By Julie Broadfoot BBC Scotland, Hampden Park

Williams has already taken his tour to Europe, including Cologne

Amid the scandal of stolen tickets and speculation about quitting the music business, Robbie Williams brought his Close Encounters tour to the UK.

At the first of two shows at Glasgow's Hampden Park, he declared himself "home" and was taken aback by the reaction to his performance, which saw the zealous Scottish audience eating out of his hand.

Thousands of frantic devotees flocking to use public transport found it a challenge to make it to the gig, but it was clearly worth the wait.

A massive, complex set contained a winding walkway and a revolving stage into the crowd.

Add in fireworks and a hanging gondola, and the concert could have turned into a bit of a circus.

But it simply came down to Robbie the showman. He comfortably commanded the stage and captivated his audience throughout.

Cheeky charm

Dressed in a black coat, red silk scarf and jeans with a vest that he swiftly ripped off, he was suave with his trademark cheeky charm.

He touched on the recent controversy surrounding Keith Richards' flouting of the smoking ban at Hampden, promising to get into trouble himself, but didn't appear to risk it.

Robbie's gigs meant that Scotland's match against the Faroe Islands was displaced from the National Stadium, but he told Scotland to "go to Italy and batter them, then go to France and batter them, then we'll see you in the European Cup!"

Hampden Park was transformed by an impressive stage

Despite having already played over 30 dates on this tour, he was visibly shocked by the audience's reaction after just a couple of songs.

"These things in my ears are playing the band to me. When I came up here tonight, for the first time in my life, I couldn't hear anything."

Cue further deafening screams.

Homage

It was no surprise that recent reformation of Take That came up, and he admitted he'd thought about joining them as everyone was telling him to.

"But then I thought I've sold three million tickets for my own tour," and that was that.

He paid homage to them though with a rare and sincere performance of Back For Good.

New electro-rap single Rudebox may not have been well received by the critics, but it seems he can do no wrong - it must be creeping into the nation's consciousness as it did nothing to dampen spirits.

It sounds like he's not hanging up his mic just yet

A twee duet of My Shadow and Me with best friend Jonathan Wilkes would have looked at home at a Royal Variety Performance, but their relaxed banter and nonsense pleased fans.

He was wise enough not to try out any unheard songs from his forthcoming album, instead sticking to his anthemic pop classics Let Me Entertain You, Millennium and Angels.

They were the obvious hits and, while the fans went wild, Robbie himself appeared to be emotional.

Ending with Kids, he proclaimed: "Scotland, you're in a league of your own. I love you and always will. See you next time."