Arriving early, as usual, this time sadly I was not allowed advanced entry to the swanky Cuckoo Club since the Bouncer was adamant that I could not enter even one minute before the official opening time. Therefore, I was resigned to waiting outside, impatiently waiting for the last few minutes to pass, giving me ample time to catch up on the day's happenings with my lovely other half. As soon as the gate was opened, though, and I was hurriedly beckoned into the establishment, I scarpered in, deposited my coat and bag, then made my way into the main room to see what was on offer.
The basic idea was that people could completely embarrass themselves with the help of the live band that was on-hand, Lucas, who played two live covers to warm the crowd up, the latter of which had the lead singer showing off his impressive lung capacity, holding a note for what seemed like an eternity. The other option, however, and extremely thankfully for those of a shy nature, was to try using the warm-up pods downstairs to get yourself ready for the main stage. What happened in reality, though, was that most people gravitated to the pods and ignored the embarrassment of being alone on-stage, instead preferring to be in groups of four singing through the microphones hooked up to the Wii systems in the basement. After all, when there is a noisy backdrop and there are three potentially worse singers around you, suddenly karaoke becomes FAR easier.
Fortunately I met a great group, the lovely folk from Newb Review, Cubed3's good friend Diane from Girl Gamers UK, as well as people from EMI and Take a Break magazine. Everyone was eager to get in on the mix, not afraid to take part in some four-player shenanigans...with the exception of one woman at an 'opposing' pod who looked at us in a truly affronted manner when we suggested she join a group of three singers that were looking for a fourth contributor. How could she possibly join with three people she did not already know?! Heaven forbid she should mingle with new folk. Perhaps she had never attended a Press event such as this one before. Anyway, our group were very happy to lead by example, making good use of the various props and pieces of costume attire on offer (apparently the feather boa I wore suited me very well, along with Elton John-esque large spectacles!).
The most popular choice of Robbie song was most definitely Rock DJ, with the Kylie duet Kids a close second, and Something Stupid with Nicole Kidman also proving a surprise hit choice instead of the classic Angels. However, our group definitely made sure we tried out as many songs as possible, whether we could sing them well or not (Mr. Bojangles proved a poor choice for all but one person, for instance, whilst No Regrets was also a tough one, unlike Let Me Entertain You, which suited my dulcet Mancunian tones perfectly). The whole night definitely proved that there are some classic Robbie tracks that people love singing along to, as well as some oldies-but-goldies that are tricky, but fun to screech out loud none-the-less, yet equally his newest 'hits' are relatively unknown to the majority of original Robbie fans. A sign that EMI get him re-united with former song writing buddy Guy Chambers, perhaps?
Whatever happens, with Robbie's new Greatest Hits package taking the charts by storm, it will be a massive shock if We Sing Robbie Williams on Wii does not do equally as well, if not better, when it hit retailers on 12th November, 2010, and the launch party went a long way to show exactly how much fun karaoke on Wii really is.
As with the successful PANG: Magical Michael launch event, thanks go to the fantastic trio of Premier PR ladies, Ali, Jess and Lauren for arranging everything and inviting Cubed3 along. There will be more coverage of We Sing Robbie Williams in the near future right here on Cubed3.