Like most heterosexual males, seeing Take That in concert is not at the top of this writer's life experiences, but last week that exactly thing happened when a girlfriend situation forced us to attend their latest concert on their Beautiful World tour.
We found ourselves surrounded by thousands of women, baying for the blood of the objects of their desires. The gig began with support coming from an unnamed woman, whose talent with a saxophone and vocals proved far superior than the other supporting act; Sophie Ellis Bextor (yes, she is still trying to give this singing lark a go) who was living off past glories for duration of her set, the only song garnering any kind of crowd reaction was the 2000 summer hit Groovejet, a collaboration with that household name DJ Spiller.
Take That, on the other hand had the crowd in raptures, opening with couple of new tracks from their Beautiful World then bringing on the old favourites much to the enjoyment of the plethora of fans in attendance.
After their introduction, Gary Barlow (the one who pretty much does everything in the band) asked the audience “isn’t it great to have Howard back?” after the glorified background member had injured himself earlier in the tour. Obviously Gary, Mark and Jason had found it difficult to get a dancer who knew their ten-year-old dance routines.
We were pleasantly surprised, though, by how much the all members did when the concert really kick-started; all band members took turns to sing lead, although Jason Orange strangely sang a solo effort with the rest of the band disappearing for the entirety of the strangling of the cat – obviously hearing this night after night has got to them.
Overall, though, the band delivered exactly how we expected them to. Except for a section where Howard returned to his DJ days while the rest of the band (including Gary) danced their complex routines that seemed a bit out of place, their performance ticked all the boxes.
It was an all-dancing, all-singing 90s fest with all their previous hits, and a little bit of new material thrown in, we even found ourselves tapping our feet and – heaven forbid – enjoying ourselves a little during their well-known tracks.
If only Sophie Ellis Bextor could do something similar. To be fair, though, that would require her to have some kind of back catalogue – although that’s not stopping the release of her forthcoming Greatest Hits album, due in 2008.
[story by Alex O'Hagan]
Bert says
Excellent article! Pretty much summed up the evening’s entertainment! I’m sure his girlfriend has got her finger ready on speed dial for the Boyzone reunion!
Who is this Alex O’Hagan!!!? More from him please!
moonzooka says
Alex O’Hagan’s mother, there.
Emma Powell says
I like take that and I listen to their songs on my cd player. My favourite song is Shine and Babe out of the take that songs. My favourite member is Mark Owen out of the take that group. Mark Owen is the best singer because he can sing the song but I don`t like Robbie Williams was last in the group. What is your next song called and how many did you sing of your own songs in your life.