![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Take That Live!
Well, we've been home since Sunday, I'm more or less in the right time zone (except for the rather enjoyable still waking up early thing), so I reckon it's finally time to write up my first experience of a Take That concert or two.
First off, I was very grateful that I got to see TT with the two people who were most responsible for pulling me into the fandom:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
halotolerant (who made sure I knew the names of all the members of the band and guided me to the good stuff) and soundofthesurf (who's become my first reader and a very dear friend), as well as Halo's lovely friend, elfwhistletree. Since it became clear that I very much needed to see the band, I'd been hoping to see a show with both of them, so it was wonderful that it all worked out.
Especially wonderful because a good part of the joy of a TT show turns out, not unexpectedly, to be the communal nature of it all. Gary is always saying that 50% of a TT show is the audience, and he's absolutely right. Everyone in the arena, from the first row of the pit to the last row of the upper balcony, is enthusiastic and there to enjoy the show, and after having had to explain who TT are for the last four years, it was exhilarating to be in a place where absolutely everyone got it. Which led to moments like this, during Rule the World:
(At this moment, Ros absconded with my phone and was waving its light around along with everyone else.)
And also the thing I'd most been looking forward to, the entire auditorium putting their hands in the air for the chorus of Never Forget:
(This is someone else's photo, because I wanted to enjoy the moment and didn't take a pic.)
I'm not gonna lie. During the first show, doing the arm thing alongside Halo, I totally teared up. I think it was possibly the most transcendent moment I've ever had at a concert.
The audience totally lived up to my expectations, but so did the band themselves and the show. Take That are rather famous for the theatricality of their shows, and this one totally lived up to that rep. There were flying bicycles, and thirty foot jets of flame, a dancer in a spinning ball of fireworks, and an underwater garden, complete with giant jellyfish.
There's their dorky humour, introducing themselves as "what's left of Take That," and the way they take the piss out of their old boy band routines while still being able to perform them perfectly. (As Halo said, Pray really is the best worst dance routine EVER!)
But it's not all jokes and spectacle. The best moment of the night was very simply staged. It started with Gary on the main stage, with a single spot light on him singing Flaws, a ballad from the new album. After a few moments, Howard and Mark appear on either side of him, in black pants and loose white vests. They did contemporary dance moves down either side of the runway surrounding the pit, until they met on the B stage and danced together in a way that melted my synapses all the way down to my toes, while Gary sings "take me, take me, I'm yours." And then, when I thought it couldn't get any better, and the very end of the song, they race back up either runway, meet once more in the middle, and embrace.
(Also not my picture, but just look at them!)
Oh. My. God.
I'd seen pictures of this routine floating around, and just from still images it was hard to tell if the whole thing was going to work, but it absolutely does work so very, very well. And completely plays into my slashy brain. (Howard/Mark is a pairing I am rather fond of, and now even more so.)
That was the show itself. The last thing to talk about it how the family enjoyed it.
Ros absolutely loved it. She was on her feet, dancing and clapping and throwing her hands into the air with everyone else.
Here we are before the show. The shirts are ones we stumbled on in Ros' favourite clothing store. They say "Shine like a star," which given that Shine is a favourite TT song for both of us, we couldn't resist.
The Sweetie wouldn't go beyond admitting the show was "fine." (And this was a sincere "fine" not a grudging one, thankfully, or you might be looking for his body at the bottom of Lake Ontario.) But one thing he did say that surprised me was that Howard and Mark's dance routine was his favourite moment of the show, and that he most liked the bits where it was the band without all the dancers and jellyfish.
I now know why there are fans who go to every show on the tour they can manage. Even seeing it twice, from the front and side, I feel like there was tons going on that escaped my notice. Which is why I'm happy that I'm actually getting one more bite of the cherry. They're doing a live broadcast of tomorrow's O2 show, and we're actually going to get it here in Toronto on July 2. Ros and I already have our tickets, and the friend I have dragged into TT fandom with me is coming along as well.
