Friday night saw a girls night out with friends & family,(along with 90,000 others) to see 5 guys reunite on stage after 15 years!... yes it could only be Take That at Wembley Stadium.... I left the car at Wembley at 7am Friday morning and headed into work, the 6 of us meeting up for a "picnic in the park" prior to the event. Thankfully the rain held off and the fun started from there!....complete with Take That cupcakes!!!
After a mountainous climb to our seats our view looked straight at the stage and we could see everything... The countdown began complete with clock on the screen until Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark took to the stage to start the show with
'Rule The World'. This was followed by
'Greatest Day', 'Hold Up A Light', 'Patience' and 'Shine' (which saw the band joined onstage by an Alice in Wonderland style dancing cast of dancing trees, roller-skating bees and huge caterpillar). This was a much more low key start than The Circus tour, but the energy in the stadium was electric.... Next four became five, as Take That briefly united onstage 'virtually' through a huge video screen to sing their own version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; creating the bridge between the first two parts of the show....
Robbie then flew onto the stage and kicked off his solo set with a stadium thumping 'Let Me Entertain You' which had the crowd jumping off their feet. His set proceeded through his own classics: 'Rock DJ' (where he climbed into a glass chariot to be pulled around the stage by dancers in roller-skates), 'Come Undone', 'Feel' (which saw him winched out to the audience) and of course finishing with the amazing
'Angels'. All delivered in his arrogant and cocky style (yes much noise in the press about swearing and gestures, but hey it's Robbie, that's what he does!) and at times incredibly humbled and gratuitous to the crowd. He absolutely rocked it and completely owned the stage... Before the five reunited properly onstage an amazing flying acrobatic dance set took place on the back screens of the stage, resulting in the dancers forming the Progress album cover.. before the launch of "The Flood". the dancers performed an amazing routine on a wall of water while the band sang from the highest part of the stage.
Robbie threw himself off the top for the finale of
'The Flood' to the floor via suspension cables before the band break into an explosive version of 'SOS'. At this point we were then introduced to a huge mechanical man, affectionately known as OM was revealed from behind the stage and slid out into a sitting position for the guys to sing 'Underground Machine'.
The band then moved to the B stage to perform
'Kidz' where they held an old skool dance-off involving Jason and Howard, flanked by human chess pieces dressed in black and white. 'Pretty Things' was then performed back on the main stage with Gary and Robbie being lifted up by OM's hands as a beautiful ballet dancer flits between the two stages.
It was then time to go back a few years!... with the 'boys' gathering around a piano and Gary tinkling the ivory's the band sung a medley of
'Million Love Songs', 'Babe', 'Everything Changes', and 'Back For Good' interwoven with chat and laughter......they then held a 'photo' op replicating the album cover of Take That & Party... before launching into (complete with original dance routine ) 'Pray' ... if the crowd could have got anymore frenzied then this was the moment!!....
They then sung the new XMen single 'Love, Love' featuring twenty dancers in gas masks flanking the band on either side of the main stage, while the mechanical man moved out into the middle of the stadium carrying the band.
With the show drawing to its finale the band sung
Never Forget, complete with full audience interaction!...during which OM stands to his full height (20 metres).... pure spectacular...the band then disappeared through the stage floor, was this the finish?.... fortunately Wembley doesn't have a roof because if they did the noise that 90,000 people (predominately screaming women!) made it would have lifted!.... dimmed lights and suddenly theres Robbie coming through the floor complete with Gary, Howard, Jason & mark singing Robbies classic
No Regrets... camaraderie & group hug on the stage before launching into the final song of the evening
Relight My Fire, with Robbie singing Lulu's part... complete with fire dancers . The boys then left the stage and walked back to the main stage interacting with the crowd with Gary leading on the beautiful
'Eight Letters' ... simply beautiful.
I loved this gig, it wasn't as visually spectacular as The Circus, but it showcased each of the 5 to their very best, and thoroughly entertained us all!.... Take That partied and completely demonstrated that with a little Patience become Progress....
apologies for the very long post! (highlighted songs will link to You Tube clips)... enjoy!
