The excitement had been building for weeks. Take That fans had been counting down the slow days until the gates finally opened at Hampden for last night’s show.
Women of all ages had been caught up in the fever – ordinary mums and wives transformed by degrees into hysterical screaming fans. The boys are in town and nothing is going to stop the Take That party.
And the girls weren’t disappointed. Apart from the non-stop downpour that had even the most die-hard fashionistas hiding under shapeless ponchos, the roller-coaster of female fun left fans thrilled and wanting more.
From the first sight of the boys – Jason Orange, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Gary Barlow – bounding onto the stage for Rule The World, they were hooked. After such a long wait, it was happening.
The women threw their pink cowboy hats into the air, yelled and cheered, sang and danced, waved their arms and hugged strangers. When Robbie Williams did his solo, they were enthralled – screaming back at him, whooping when he said: “Scotland, I still wish I was your son.”
And when he kicked off with Let Me Entertain You, every woman just knew he was singing especially for them. He has that affect. How do I know? Because I was one of those women – and I know that a wet Wednesday in Glasgow was a tiny bit of dream-come-true.
But what do these five men have that gives them the ability to cast a spell over ordinary women. It’s not because they’re good looking and fit, although they are. Even Gary. It’s not even because they were on a million teenage bedroom walls. It’s something else.
These 40-something year old men grew up with us. They started out as a not particularly cool boy band, made up of the kind of awkward but nice lads you could take home to your mum. Last night they poked some fun at this with a jokey squabble about whether or not they were a pop group or a boy band.
On the way to becoming a man band, they’ve fallen out then made up, got things spectacularly wrong but apologised then made things better, and through it all not lost that essential niceness. Even, you, Robbie - nice enough to take back for tea.
And when they put on a world-class show with 20 metre robots, fireworks and spectacular costumes, underneath you know they’re still five lads who can’t quite believe they’ve done so well.
That's their secret, they might have the huge glitzy show, millions in the bank, and fans around the world, but they still turned out in the pouring rain and remembered to say thanks for buying a ticket.
Thanks boys, you re-lit our fires and we are delighted you're back for good.
As one fan, Annie Boyd put it: “I have no voice, I'm soaked to the bone, I queued for 45mins for a train but I had THE best night ever with Take That.”
Do you want some more of the boys?
- How cute were Take That in the early days?
- Show is a sell-out
- Excited women everywhere
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Listen to some Love Love
