The Heavy Entertainment Show

About

The Heavy Entertainment Show was released as a promotional single on 25 September 2016, coinciding with the announcement of Robbie Williams’ eleventh studio album, The Heavy Entertainment Show. The song was made available on iTunes and Spotify ahead of the album’s release on 4 November. It was written by Williams, Guy Chambers, Chris Heath and Rufus Wainwright, and produced by Chambers and Richard Flack.

Williams conceived the title in January 2014, three years before the album appeared. The idea drew on his childhood memories of British television variety shows, which he later told Chris Heath had inspired him to become an entertainer. The track itself was written the day David Bowie died, with Wainwright contributing the opening line, “Good evening children of cultural abandon.” Its references to mortality, fame and self-parody made it an ideal overture for both the album and subsequent world tour.

Musically, the song blends theatrical rock and orchestral brass with a tongue-in-cheek self-introduction. The chorus features the line “He would sell his children for a hit in Belgium”, a lyric Williams later joked would have to include “the whole of Benelux”. Lyrically, the song sets out his larger-than-life entertainer persona, alternating bravado with humour and self-awareness. Williams described it as “bombastic, grandiose, silly, theatrical, glorious.”

“It’s my introduction to the album and it will be the introduction to the tour too. I like the grandiose entry.”Robbie Williams, track-by-track commentary, 2016

The accompanying video, directed by Vaughan Arnell, depicted Williams in a boxing ring facing off against himself, filmed at Hatfield House. He performed the song live for the first time at the Apple Music Festival in London and used it as the show opener throughout his 2017–18 world tour. Critics noted its theatricality and self-referential humour, calling it an exuberant statement of intent from a performer embracing his pop legacy.