First off, I was very grateful that I got to see TT with the two people who were most responsible for pulling me into the fandom:
halotolerant (who made sure I knew the names of all the members of the band and guided me to the good stuff) and soundofthesurf (who's become my first reader and a very dear friend), as well as Halo's lovely friend, elfwhistletree. Since it became clear that I very much needed to see the band, I'd been hoping to see a show with both of them, so it was wonderful that it all worked out. Especially wonderful because a good part of the joy of a TT show turns out, not unexpectedly, to be the communal nature of it all. Gary is always saying that 50% of a TT show is the audience, and he's absolutely right. Everyone in the arena, from the first row of the pit to the last row of the upper balcony, is enthusiastic and there to enjoy the show, and after having had to explain who TT are for the last four years, it was exhilarating to be in a place where absolutely everyone got it. Which led to moments like this, during Rule the World:
(At this moment, Ros absconded with my phone and was waving its light around along with everyone else.)
And also the thing I'd most been looking forward to, the entire auditorium putting their hands in the air for the chorus of Never Forget:
(This is someone else's photo, because I wanted to enjoy the moment and didn't take a pic.)
I'm not gonna lie. During the first show, doing the arm thing alongside Halo, I totally teared up. I think it was possibly the most transcendent moment I've ever had at a concert.
The audience totally lived up to my expectations, but so did the band themselves and the show. Take That are rather famous for the theatricality of their shows, and this one totally lived up to that rep. There were flying bicycles, and thirty foot jets of flame, a dancer in a spinning ball of fireworks, and an underwater garden, complete with giant jellyfish.
There's their dorky humour, introducing themselves as "what's left of Take That," and the way they take the piss out of their old boy band routines while still being able to perform them perfectly. (As Halo said, Pray really is the best worst dance routine EVER!)
But it's not all jokes and spectacle. The best moment of the night was very simply staged. It started with Gary on the main stage, with a single spot light on him singing Flaws, a ballad from the new album. After a few moments, Howard and Mark appear on either side of him, in black pants and loose white vests. They did contemporary dance moves down either side of the runway surrounding the pit, until they met on the B stage and danced together in a way that melted my synapses all the way down to my toes, while Gary sings "take me, take me, I'm yours." And then, when I thought it couldn't get any better, and the very end of the song, they race back up either runway, meet once more in the middle, and embrace.
(Also not my picture, but just look at them!)
Oh. My. God.
I'd seen pictures of this routine floating around, and just from still images it was hard to tell if the whole thing was going to work, but it absolutely does work so very, very well. And completely plays into my slashy brain. (Howard/Mark is a pairing I am rather fond of, and now even more so.)
That was the show itself. The last thing to talk about it how the family enjoyed it.
Ros absolutely loved it. She was on her feet, dancing and clapping and throwing her hands into the air with everyone else.
Here we are before the show. The shirts are ones we stumbled on in Ros' favourite clothing store. They say "Shine like a star," which given that Shine is a favourite TT song for both of us, we couldn't resist.
The Sweetie wouldn't go beyond admitting the show was "fine." (And this was a sincere "fine" not a grudging one, thankfully, or you might be looking for his body at the bottom of Lake Ontario.) But one thing he did say that surprised me was that Howard and Mark's dance routine was his favourite moment of the show, and that he most liked the bits where it was the band without all the dancers and jellyfish.
I now know why there are fans who go to every show on the tour they can manage. Even seeing it twice, from the front and side, I feel like there was tons going on that escaped my notice. Which is why I'm happy that I'm actually getting one more bite of the cherry. They're doing a live broadcast of tomorrow's O2 show, and we're actually going to get it here in Toronto on July 2. Ros and I already have our tickets, and the friend I have dragged into TT fandom with me is coming along as well.
no subject
Flaws is just a stunning piece. And you're right that as soon as Howard and Mark appear on stage you completely forget Gary is there.
The big songs work so well when you're with thousands of people who also love them. Greatest Day was another one that just made my heart beat faster live.
no subject