Paperjam

10 reasons why Take That were fantastic

Gigs // Vanessa // 27th July 2006

I went to see Take That at the Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday 24th June and I have to admit that it was sooo good that I almost wet my pants..

Having been a New Kids on the Block fan in my younger days, Take That were the enemy so my sudden swing in allegiance was not looked upon favourably by my cousin, who was also as obsessed with NKOTB as me (at the time…).
But as I get older I find myself drawn to the cheesy pop of my student days and tell myself that that was a time when music really did entertain.

So anyway, I tried several times to write a sensible review, but as always I kept going off on tangents so I thought this would probably be the best way to summarise a brilliant night out.

1. They are all (yes, even chubster Gary Barlow and the less aesthetically pleasing Jason Orange), very handsome. Rather ruggedly so these days. In particular I have to single out Howard Donald who, at the time I thought was a bit of a minger, but has recently developed into a bit of a swan.

2. They can all sing. Admittedly Gary Barlow did most of it and Mark Owen didn’t really get my juices pumping, but judging by what we listen to these days, they can all sing.

3. They were very energetic and can all dance. This, of course, is a pre-requisite of all boybands,. Men who can dance are very sexy – whether physically attractive or not. A man who can sing and dance at the same time is a gift from heaven. (I do actually have Adam Garcia in mind when I write this, but I will allow it to apply to TT for now).

4. They took the pee out of boybands, including themselves in their younger days. Need I say more?

5. Their take on the old songs was imaginative and very very sexy. For example, It Only Takes A Minute was reworked into a steamy Tango piece in the style of Roxanne in Moulin Rouge (girls, you know what I’m talking about). And Relight My Fire was an incredibly saucy S&M piece complete with the dodgy outfits, flames of passion and everything.

6. Lulu was there to do her 5-second cameo on Relight My Fire. Apparently we were very lucky as she only graced a few concerts with her appearance. She wasn’t actually all that good and you couldn’t really hear her, but she was there and she looked good.

7. Their Beatles medley was so great my face hurt from grinning and singing (at the same time). Also, their outfits were rather sexy and retro.

8. A giant hologram of Robbie Williams was projected onto the stage, with him singing a slightly melancholy version of Could It Be Magic. Robbie had the stage to himself for the whole song, of which I am sure he would have been proud.

9. All four of them seemed to know that all their Christmases had come at once. The shows were devised off the back of the Take That documentary shown last year. The programme proved so popular and their fanbase still alive and kicking, that they thought ‘what the hell’ and it paid off – again – big time!

10. I felt very special. Just like all boyband fans like to feel, towards the end of Never Forget, their final song of the show, they treated us to a firework spectacular which was actually quite emotional. All that effort I went to – battling through traffic to get there (and the traffic I would be battling through on the way back), seemed to be worth it because they loved me.

So there you have it. The comeback concert was fantastic – as long as they don’t start releasing shite music as a group in the hope of reviving their ‘careers’. That would just be embarrassing.