Take That, Wembley Stadium, London
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Independent Minds
The knotty problem for bands playing a venue as huge as Wembley Stadium is how to make every single one of the 80,000 fans feel a little bit special. For most of the audience, their idols look no bigger than a grain of rice and if a band's not careful, everyone will leave wondering if it was worth the bother.
But Take That know just how lucky they are to fill a stadium. Their loyal fans have been around for two decades, through the wilderness years, and are now responsible for the band selling 600,000 tickets in less than four-and-a-half hours for this, their Circus Tour.
Amid an array of colourful and weird characters that Angela Carter would be proud of, the boys arrive on a central circular stage wearing black military style suits to perform "Greatest Day". From there they are transported to the front stage on top of a 30ft metal elephant, all the while singing the more melancholy number, "The Garden".
The boys then fulfil their rock star fantasies by playing alone on stage as a band, knocking out hits including "Up All Night" and "How Did It Come To This?" After Gary has performed four tracks alone on a grand piano as the sun sets over Wembley stadium, they all come back on in clown outfits to perform a number of the older songs, such as "Do What You Like" and "Take That and Party".
They're so likeable precisely because they aren't afraid to play the fool. They mess around doing silly clown dances during their quite frankly ridiculous, but nonetheless joyful earlier hits and at the end of "It Only Takes a Minute Girl" one by one they unicycle down the path back to the central stage. Howard and Jason whizz down like pros while Mark only stumbles at the end. Then Gary appears on a tricycle with stabilisers, smiling and waving. It's this kind of behaviour that really endears them to their fans.
After another quick costume change, the band arrive back on an inferno of a set for "Relight My Fire" before finishing with "Never Forget" and "Rule the World". The most poignant moment comes as Barlow introduces "Patience" as "the song that brought us back". Back from obscurity and into the spotlight. Truly, a night at the circus to remember.
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Comments
We arrived at Wembley very impressed at the size and structure of the new building, however, that turned to horror by the time i reached my seat. After asending three flights of escalators i then had to climb up around 70 very steep concrete steps!
The sheer height and size of the stadium was overwhelming so much so that several young women were crying hysterically around me, not to mention the fact that i required an oxygen tank through lack of air...even the pigeons were reluctant to fly as high as we were!!
To say that the band looked 'like grains of rice' is spot on! I presume they were there but as i had to watch the TV screens all night,so i really cant be sure!
I had waited 9 months to see this tour and i would have been better off waiting for the DVD and watching it from the comfort of my arm chair...at least i could go to the loo without getting vertigo!
Dissapointed Sally from Solihull
I have been up in the gods at wembley before and although its high i dont feel its as bad as you make out. O2 arena is far worse, but that does give a disclaimer. To say its 'totally out of order' that because you booked only a short time is in turn, 'totally out of order'. This run of shows sold 600,000 tickets in just over 4 hours, a Saturday show is always going to be most popular due to it being most peoples day off with a day to recover. Also if you booked through ticket master etc they usually give you your seat numbers before you confirm payment. You cauld have seen where you sat first and I assume you have seen Wembley Stadium before so you'd have a fair idea of what the seating arrangement looks like.
In both of your reviews you have failed to even mention that you were given an absolute feast to watc and listen to!! I am an avid concert goer and it was by far the best show i have been to. Not only were you treated to nearly 2hrs of top 10 hits but the visuals were spectacular and to a point, there was too much going on, you could go 10 nights in a row and find some thing different to watch: The 2 trapeese girls infront of the screens, the tight rope walker, the dancers, the drummers, the clowns, the trampoline guys, the acrobats, the jugglers....
I was interested to see what other though and this is the top link on google for the show and i dont want others to see your comments and think that that is what is was like. I havent come across any one else yet who went and didnt have a good time.
In short this was an outstanding show and highly recomend catching them live again and getting the dvd of this performance.
ps why post your mobile number on a random internet site...asking for trouble
Although we didn't arrive at the Stadium until 2 ish, we were through the doors at 4pm and managed to secure a place four rows from the front of the main stage! We couldn't believe our luck - never in all the tours had we attended had we been so close to our idols!! We were hysterical!!
The show was absolutely amazing; we didn't know where to look - there was so much going on to entertain the crowd. Take That were outstanding as always, and I believe made every effort to make every single person there feel special and like they were witnessing the greatest show on earth.
All of their songs were performed to perfection and the visual effects were out of this world. You could just tell that the boys were having the time of their lives and loving every second in front of the people who they know put them where they are today. It's as if they were giving something back to those people.
All of the time and effort that has gone in to putting that show together with a view to giving the crowd the time of their lives is amazing and there were moments that made you laugh in hysterics and then brought tears to your eyes because you knew it was so so special.
I personally would like to thank the boys for giving us such a fantastic show, and would say to anyone who was disappointed by where they were sitting that if there wasn't such huge venues as Wembley available for these shows, you probably wouldn't have been able to see them in the first place. Me and my friend have been to many Take that concerts in the past where we've either been right at the back and can hardly see anything, or up so high (at the o2 arena) that it's made us feel dizzy, but for someone who really wants to be there this shouldn't matter, for it is the being there and being part of something so wonderful that is what it's all about.
A very Satisfied Nicola from Bedfordshire
Take That put on a complete show, and watching from above is the only way to see everything as a whole. Ok, so I couldnt see the whites of their eyes like in Coventry but there I hadnt got a clue what was going on everywhere else and missed so much!
I loved this concert from beginning to end, I danced my socks off and screamed like a teenager (I am somewhat older than that!). I still get a lump in my throat when I remember the look on Marks face when he finished singing The Garden, and standing on top of the elephant he looked round at all the crowd, and mouthed the word WOW!!! (I hope they show this on the DVD). I'm beyond having to queue from 8am to rush to the front and prefer now to stay in the bar and arrive when I want to knowing I have a seat waiting.
To the first two comments, I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but please dont try and bad mouth one of the best ever live shows that there has ever been or will be. You were part of something special.
Kate.
PS I saw Beautiful World from the very top row of the 02, now thats what I call high! - but I was still there and saw it!
We were on the pitch, right in the middle. We had a great view. It was a brilliant night.