When Robbie Williams left Take That, the news was so seismic that a rubbish punk band called The Pin Ups wrote a song about it called ‘Robbie Left Take That’. It wasn’t long before Take That called it a day and This Morning had an all-morning grieve-in for people who didn’t realise that the band’s departure didn’t mean their CDs would self-destruct.
And then, after Gary Barlow and Mark Owen’s solo careers fizzled out, Robbie began to conquer the world… except for America which broke him in two, leaving him bloated and dead-eyed.
This all lead to a very successful Take That reunion and then eventual offering of an olive branch to Robbie Williams, currently of no fixed talent.
After Robbie sang some Take That songs at The Brits, it was obvious they would reunite and this year, being the 20th anniversary of the band as a fivesome, Robbie’s on-board once again and going on the road with his old chums and sparring partners.
However, it nearly wasn’t to be thanks to Robbie Williams having toothache.
Williams told breakfast show DJ Chris Moyles:
“I was very nervous because there were four of them. I came so close to not going because I had toothache that night and I’d just taken a painkiller. I was quite large as well, and I thought I can’t go mumbling, looking like Elvis.
“I’d said some nasty things about Gaz. What do I do if I go in, is he harbouring anything? So the missus pushed me through the door.”
Then, in what appears to be a rare moment of candid truthery, Williams added:
“I spent the last 15 years thinking what I was going to say. We had that big chat and the most amazing thing happened at the end of it, we both said sorry to each other and we both meant it.
“That’s all we needed. It just lifted so much off my shoulders that I didn’t know was still there.”
“It was the start of a very magical 18 months that we’ve had since then, writing songs together, getting to know each other.
“It’s nice being able to be grown-ups and hear each other and say sorry because not many people can do that.”
Gary Barlow responded:
“All these things had been built up for so long, they just sounded stupid as they were coming out. We just needed to sit opposite each other and talk.
“I think we had a lot of guilt, the four of us, because Rob was the youngest, the most impressionable of all of us. We always felt like we didn’t look after him enough. If there was one big thing we sat and regretted it was always that.”
Robbie and Gary confirmed that Take That had recorded an album together (untitled at the minute) which will be released in November. And there’s talk of a tour.
Barlow said:
“We’re talking about a tour right now – hopefully next summer we will tour.
Williams added:
“There’s some stuff on the cards but there’s only so much we can talk about now. There’s big plans in the works, but when, where and what we’re not allowed to say. Plus we don’t really know.”
We, as leeches in the media, can only hope that this whole thing is a disaster filled with bitterness, ill-feeling and fist-fights. For the record, we reckon that Jason Orange is secretly the hardest in Take That as he can combine his dancing skills with martial arts to kick people’s heads clean off their bodies.
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EssBen says
isn’t this about the 3rd time they’ve announced it over the last year or so?
Sarah.L says
I’m surprised Gary even gave him the time of day after those “fights”. If a friend did that to me, i’d think twice about talking to them ever again. We all know Gary likes to keep the peace, but Rob was almost harrassing him. Bipolar or what?
Sarah.L says
I just can’t help thinking that “Demon Robbie” will re-emerge while he’s back in the band. One minute he slates Gary, the next, he loves him again. That’s one muddled up guy. His smugness is quite nauseating.