TORONTO -- If there's any doubt about Robbie Williams popularity in Canada, those fears were laid to rest Saturday night.

As a precursor to the night's festivities, Williams came sauntering on stage at Toronto's Opera House to the strains of John William's Star Wars theme before launching in his rowdy rocking crowd fave 'Let Me Entertain You'.

From the outset, Williams exhibited the qualities needed to be a star - great songs, an intense respect for the audience, a sense of humour and the odd surprise.

While the show wasn't as parent friendly - he kept grabbing his crotch and swearing - as the 6 pm door time alluded to, 'our Rob' interacted intensely with the sold out audience of all ages, reminiscent of the old time entertainers he so obviously takes after.

His plan for the evening? "We're gonna make a little love and pretty much get down tonight".

It only took Williams until the second song before he began unveiling suprises. The tune was a reworking of the raunchy Eminem hit 'My Name Is'. The chorus was now adapted to 'My name is, my name is, my name is Robbie Williams'. All the other lyrics, including impregnating a Spice Girl remained intact.

The other suprise of the night for fans - and a bridge to Williams' past - came half way through the show. 1

After 'No Regrets,' he took the microphone and relayed to the audience the story of his brother 'Little Rob' (actually, a 'friend' in his pants). It turns out that 'Little Rob' used to sing with a boy band until they kicked him out.

He wrote a song about it to which 'Big Rob' asks "was it 'Back For Good'?" At this point, the band launched into a near thrash version of Take That's biggest hit 'Back For Good'. (Trainspotter note: you can get this version on the 'Angels' UK CD single).

Continuing to play to the audience, Williams addressed his fear of success in North America, "I was wondering off stage whether they were going to like me... I thought I was going to play in someone's hotel room tonight. This [venue] is great!"

With this being the opening night of the 'One More For The Rogue' tour, it was expected that the performance be a double edged sword. The band would be at their freshest but there would also be some bugs to work out. The only mention Williams made to the opening night was two quips, "This has been the best night so far on the tour" and "you're the best audience we've ever played to in Canada."

As bands are prone to doing, Williams changed the lyrics to two songs to suit the situation Saturday night. The album cut 'Win Some Lose Some' which featured the line 'Your cool suburban sun' was changed to 'Your cool Toronto Sun', a nod to Toronto's finest newspaper.

The second 'lyric change' was with the new song 'Forever Texas' (which debuted at his South x Southwest performance in Austin) which is apparently now called 'Forever Canada', and features the 'hoo hoos' from 'Sympathy From The Devil'.

A further nod to Canada, he claimed to have composed 'Forever Texas' while sitting on in a PortaKabin at Snow Job '99 in Jasper, Alberta thinking about sex (where it may have been called 'Forever Jasper').

An indication of how big Williams has become is such little time (his album 'The Ego Has Landed' only came out in Canada in March) came during 'Angels.' After being asked 'Do you know it?', the audience sang the entire first verse unaided, a feat that would be common in England where the single saved the singer's failing career.

In Canada, however, it's a stunning endorsement as to how much ground he has covered in relatively little time.

Showcasing his ability to keep his band on their feet, after 'Angels' he pulled a sign out of the audience that read 'Oasis Oasis'. Mugging to the audience, he quipped, "Do you know who I am? I'm Robbie. If I was Oasis, I'd sound like this."

He only had to sing "Maybe" with a nasal affectation before the band picked up on it and broke into 'Wonderwall'. Afterwards, he asked the audience for more requests, but launched into his new tune regardless.

Before leaving the stage so he could come back for an encore, he told the audience, "I'm going to do that stupid thing where I pretend to go offstage then come back and do my biggest hit. I'll be back in a minute."

As a salute to the popular diarrhea medicine, he came back out and led the band into 'Millennium' with the chorus changed to 'Immodium'.

The last two encores were a rousing cover of Blur's nod to Seattle, 'Song 2' and a straightforward reworking of The Clash's 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?'

The night ended in typical theatrical fashion with a curtain call (sans curtain) - the band, all six members, taking a bow.

The last words of wisdom for the night? "May the force be with you always!" Cue Star Wars theme and the end to one of the most entertaining concerts of the season.

Williams has two more Canadian dates on his 'One More For The Rogue Tour': Montreal on May 8 and Vancouver on June 1.

SET LIST

Let Me Entertain You

My Name Is

Man Machine

Lazy Days

Hey Jude

Win Some Lose Some

Killing Me

No Regrets

Back For Good

Angels

Wonderwall

Forever Texas

Karma Killer

Old Before I Die

*** ENCORES ***

Millennium

Song 2

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Showtime: 8:40 pm

JAM! Rating: 4.5 out of 5