Take Note: Pop stars' little earner

However, it’s his management company who are really treating the great unwashed with disdain. The BBC has found that tickets for his shows are being passed straight to ‘secondary ticketing’ agencies.

These admittedly could offer a legitimate service; if someone was unable to make a Robbie show – hairwashing night, ocular acupuncturist appointment – they could offload their ticket to another fan (presumably one with dirty hands and dodgy hearing).

However, the issue is the 1000 per cent mark-up – plus, the agencies actually offer ‘bot’ software to make top touts’ lives even easier. So it may be down to the musicians themselves to help out their long-suffering followers. Perhaps Robbie, having seen these retailers taking his fans for a ride, might considerwashing his hands of them.