It’s all Take, Take, Take

Nov 27 2007 by Sam Wood, The Journal

THE crowds outside the Metro Arena last night spanned the generations but all were united in their desire to see the world’s biggest boy band performing in Newcastle.

Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen, together Take That, hit the North- East on their Beautiful World tour.

Some in the crowd had been queuing in freezing temperatures for over three hours before the doors opened but no one complained.

Gemma Smith, 24 and her mum Gillian, 48, from Middlesbrough, were near the front of the queue.

Gemma said: “I had about 500 posters covering my room when I was younger. I’ve got every single video that band have ever released. Over the years my parents had to spend thousands on Take That stuff. Mark and Gary are my two favourites. This will be the second time I’ve seen them, I’m so excited.”

Mother Gillian said: “Gemma loved Take That so much when she was younger and that rubbed off on me. Her wall and the ceiling of her bedroom were covered with posters of all of them. I’ve heard the songs so much I know them all by now.”

Friends Jennifer Hall and Angela Stoneman are veterans of Take That concerts. Last night’s show was their sixth altogether.

Jennifer, 34, of Cramlington said: “We always go to the shows together. We came when they played in Newcastle last year and we’ve been to other concerts across the country.”

Angela, 38, from North Shields said: “Its great seeing them live. They aren’t getting too old for it, they just keep getting better.”

Amongst the few males in the queues was 15-year-old Ben Stephenson, who was brought to the show by his mother Amanda Webb, 36.

Ben, who attends the Hermitage School, Chester-le-Street, said: “My mum just listened to Take That all the time while I was growing up and that made me a fan. I’ve been brought up on them.”

The band will be performing again at the arena tonight.

Take That concert proves boys are back for good

TOPPING last year’s triumphant opening night of their comeback tour in Newcastle was always going to be a hard feat for Take That to beat.

As expected, last night’s return to the city did not quite match up to what we witnessed in April 2006 – but as a stand alone show it was pretty damn good.

Since the last time, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Mark Owen have put out a new album and a clutch of hit singles, and these were given a good airing last night, along with the favourites of old.

It really was a case of Take That and party as the quartet entertained the packed Arena. The set was incredible and, without giving away too much, there are a few surprises in store, as those who go to tonight’s second show will find out.

But there’s no point in having a state-of-the-art stage and special effects if you cannot cut it in the vocal department too.

Suffice to say, these four do – and how.

Of the new numbers, highlights had to be Beautiful World, Hold On and their comeback single Patience, and you were left wondering what they could possibly encore with as some of their most successful hits were played out earlier than you might have thought.

Relight My Fire was interspersed with a rendition of the Gnarls Barkley hit Crazy – it may sound strange, but it worked.

Never Forget was, appropriately enough, the most memorable, with the lads merging huge screen animated footage with live on-stage antics making it look like they were, quite literally, stepping out of a video.

But why didn’t it live up to last year? Maybe it was simply to do with the fact that Take That are now, pardon the pun, quite possibly Back For Good, at least for a few years, and anticipation wasn’t quite as fervent as April 2006.

The acoustic-style section perhaps lasted a little longer than necessary – although fans at the back of the Arena would not have been complaining (a little clue to one of the surprises) and the links between numbers were not as slick as they might have been.

That said, the concert was at times nothing short of phenomenal. Hearing 10,500 fans singing their hearts out to Back For Good was sensational, while the encores, Shine and Pray, were fine numbers to end with.

A good friend of mine commented afterwards it was the best show she had ever seen – and even threatened to cancel her birthday party tonight to try and get tickets for the show this evening.

Many will have felt the same, and Take That remain out-and-out entertainers who seem to genuinely enjoy putting on a show to remember.