It was going to be my tenth visit to a Robbie Williams concert that year. The tickets were cheap and a trip to Milan wasn't that expensive either, so I wasn't capable of saying "No" to the opportunity when I ran into it. It just took too long for the tickets to sell... And can you blame people for not buying them? A concert in Italy in the middle of the summer was asking for trouble.
Shortly after landing in Milan we knew this concert was going to be different. It was 44 degrees Celsius (111 F) and the sun was burning hot. Queuing for front row would probably kill us. So we had more time for touristy things in Milan.
After we checked out the stadium on the outside (where Italian fans were actually already in the queue 1,5 days before the concert!!) we discovered that it was also possible to already go inside. So we got a tour of the San Siro Stadium while the crew was building the stage (A lot of respect for these guys!).
Hard to resist not just staying there overnight and claiming front row
We decided to do something useful with our extra time. And since we were hardcore at that time, it of course had to do with Robbie. In comes the group pressure. We wanted to pay him a visit in the hotel. And while it is super embarrassing to "be that person", you don't want to stay behind to be later confronted with stories how the rest had a drink with Robbie. So there we went... We checked the gossip and looked up the most expensive hotels in Milan so we could pay them a visit. Nothing going on at the Fourseasons and The Grand though. Slightly disappointed we found ourselves a spot in the shade and started discussing what to do next. But while we were at it, we suddenly saw a few band members walk past us! Time to be sneaky and creepy...follow them!
That evening we knew what hotel to go to. And since the news hadn't spread yet, it was pretty easy to be allowed in. And to paint a picture: With a group of 7, there is always that one person.... We walked towards the bar there he was, sitting with his people. And there was no way, but to pass him. One of our group started freaking out and was just too loud when she pointed out to us that Robbie was sitting there (like we could have missed that). I just wanted to sink through the floor. But instead I went straight for the bar and totally ignored the whole table with the Robbie entourage.
Of course we were busted! In no time the security guy came to us and told us that he knew what we were doing there. And asked us not to ask for autographs and pictures. I ordered a drink from the bar, not knowing where to look. Soon it became clear that our group could be divided into 2 pieces. The starers and the ignorers. To my right, there were 3 people full on obsessively staring at the table where Robbie was sitting. With their eyes on stalks they nearly forgot to breathe. The other 3 and myself just didn't know what to do, except for pretending we were just normal people having a drink, being embarrassed by the situation and our friends. But also annoyed that we didn't dare looking and were missing out on why we were there in the first place.
He must have thought it was a fun situation to play with. These girls at the bar not knowing what to do with themselves. He started moving around the bar and the 3 pairs of eyes were just locked onto him. The rest just kept turning their chairs to be able to look the other way. At one point he stopped to talk with someone at half a meter from us. He did it on purpose, I bet. It may be strange, but I was pretty relieved when he decided to move to a whole different part of the hotel and we could go back to ours.
I am just the worst stalker ever ;)
Me chilling in the hotel after my anxiety pee pee
