Robbie Williams at the Roundhouse

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His oddly nervy turn on X Factor aside, Robbie Williams made his live comeback proper at the Roundhouse last night. Given that his performance was being beamed to some 200 cinemas around the world, the pressure can't have been any less but he seemed much more at ease in this setting.

No doubt the assistance of three guitarists, three keyboard players, a string section, six backing singers, and a harpist (beat that Florence and The Machine) helped calm the nerves, as did playing for an audience he could be sure had come to see him rather than a bunch of wannabe upstarts, but did he really need an autocue as well?

As John Lennon once said, "Whatever gets you through the night, it's alright". 

Speaking of Lennon, the new songs were the usual Beatles-filtered-through-Oasis mix of wordplay ("Was it a blast for you? Because it's blasphemy") and massive singalong choruses. Business as usual in other words. Similarly his stage act was his trademark combination of cheeky chappy cockiness and emotional vulnerability.

In short, it was like he had never been away. Whether it's enough to reclaim his crown as the undisputed king of British pop remains to be seen though.

Declaring his support for X Factor twins John and Edward from the stage seemed liked a typical piece of Robbie mickey-taking. But his response to the audience's good-natured booing ("No, you don't understand. Think about it. Sink the ship, sink the ship, sink the ship") was more telling.

His comeback might have been impeccably managed but being beaten to the top of the charts by one of those wannabe upstarts wasn't in the script.

• The best and worst of Robbie Williams
• Read review: Reality Killed The Video Star
• Watch Robbie perform Bodies at the Roundhouse