Robbie Williams eager to return to 'intoxicating' Irish crowd during 2025 tour

Robbie Williams said he is excited to return to an Irish crowd at Croke Park. His Dublin gig is planned for  on August 23, 2025. Picture: Moya Nolan

Robbie Williams has one question he would like to ask the Irish public ahead of his grand return to Croke Park next summer.

The English singer-songwriter yesterday announced a British and Europe-wide tour, with a date in Dublin for next August.

The former Take That singer is used to big Irish crowds, having played the Aviva Stadium in 2017 and 2013, Croke Park in 2006, the Phoenix Park in 2003, and Slane Castle in 1999.

Williams is now asking the people of Ireland if they wouldn’t mind if he once again paid tribute to an old family friend.

His father Pete was close friends with the late Joe Dolan, with Williams even recollecting an evening when he was taken out of his bed for the Mullingar man to rest up at his house.

At his show in the Aviva in 2017, he sang Dolan’s hit ‘Good Looking Woman’, as a tribute to the connection between the two singers.

Speaking at a press conference, Williams said: “It was so much fun. When you do something like that, it’s a tip of the hat but it’s a little stunt.

“You tick a box and you can only do it once but I would ask the good people of Ireland if it’s OK if I do it again, if they wouldn’t be bored of me doing it.

Robbie Williams during the last date of his ‘Escapology Tour’ at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 2003. Picture: Maura Hickey/Eye.Con photo. 

“So, that’s a question I can pose to the country, can I do it again please?”

Although he grew up in England, the singer says he has “always felt Irish” and, partly due to his Kilkenny grandfather, playing here feels like “coming home”.

Acknowledging that it is something a lot of artists say to each crowd they play, he said: “There is something special about the audience here.

“There is a heart that beats and an energy that is created. There are other countries, other audiences that do incredible things, [but] here, it’s unique to the heart of the country.

The energy that is created, that I get back, there is a love and a passion and a wildness. It’s the wildness that’s intoxicating. I understand the wildness.

The announcement comes ahead of the release of the singer’s biopic Better Man, which sees him depicted as a monkey.

When the concept of being shown as an animal arose, Williams joked that he saw himself more as a lion, but that wasn’t the case for everyone.

Director Michael Gracey, known for The Greatest Showman, “cocked his head” at the idea, leading Williams to suggest a monkey instead.

“I went home and said to my wife: ‘Everyone in the movie is human and I’m a CGI monkey.’ She was like: ‘What the F?’

“It was then that I realised that this might be a divisive idea, but as it happens, she’s seen the movie now and she’s totally on board. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take a big awkward swing at something and try to do something unusual.”

This tour is set to be Williams’ “boldest yet”, and tickets go on sale on Friday. Prices start at €77.25 and will be capped around €152.25, meaning there will be no dynamic pricing.