Progress Live Squee Pic Spam

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Friday, after a mere seven day wait, the Take That Progress Live Blu-Ray landed on my desk. It was going to be a busy weekend, and I should have crashed early, but I couldn't wait to see this:



I have got to love a fandom where this is our canon. *g*

Needless to say, it's a brilliant concert, and I enjoyed it immensely. And I couldn't resist putting together a massive pic spam of some of my favourite pics from the tour.


First, some solo pics of all the boys, starting with Captain Barlow.


Robbie!


Howard in the ticker tape storm.


Jason gets two pics, to make up for the dearth of him in the Making of doc.


Smiley!Jason.


I may have gone a bit nuts with the pics of Mark. I make no apologies.

First, Adorable!Mark.


Serious!Mark during Kidz, which is without a doubt the best set piece they have ever staged.


Bass-playing!Mark during Underground Machine, my second favourite number of the concert. (Mark, Jason and Howard do Tai Chi!)


Posing!Mark in his wacky Shine outfit.


Caterpillar-riding!Mark. Because all pop stars need a giant pink caterpillar to ride.


There were no pairing preference that went unsatisfied during the show. And I've got photographic proof of most of them.

Robbie and the Captain. Awwww.


Howard and Mark.


Robbie carrying Jason. (Alas, on DVD night there was no carrying, but there was lifting.)


Barlowen!


Howard and Jason in troubadour mode during Shine.


Willowen!


More Willowen, because who can resist that smile?


But in the end, it's about all of the boys being together.


Group hug!

Comments

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It is extremely interesting that it always seems to be Gary who brings up how much Rob's leaving hurt Mark, but Mark and Rob are remarkably silent on the matter. But there's obviously a lot going on that never gets talked about. And it's interesting to speculate about whether they ever talk about it in private, or if they've pushed it all into a box labelled Do Not Open. (Given Robbie's lack of brain/mouth filter, some stuff has to have come out. And also given that subtle but very distinct lip curl you pointed out Mark does when Rob's message is played at the end of For the Record, even holdnogrudges!MarkOwen clearly has some issues over the way Robbie left.)

I have to say, I very swiftly fell into the DON'T YOU BREAK HIS HEART AGAIN, WILLIAMS camp.

I'm so happy that the vids accompanied you writing your BB story. But it's been so long since I've finished a vid, I feel like my vidding mojo is broken. So once my Christmas exchange and the Wait for Life stories are done, I'm putting the writing on hold and just devoting some creative time to the vidding side, just to get back in the groove. (Apparently the Sweetie's friends and co-workers are even asking when I'm going to vid again--he outed me to them all--so clearly I need to get cracking.)

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I have to admit that I re-read that bit constantly.

::hugs both the vulnerable!boys and you::

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I do wish there was a lot more Mark in Feel. But yeah, I'm glad Mark apologized, and that he's in there as much as he is. And I love that he's Rob's go to guy whenever anything TT crops up.

GROUP HUG BACK!

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Rob is not entirely likable in Feel. Smart, interesting, yeah, but also very clearly damaged. And the animus he has towards Gary is extreme. It is truly amazing they managed to patch things up between them as well as they have.

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I do admire the way he's entirely willing to expose all aspects of his personality, likable or not. And I can't honestly say whether I like him better now or then. (I was lucky enough to see him at the Opera House here in '99, and it was an utterly fantastic show. He takes charge of the audience like no other performer, and I enjoy the anarchic stage energy he's go when he's solo.)

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I've seen him twice solo. Once at Glastonbury in '98, where I had no idea who he was or what this Take That thing was all about, and in spite of the fact that we'd decided to watch his set from our tent, way up the hill from the main stage, he was fantastic. And then when he came to Toronto to play that small club, and he was out of this world, in spite of coming on three hours late because he'd got food poisoning. (He really does need to watch that food poisoning thing, doesn't he?) He clearly has the most natural charisma of the lot of them, and the least amount of discipline.

Fantastic that you got to see Progress. (I seriously toyed with flying over to see it, but the only dates when I was free were Dublin and Copenhagen, and it's a good thing I didn't try for Copenhagen.) But yeah, I'd also be a midget surrounded by amazons. (There's a reason I love Mark best. *g*)

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Glasto was amazing, but we went in a year that was rainy and muddy and we kept having to talk each other out of just taking the bus back to London. (There was ten inches of mud everywhere. I totally destroyed the boots I brought and it took ages to walk anywhere because I literally kept getting stuck in the mud and the Big Guy would have to pull me out.)

He came to Toronto to promote The Ego Has Landed, the North American release that cut together Life Through a Lens and I've Been Expecting You. Millennium was the big single at the time.

I don't actually find him at all sexy, but I love him as a performer. (Howard Donald is probably closest to my ideal guy, though Mark is the one I adore most.)

But old looking.

