Take That - MEN Arena - 10/12/06 by
 |
"We only got back together for a documentary!" says Mark Owen, half apologetically, during another frenzied homecoming show by Take That, and it's that self-deprecating air of humble local lads made good that makes these boyband kings so popular as a 'man band'. Ever since that documentary where four washed-up former pop stars were left stuck in a room together while their illustrious and successful ex-band mate decided that it was beneath him to show up, Take That have been the underdogs, but now it's they who are riding high.
Indeed, walking away from the venue last night, the crowd passed a busker singing Angels, and just for a second, you did have to wonder if that was Robbie trying to win back a few of his fans. Last time they were at the Arena, the band had an image of Mr Williams singing the opening verse of Could It Be Magic, but a sign of how far they've come since then in terms of sales and probably confidence is that he's neither seen nor mentioned at all on stage. Robbie who? And on the basis of this latest tour, they certainly don't need him.
The big comeback tour was of course a massive success and a fantastic show, but it was always interesting to see how Take That would fare when it came to releasing new material. Beautiful World wasn't an entirely convincing album, sounding a little too 'Gary Barlow solo material' and one-paced, but a succession of good singles have helped it be their most successful yet and proved that there is more than just nostalgia about them now. The fact that there are many more younger girls in the audience than last time is a sign of that, as some of them look like they weren't even alive when the group first split up. Of course, there's still more than enough ladies in attendance who remember that tragic day all too well.
And even though the sense of frenzy that accompanied the comeback isn't quite at the same levels now that pretty much everyone in the crowd has already seen them recently, the atmosphere for this first of many homecoming shows was still electric. Even a dancing OAP in the crowd was treated like a long-lost boyband idol when he decided to get up and have a boogie during the interval. As the lights went down, the screams went up (and UP) and a typically dramatic introduction sets up the lads to appear at four individual podiums in front of a big Take That HQ style building and they sing Reach Out in the manner of politicians appealing to the masses.
They are always ones to put on a good show, and while the sense of This Is A Big Event isn't quite the same as last time where everything was MASSIVE, even a slightly scaled-down Take That gig is full of entertainment, from the lapdancing and poledancing of It Only Takes A Minute to the voodoo-themed Relight My Fire to the tricksy rendition of Could It Be Magic on the mini-stage. The cleverest set-up comes with Never Forget, where the four of them are running on a treadmill-style section of the stage with a filmed backdrop behind them that they and others keep literally sliding in and out of. Certainly not a pop group going through the motions, if you'll excuse the lame pun.
That all of these songs are done very differently to the last tour is certainly impressive and the whole show feels like it's something new, partly helped of course by the fact that a lot of the material is new. But there's a downside to that too, which means that some of the less enthralling songs from Beautiful World do make the evening sag occasionally, no matter how surprisingly well Jason Orange did in his solo folky acoustic slot on Wooden Boat. Of course, the singles (with Patience done surprisingly early in the set) go down really well, and Shine after the encore pretty much brings the house down, and while the album itself was no classic, Take That have certainly passed the 'comeback album tour' test with flying colours.
|
