Robbie Williams on Glastonbury 2023 legends slot: ‘I’d like to do that’
The singer last week became the solo artist with the most UK number one albums.
Robbie Williams has said he is “incredibly grateful that the ship goes forward” as he celebrates 25 years as a solo artist.
The former Take That singer, 48, last week secured his 14th chart-topping record with the album XXV, overtaking Elvis Presley (who scored 13 UK number one albums), to become the solo artist with the most UK number one albums, the Official Charts Company said.
The album marks his career milestone of more than two decades of success as a solo artist and contains a selection of his greatest hits such as Angels, Let Me Entertain You and Millennium reworked with an orchestra.
He told the BBC: “My big feeling is, my best years professionally could have been from when I was 16 to 21 when I was in Take That.
“I know how brittle my ego is and I know how fragile I am as a human being and to be a has been… or whatever it was that would have happened to me after Take That, I’m incredibly grateful that the ship still goes forward. That’s it.
“In short, I’m incredibly grateful, that’s what the anniversary has done for me.”
Last month Netflix announced that a documentary about the singer is in production, saying the multi-part series, which will launch next year, is an “in-depth examination of a global icon and natural-born-entertainer who had to navigate the highs and lows of being in the limelight for more than 30 years”.
Directed by Joe Pearlman, who was behind the Bros documentary After The Screaming Stops, it will also feature never-before-seen archive and intimate footage of Williams.
Take That were one of the world’s most successful boy bands when Williams dramatically left in 1995.
He went on to launch his solo career with chart-pleasing singles such as No Regrets, Rock DJ and his duet with Kylie Minogue, Kids.
Williams performed at one of the wettest festivals in Glastonbury history in 1998 and said he would love to return to the event again.
Asked if he would be up for performing in the legends slot at the Worthy Farm event, he said: “Yeah, that’d be cool. Actually, I’d like to do that. I’d like another go round on that stage and feel that audience and get the chance to do it.”
When shown footage by the BBC of Mel C saying that the Spice Girls for the legends slot would be “the absolute dream”, Williams quipped: “The Spice Girls trumps a Robbie Williams so maybe I’ll have to wait”.
He added of Glastonbury: “It is the epicentre of the music world for that weekend. Everybody’s watching, everybody’s got their eyes on it.
“And that kind of thing doesn’t exist these days because music on TV has died a death and music being a potent, viable thing that gets you to sit down on a Thursday night at seven o’clock for a half an hour now doesn’t exist.
“So yeah, it’s a big deal.”
