On the opening night of Ian Brown's UK tour, the singer performed to backing tracks with no featured band, leaving many fans disappointed.

On the Sunday night show, no one accompanied Ian Brown on stage, where he performed a set of 23 songs at O2 Academy Leeds.

Didn't meet expectations

Many of his fans felt that the performance by the singer did not match what they expected though they said to have paid more than £45 for each ticket.

But others said the performance was Ian Brown's "new set-up," which "works" while supporting the show.

Meet Robby Megabyte, Bosnia's first robot rock band musician

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Rock-band robot

Bosnia's most popular rock band, Dubioza Kolektiv, has a new recruit who sings and plays musical instruments - a humanoid robot called Robby Megabyte. Students from Sarajevo University's electrical engineering school agreed to build Robby after the band requested a robot designed to fit the concept of their album #fakenews, which was released last year.

Made by students

One of the students who helped build the robot used in the album, Almir Besic, said the project had been a challenge because they knew nothing at first about the 3D printing needed to build the robot and lacked the necessary equipment. They used recycled materials, including a Golf 2 axle shaft and baby trolley wheels, to make the platform on which Robby moves. It took them about two years to complete the project.

It can eat, drink, shout & likes music!

"Our robot likes to eat, drink, shout, he likes music," said Vedran Mujagic, the band's bass guitar player who was most involved in designing the concept for Robby.

Quarantine Show

The band Dubioza Kolektiv is known for its eclectic musical style and socially and politically engaged lyrics. Robby took part in the band's online weekly gigs called "Quarantine Show" during lockdowns imposed last year to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Band wants to send a message

In a video clip for the #fakenews album, one band member thinks it would be fun to have a robot do his work while he relaxes and has fun, so he orders one and assembles it. Gradually the whole band is replaced by robots in the clip, allowing the men to go and party. But they then get locked out of their studio and the robots have the last laugh, inviting young women to dance and drink as the men look on from outside. "Every little thing is under machine control," Robby sings in a song called "Take my job away". The message - about "evil artificial intelligence which takes jobs away from good people" - is intended to be ironic, Mujagic said.

A fan named Paul Griffiths, whose ticket cost £47.50, said he "couldn't believe" when he saw Brown coming to stage with no other musicians. Though a fan of Brown for more than 20 years, Paul Griffiths also articulated that his mate "wanted to leave" the show after the first song's performance but stayed until the end.

A fan attending the show from the balcony section said they "expected a band."

Ian Brown performed a set of songs that spanned his seven solo albums after coming to stage just after 21:00 BST.

The performance left one fan "cold and disinterested"

Another fan Steven Latham said that the performance left him "cold and disinterested" as there was no masterful guitarist, no energetic drummer, no band, only the Brown singing along to a backing track badly. He further added that it's "disrespectful" and "scandalous" for the price of tickets as the gigs were planned with very little effort.

Sleaford Mods, the post-punk duo, tweeted that the "new set-up works" as Brown's solo stuff has always been more beat and hip hop oriented.

On Monday, the tour would reach Glasgow, and on Tuesday, Edinburgh. The tour is also due to visit Manchester, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Birmingham, London, and Nottingham with several sold-out dates.

A fan named Steve Knight, who was also present at the concert, said that if someone is a fan of the solo stuff of Ian Brown, then they would love the performance.

FAQs:

Is Ian Brown Rich?
He has an $8 million net worth.

How old is Ian Brown?
He is 59 years old.

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