Heh. To me, he's a baby. *g*

I'm totally going the next time! I've already started a "Get Zed to TT in 2013" fund. And yeah, they need to start work on that next album. Surely they've had enough of a break. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

Glasto can be survived, but you need to plan carefully:

Put your tent on the side of a hill. (The people who camped on the flat areas near the stages ended up with 4 inches of water in their tents on Friday morning, I kid you not.)

Bring a good old Canadian Tire plastic/rubber rain poncho. (We took high end treated nylon ponchos from MEC. The waterproofing wore off in hours and we spent the weekend cold, wet, and miserable.)

Bring wellies. Really high wellies. (I brought my Doc Martens lace ups, which very quickly got totally destroyed. And then we spent the weekend chasing rumours of which vendors had got wellies in.)

Go with someone who has your back and can pull you out of mud if necessary.

That said, it was an awesome experience (where else could you see Pulp, Blur, Nick Cave, Robbie and just a ton of other bands all in one place in one weekend) and I would totally do it again. I have dreams of taking my daughter when she's old enough.

OH I CAN SEE WHY YOU WOULD ADORE HIM MOST YES I CAN

I thought you might. *g*

If I were the TT boys, I'd be taking a year off. Though I have to admit, I'm really, really hoping that Kim Gavin brings them in to do something for the Olympics closing ceremony.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

THAT SCENE - I know... It breaks my heart, the two of them reminiscing and trying to reconnect and not really managing it despite both clearly loving each other *hugs little emotionally inarticulate boys*

I always think it's really telling that they talk about when Kurt Cobain died. I mean partly it's obviously just one of those things you remember where you were that day etc but I just have this weird feeling Mark's thinking how easily something like that could have happened/ might happen to Robbie....

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I just have this weird feeling Mark's thinking how easily something like that could have happened/ might happen to Robbie....

This thought may have crossed my mind at some point as well. ::eyes you conspiratorially::

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

*g* Your thought, it is so canon *g*

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

WHY has none of us yet written the fic 'Progress Live Tour Wanking Competition 2: THE REMATCH' (other title 'Revenge is best served warm and sticky') it *clearly* happened *g*

#waystokeepwilliamsoccupied

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Cleary, this is a major oversight. Wanking fic has to be written!

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

even holdnogrudges!MarkOwen clearly has some issues over the way Robbie left
This is the thing, referring back to my comment about fighting for him, Mark seems happy to let whatever he feels and his need for apology/justice slide in favour of harmony, reconciliation and a good relationship (obviously this may not in fact be true, but so it presents itself) - and that is a role that is traditionally very female-coded indeed

I think I said to you way back when you were getting into this fandom, that's so much how I feel about Robbie, like he's the new partner of a dear friend - I'm happy if they're all happy, delighted if he brings that, but if there was a break-up I'd stay with my friend and there's that tiny underlying feeling of 'hurt x and I'll hunt you down, boy' *g*

Having you writing is fabulous ♥ But having one of your splendid vids would be so very awesome as well (lucky us, we get both!) - if there's anything I can do to help (not very familiar with vidding process, but I've got a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of TT footage *g*) do let me know, because as things stand at the moment it looks like I'm going to be at a loose end for quite a while *g*

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First off, I do hope things are going well for you. And that you can let yourself take however long you need to heal. (I retroactively felt bad for asking you that last big round of research questions, since I know that after the last big operation I had, which did not go smoothly, it took me close to two months before I felt that my brain was working properly again, and much longer than that to get over the worst of the physical effects.)

That said, I'm very certain I'll need to depend on your encyclopaedic knowledge of TT footage once I'm vidding. And I was going to drop you a line about helping out with some logistics of footage acquisition. But always feel free to let me know when you just can't manage. I'll totally understand.

Going back to TT and Mark letting things slide in favour of harmony, what always gets to me about the scene in For the Record when they find out that Rob's not coming is that Mark doesn't say much at first, and he only says he's gutted after Jason say's he's gutted. It's like he can't give himself permission to acknowledge his own hurt, but only manages it when someone else has done it first. ::hugs self-sacrificing!Markie::

if there was a break-up I'd stay with my friend

Yes! Exactly! Which is funny in my case, since I started this whole journey as a Robbie fan. :-/

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

Do *not* feel bad ♥ Your med-research questions were not a complex thing for me - most of that stuff's more or less engraved on my brain now *g* You're not the only one I've done some beta/editing for in the last few weeks and I've really enjoyed having actual tasks to do and being of some use.

I'm doing OK. I'm still in more pain, one way or another, than I was before, but my energy levels have picked up, although my main problem is I'm in too much discomfort to sleep well which is laying me out slightly. Distraction via the many and various wonders of the internet is very helpful *g* I would be really pleased and excited to help out with the vid in any way ♥

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I'm glad I didn't tax you overly much, and hope not to.

The not sleeping thing is Not Good. I've been down that road, and it's no way to heal. I'm sending good pain free thoughts your way. (Distraction is always good where pain is involved.)

Shall drop you a line tomorrow about the vid thing. (Was out with a mate tonight, and then came home to try and get some words done on my TT Christmas story. I think Markie may have given me a way to finish it in less than 15,000 words. We shall see.)