and I’m like, I have got to up my game, he’s the real deal.

“He’s a leading man, you know and there’s that leading man charisma, mixed with jazz hands, it’s a real potent force”.

Someone else he considers a mentor in his career has been Sir Rod Stewart, whose concerts he watches on YouTube.

He explained: “I’m on YouTube studying the people that have gone before me and seeing where you take it in middle age and afterwards.

“I watch a lot of Rod Stewart’s gigs, see how he’s doing it, what his set list is like, what he puts in and what he doesn’t, how he shapes a gig.”

The Rock DJ singer was talking shortly after the announcement that he is now a co-owner of LMA, The University Centre for Music, Performing Arts and Creative Media, in Liverpool.

He said: “I had fun (mentoring on the X Factor) and the giving back, sounds a bit too lofty for me to be honest with you… I’m here to have fun, I’ve really enjoyed mentoring.

“I surprised myself, I was quite good at it, I’m empathetic… it’s not a very British thing to list off how good you are at stuff, but I have empathy and I have experience and knowledge.

“And there is an energy in talking to these people that you recognise in yourself that fills the heart and it just felt really good”.

Earlier this year Williams and wife Ayda Field announced they would not be returning to the X Factor judging panel after making their debut last year.

Asked if he was taken aback by how emotionally invested he became in the series, he said: “I felt as though I’d let people down when they got voted out.

“I worried about their well-being, not only my acts but other acts too.

“I often think X Factor as a viewer can be a big commitment, to go on the journey, you know.

“Most years I watch it and some years I just sit in front of it and go ‘I can’t do the journey this year, I can’t do it’, so if you can imagine what that journey is like actually being part of it, you know, so the, that was surprising how invested a) you have to be and b) how you become”.

He mentored the LMA Choir in last year’s X Factor series and announced that the choir will appear on his new album and perform with him later this year in Hyde Park.

LMA will also launch a new London campus in 2020.