O Fortuna

About

Robbie Williams used O Fortuna, from Carl Orff’s 1935–36 cantata Carmina Burana, as the dramatic opening sequence for the 2015 Let Me Entertain You Tour. The piece underscored a bespoke on-screen introduction that greeted audiences before Williams appeared on stage, setting a theatrical, high-impact tone for the show.

The tour-specific staging combined Orff’s composition with projected text that built from a whispered call-and-response into a direct appeal to the crowd. This served as the transition point between the darkened arena and Williams’s entrance, functioning as a structured prelude rather than a standalone musical number. The screen sequence remained consistent throughout the tour, with only the city name altered nightly.

As the final lines of the projection concluded, the touring band entered on Orff’s choral motif, adapting its rhythm and dynamic for a rock-pop ensemble. Over this, the band chanted “Robbie, Robbie, Robbie”, turning O Fortuna into a rallying call that led immediately into the opening bars of Let Me Entertain You. The fusion of classical dramatic scoring with stadium-scale pop marked one of the show’s most recognisable transitions.

The use of O Fortuna on the Let Me Entertain You Tour exemplified Williams’s emphasis on theatrical spectacle, framing the concert with a heightened sense of anticipation and blurring the boundary between classical pastiche and contemporary performance design.