woohoooo! What a show, dancers doing fire poi, twirling around massive hoops, Beverley Knight and a weird red fire cloak thing looking quite scary, Robbie looking moody on a big screen, piss take dance robotic routine mocking boy bands, a rain machine, even Gary dancing. That was history that was, people will go… Ahhh yes the comeback tour and sip their cognac in a contemplatative manner, well at least I will and probably Abs and Lucy will too, mainly cos I will make them. There’s a Take That video in a charity shop window in town… shall I?

Worth it?

Worth it?

Hell yeah!

I went along with Lucyann, Paperfaerie, and Jack Tash, a friend of the male persuasion. Outside the venue beforehand, there was a weird buzz in the air, kind of more apprehension and “fingers crossed” than revelry. Everyone was excited but nervous as to whether they could still pull it off after ten years apart. Inside, several thousand Bacardi-Breezered (mainly) women performed spectacular Mexican waves. The show started with a filmed piece depicting the band coming out of cold storage at the boy-band factory – frankly, taking the piss out of themselves and their manufactured past, a theme which was reprised later and something which probably needed to be done – and when they eventually appeared on the stage, I think the screaming was the loudest man-made noise I’ve ever heard. God, it was exhilarating! I was literally jumping for joy.

After that, Jesus, it was like a Vegas act! They reworked “Only Takes a Minute” as a tango, they had fire-breathers and the famed holographic waterfall projection of a singing Robbie, an acoustic “Back for Good” during which everyone waved their mobile phones instead of lighters and Howard was seen to be crying his eyes out on the big screens – and who can blame him? They must be so relieved it went well! They reworked “Sure” using samples of “Dirty Harry” by Gorillaz, they danced soaking wet under showers of fake rain, they danced soaking wet under showers of fake rain (yes, I know I said that twice, I was just having a good hard think about it), and best of all, they had a floating rig and walkway which came down halfway through the show and they were only about 15 metres away from us in cool red suits doing a Beatles medley! Wow. It was ace. And I would just like to confirm to everybody listening that they genuinely can sing, and they’ve still got the moves – in fact Howard, Mark and Jason even did a spot of breakdancing to prove it, which was only mildly embarrassing considering their age. And no one – no one – could deny that they put on a bloody good show. Even Tash, the token straight male, was dancing like a loon, hands in the air, for “Never Forget”, which was no mean feat considering he’d almost bottled it and tried to sell his ticket beforehand. Boy, was he glad there were no takers, and I, for one, would have paid double the £25 tag to see that, had I known how utterly brilliant it was going to be.

We left slightly drunk, drenched in sweat and deliriously happy, and trudged back to town with the singsonging crowd, discussing how happy Take That themselves must feel with the satisfaction of a job well done, and went home to toast them with Cointreau and whisky. We saw history. That makes us very, very happy.

I am doing homework and listening to Take That in preparation for the cheese-fest. My word, I’m excited!

Clock’s tickin’, dude.

I heard a rather silly rumour, which turned out to be a true news story that they were replacing Robbie with a hologram of him projected on a water fountain! How spectacular is this going to be? I hope they’ll be doing fridge magnets on the merchandise stand. Ooh, actually, the merch stand could well be a veritable goldmine of potential ebay sales.

..that Take That have turned down Will Young’s offer to replace Robbie on the tour. Quite right too. How could a clean-livin’ youngster like Will, bless his soul, possibly replace the living car crash that is Robbie? I’m still praying he’ll bite the bullet and pop up on the first night of the tour. “Hope springs eternal, Baldrick.”

Ive seen Take That 7 times. 6 times with Robbie intact. I tried to get tickets when they were released but to no avail. I now have resigned myself to going alone. Single tickets are selling for very near market price on ebay and I will win one soon.

was on the other night, and I’d never seen it, and I was getting actual goosepimples watching it and suprised myself by knowing the words to Back for Good, and I nearly cried when Robbie sent them all video messages. Oh oh excitement!!!!

sudden Take That pangs of excitement

Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em! Got ‘em!

Four of the little blighters! Paperfaaaaaaerie! Lucyaaaaan! We’re gonna see Take That!