Take that and party! (Take That Ultimate Tour 2006)

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	Take That Ultimate Tour 2006
Date:	10/03/09 (196 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great songs, nostalgic, amazing day out, worth the wait

Disadvantages: None

Despite appearances I have been a die hard Take That fan since I was about 6 years old.

When they broke up, I was devestated, I thought my life had ended. "I'LL NEVER GET OVER THIS" I recall sobbing to my mum!

Anyway, time went by and needless to say I did. But that blank space in my heart that Take That used to fill remained. No other boyband could fill it.

So over 10 years later when I heard Take That had reformed and were planning a tour I was so totally over the moon! I was at college at the time which basically meant I was skint. I tried to think of a hundred different ways I could scrape some money together to go see them. The days went by and still I hadn't found my fortune. The day the tickets went on sale came..then went..and the tickets were all sold out. I was gutted.

A few weeks later christmas day arrived and I went over to my parents house. They had laid me out a big pile of presents as usual (spoilt) so I made my way through them one by one. I came across a Take That DVD, I was proper chuffed and after about 10 seconds just threw it to one side to make way for the rest of my presents! "Wait! Look at that DVD again" said my mum - so I did and realised there was an envelope celotaped to it. I opened the envelope and sitting there before my eyes - 2 TICKETS TO SEE TAKE THAT LIVE!

6 long months past and 25th June 2006 arrived. I decided to ask my mum to go with me as back in the day we used to go and see Take That together. So we set off to see Take That at the Milton Keynes Bowl. It was scheduled for Wembley Stadium but construction still wasn't finished at the time. We parked in a nearby shopping centre and got a cab to the bowl. The que wasn't too bad but I suppose if we'd got there any earlier they would have been (they were already making their way inside).

Inside they had so much merchandise - everything from shirts, to knickers. We brought ourselves an oversized programme for a fiver which was a really nice keep sake and had the whole set list in. We found a space to sit, we sat on the outside of the bowl (or the 'sides') - It was pretty far back but we figured if we sat on the flat part at the bottom we wouldn't be able to see over anybody's heads.

Milton Keynes Bowl is an outdoor venue, with no roof and the ground is just grass. We were really lucky that it was a nice, sunny day. I don't know what we would have done otherwise.

The concert was held on the same day as England were playing Equador in the world cup, so they put it on the big screens for us to watch, and we won!

Beverley Knight and Sugababes supported. I'm not much of a pop music fan believe it or not so I wasn't overly impressed but it was still all good fun.

Getting to and from the toilets was a nightmare, I had to clamber my way over a hundred people to get out and then I got lost for about half an hour on the way back. The toilets were pretty much portaloos - smelly, wobbly and rather umpleasent.

After a while the lights came on, some extravagant music started playing and animated Take That appeared on the big screens! The animations eventually morphed into real life Take That and they walked out onto the stage wearing smart suits.

Here is the set list:

* Once you've Tasted Love. I still had those dance moves!

* Pray. This is the first song they danced to and there was a big stained glass window on the big screen.

* Today I've Lost You. I'd never heard this one before.

* Why Can't I Wake Up With You

* It Only Takes a Minute. This song started off with a tango dancer and all the band members taking their turn to dance with her. It was good to watch but did go on for a bit too long.

* Babe. This was amazing for me because Mark has always been my 'favourite' and this was his song. They told everybody to wave their mobile phones in the air (back in the day it would have been lighters) which probably sounds silly but looked really magical.

* Everything Changes. On this song the band played the instruments themselves, which I totally didn't expect.

* Million Love Songs

* Beatles Medley. I probably learnt half The Beatles songs from Take That covers so to hear all them all again live was imense. They did I wanna hold your hand, Hard days night, She loves you, I feel fine, Get back and Hey Jude. This part was a proper hit with my mum.

* How Deep is Your Love. This Beegee's cover was Take Thats last ever song together so it's always been a bit of a heart breaker. It was a really moving performance that was performed with just 2 guitars.

* Love Ain't Here Anymore

* Apache 2006. I don't think anyone would have predicted anything like this. This part of the show was supposed to be a boy band factory and poked a little fun at the boyband business. It had the managers voice over the speakers creating a boy band eg 'must pretend not to have girlfriends, must be able to sing and dance, must be very very pretty' and so on. The band were acting like robots to his commands. It was really quite amusing. At the end of it they bust out some break dancing.

* Sure

* Relight My Fire. This performance was a little bit outrageous, I just remember lots of thongs, pvc and fire! The band and the dancers were all dressed up and Lulu came out half way through to sing her bit. They all walked out into the crowd onto a U shaped stage area.

* Back for Good. Just like the video, the rain started pouring down (simulated) on stage and they all had to cover up and dance around with umbrellas.

* Could it be Magic. This song could never be the same without Robbie Williams. Luckilly enough they came up with a great idea to replace him with a massive Robbie hologram that was recorded especially for the show. It was so touching. I'm sure I wasn't the only one there with a tear in my eye.

* Never Forget. This was the last song and I couldn't think of a better song to end with. A lot of syncronised hand clapping took place and when it was all over a bunch of massive fireworks went off.

I had lost my voice and had looked like a mad woman dancing around for 3 hours but I wasn't bothered - I had waited for this day for over 10 years. It was just like the old days and I was not dissapointed in the slightest. I just feel sorry for any Take That fan who didn't get a chance to go. You can still see them now (I have) and as amazing as the shows are, they just don't compare to the initial comeback - the ultimate tour. The name of the tour says it all really.

The sound hadn't been brilliant because we ended up quite far back and it took a while for the sound to reach us but it really didn't matter. The atmosphere was just as buzzing where we were as it was in the front row.

What a seriously cracking day!

Summary: c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon take that and party!