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SOMEBODY SOMEDAY (2001)
- buy this title from Amazon.co.uk
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My third authorised book in a row - what's
going on? But when my agent calls I can't resist the idea of
going on tour with the biggest British pop star of the moment.
Discount the fact that I'm fifteen years older than him and
have virtually no knowledge of pop music after two-tone. This
is going to be fascinating.
It was too, even though at times I felt like a superannuated
version of Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous. I had little concept
of the massive entourage that follows a popstar of Robbie's
calibre around, nor of the bizarre and entertaining way that
travelling family operates. Fortunately both band and crew gave
me the benefit of the doubt and made me welcome in dressing
rooms and on tour buses. And my 'fresh eye', though it made
for the odd embarrassing pop howler (thinking that Guy Chambers
had once played in a band called Wild Party, for example), proved
a useful attribute.
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Legendary Tour
Manager Franksy
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As the book reveals, Robbie is a much more
complex character than the 'cheeky chappy' superlad of tabloid
myth. He suffers from bouts of acute introspection and insecurity,
though anyone who knows his lyrics would understand this and
it is undoubtedly the powerful expression of his self-doubt
and personal pain that makes him so popular with his fans.
This tour was made all the more interesting by the fact that
Robbie announced at the start his intention to leave drink and
drugs behind forever. His attempt to stay clean while performing
was the personal challenge that became the story of the book.
Helped by manager and mentor David Enthoven (himself an ex-addict)
he succeeded, though not without some testing moments along
the way - most notably when he was pushed off stage by a crazed
non-fan during a gig in Stuttgart.
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Though promoted in the press as an 'autobiography',
this book isn't that. It's an account of a tour, and how Robbie
was on that tour. Those looking for Victoria Beckham style insights
into Robbie's childhood, parents, upbringing, relationship with
Take That etc are not going to find them here. Instead you have
the equivalent of the laminated backstage pass that legendary
tour manager Andy 'Franksy' Franks handed me on Day One at the
Docklands London Arena. SERMON ON THE MOUNT TOUR it read. And
beneath that, in suitably biblical script, THOU SHALT PASS...
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Girl
on shoulders |
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Fans
in Brussels |
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