Andrea Muldoon reports from King George's Hall

LET me entertain you, sang Robbie Williams. Let the show-off go on, said the T-shirts.

The ego landed in Blackburn - and he didn't disappoint.

A full house at King George's Hall, Blackburn, replied with loud appreciation non-stop for nearly two hours.

The former bad boy of multiple chart-toppers Take That was keen to shrug off the teen boy band's clean-cut image.

He told the audience he had been watching a Take That concert on his way to Blackburn - "What was I thinking about?" he asked.

A mixed reaction followed, reflecting a split between the star's fans from his younger days and his new generation of followers.

Before his finale Robbie, with a smirk, broke into one of Take That's old slow-tempo hits, Back For Good, but his mission to experiment couldn't resist speeding up the tempo to the delight of the crowd.

The self confessed show-off's on-stage antics went down a storm.

Even so, his ego wasn't quite big enough to make him give in to one female fan who begged him: "Get your kit off". "If I take my clothes off no one will take me seriously" he said.

But even the significant number of young men at the concert, some of whom must have been dragged along by their girlfriends, seemed to be converted by Robbie's charm.

He belted out Old Before I Die, South of the Border, Hey Jude, Lazy Days - they all pleased -but Angels got the best reaction by far

"I've never had it so good" said Robbie.

And the fans were ecstatic.

"He's gorgeous. We've loved him since Take That," said Zoe Campbell, 16, of Rosehill, Burnley, who had arrived with four friends 12 hours before the concert armed with cameras and autograph books.

Sarah Plaice, 15, of Brownhill, Blackburn, tried with her pals to show Robbie her home-made poster with a saucy message.

"We've all liked him for seven years now," Sarah said.

"He is a real joker and down to earth. He's different from all the rest - that's what makes him the best."

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