by Caroline Graham
After a long ten years and countless speculation Take That are back!!! The crowd of mostly women aged between 15 and 45 had been warmed up nicely by Beverley Knight and were eagerly awaiting the arrival of “our boys”.
The boys didn’t disappoint and made a fantastic entrance in blue suits, they seemed really excited to be back on stage and they all look toned, happy and relaxed. ‘Pray’ showed us that they can still dance, ‘Why can’t I wake up with you’ proved that they can still hit the harmonies as well as they did 10 years ago. ‘It only takes a minute girl’ was the first surprise of the evening with three tango dancers taking to the stage and the song being performed to a tango beat, the lighting rig on this song also moved down to provide the dancers with a platform on which to dance on. All the boys danced with Kicca, a fantastically toned tango dancer, showing that they must have learned to tango whilst they were away!!!
The next surprise of the evening was the Beatles medley, for which the boys had now changed into maroon Beatle suits, the boys moved to a circular stage that was lowered from the ceiling to the middle of the arena gaining access to this by a runway, everyone was on their feet by this time and we were very close to the circular stage (queue hysterical screaming from myself and Enya) bras, knickers and glow sticks were thrown onto this from the crowd!!! All the band thanked everyone for being there and said that they were so surprised that people wanted to them to reform and that they were shocked at how well the tour had been going. After telling the crowd they had to make their way back to the stage they came down into the crowd and walked back to the stage, kissing and hugging and talking to everyone along the way. (We were not close enough to enjoy this – boo hoo!!)
After another change of outfit to some figure hugging leather look suits we were given an a tongue in cheek insight into what makes a boy band. Some pumping techno music and some robotic moves from the lads went into a spoof audition for who could sing and dance and what made a boy band; this was the start of ‘Sure’, also proving that they could bring the band into the 2000’s.
‘Relight my fire’ for me was the best song of the night, Beverley Knight and a scanty clad guy descended from the circular stage and made their way to the stage which by this time resembled a circus with fire-eaters, acrobats and dancers, the guys and Beverley looked stunning in black and red PVC and feathers. Beverley stole the show with her Lulu solo!!!
Another costume change and the light rig now tilted to an angle it started to rain!!!! The guys did Back for Good in the rain and they had a great time with all the water, kicking it into the crowd and sliding all over the stage (this is the point when I wanted to be on stage too!!) After a quick dry down we were joined by Robbie Williams (all be it a 20 foot hologram of him) for Could it be magic, the crowd went wild for this one proving that everyone still loves Robbie and what a shame he couldn’t make it in person!!!
After a quick mop over of the stage the boys were back for the finale and Never Forget which had everyone joining in with. The band again thanked everyone for being there and took a bow with all of the musicians and that was it!!! I just hope that this tour will get the boys to think about reforming and doing a few more dates as it seemed everyone there left with a smile on the faces, a new Take That t-shirt on their back and their favourite songs ringing in their ears.