Take That are now doing their second tour since their reunion and this time it's not just round the UK - they're doing many venues in Western Europe also. The good news is that the tour is yet another success, the bad is that Howard Donald has injured himself during one of the shows and Take That are therefore performing as a trio at the moment (though Howard will rejoin them as soon as his health permits it).
The way Take That are trying to make up Howard's absence to the fans is hilarious, however. Here's a clip from a recent show in Rotterdam (and be sure to wait until the end cause that's the best bit ;) ):
A little less recently (though still recently) Take That appeared for the second time on the Jonathan Ross show. See it here:
Showing posts with label Take That. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Take That. Show all posts
Friday, November 02, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Take That - the manband
Here we go, yet another post that has been in my drafts since December ;-P
For those who don't know, Take That was a British boyband that was immensely popular in the early and mid 90s (Robbie Williams was part of it until 1995) and I managed to get hooked on them when I was about 12 - I think it was March-April 1996 (they split in February 1996). As you see I had terrific timing with when I chose to get hooked (but hey - uptil I was 11-12 I thought all modern music was crap and classical was the only thing worth listening to so there really was no opportunity to get hooked before that ;-P).
Anyway, they were a pop band that was particularly famous for their live shows. And I really do believe that there is no pop band or pop singer ever that did shows which were as spectacular to watch. I think there may have been quite a few boybands that made a bigger name for themselves worldwide like The Backstreet Boys, The New Kids on the Block and perhaps even Boyzone, but none of these boybands had the dancing skills, physical fitness or frankly even sense of humour and creativity to be able to pull off shows to the standard of Take That (btw, the choreography and ideas for Take That's shows came from within the band - another aspect not typically to be found in most pop acts).
Just to demonstrate what I mean, here's one of Take That's live performances at the Wembley Arena (their first arena tour) in 1992:
Apart from very energetic dance routines they also did very cheeky TV appearances, which were another thing of theirs that I loved (hey, I think it's quite obvious from this blog that I like cheeky TV appearances ;-P). Here's one that had me laughing for a whole weekend (from Italian TV I think and this was their last single so it must have been late 1995 or early 1996 - no Robbie Williams just the four of them):
And here's the bizzarre part - 10 years later Take That have decided to make a comeback. Many doubted this would work out. Take That's whole image was built on things which seem very difficult to recreate by men aged 35-38. Many also thought that they wouldn't manage without Robbie Williams (though I hardly thought it would be an issue - they managed without him very well after he left the band in the 90s).
But it seems like everybody was wrong ;-P In fact Take That are getting more impressive results in the charts than they did the first time round! They did an amazingly successful comeback tour, which sold out in a few hours. They managed their first ever chart double (no.1 single and no.1 album in the same week). "Patience", their first single was no.1 in the charts for 4 weeks. Their new album was no.1 for five weeks and after the release of their second single, "Shine" (which was no.1 for two weeks) the album has gone back to the no.1 spot on the charts, which so far makes a total of 7 weeks (more than any other of their previous albums!). Their second tour since their reunion sold out even faster than their first. And they made the most spectacular comeback in the history of the Brit Awards - winning Best Single for Patience. You can see them getting the award in the video below (I guess I put it in mainly because I was amused by the Valentine kissing bit ;) but the whole thing is rather sweet ;) ):
It's quite an amazing story considering all that happened to them after they split up. Robbie Williams was the only member who commercially survived the break up. Gary's solo career started better than Robbie's but once it went wrong it went wrong drastically. Mark although his career never went as low as Gary's also ended up losing his record deal. He got back into the public eye after winning Celebrity Big Brother, but his solo career really couldn't be called particularly successful. Howard's solo material never even got released and he ended up doing DJ work. Jason never even tried for a solo career...
And then all of a sudden they get together again and they're even more successful than they were the first time round - it's a strange business, isn't it? ;)
Anyway, I love their new live performances as much if not more than their old ones, so I'll just fill the rest of this post with youtube videos ;-P
I think my favourite performance of theirs is what they did to "It Only Takes a Minute Girl" which was a very early single of theirs (probably about 1991 or so) and it's a veeeery primitive kind of tune which I think they rightly decided they couldn't perform the way they used to. But for you to really get the "joke" I think you need to hear the original tune first, so check out this live performance from Manchester in 1995 (I think the staging of this one is great but if you don't then trust me - the modern one is drastically different ;)):
In contrast this is what the same song looked and sounded like on the 2006 reunion tour lol:
Take That apart from managing all sorts of firsts in the charts did a different sort of "first" in a TV program in December. You can read up on the concept of the "Audience With" program here. Take That are the first ever band to do the program live. And I'm going to put a youtube video (or rather playlist) of the whole thing below. I think the opening is particularly good, but otherwise just watch whatever you like - I couldn't really make my mind up so I just decided to put the whole thing into the post ;-P If you're wondering what Jason and Lulu are talking about in clip no.3 - well the whole comeback thing actually started out because of a documentary. It rekindled a lot of interest in Take That. In that documentary it was implied that Jason and Lulu had at some point slept with each other... Anyway, here's the program :) :
Finally, for the figure skating fans - you might like to see a clip of Take That performing on Dancing on Ice with Torvill and Dean. Check it out here
For those who don't know, Take That was a British boyband that was immensely popular in the early and mid 90s (Robbie Williams was part of it until 1995) and I managed to get hooked on them when I was about 12 - I think it was March-April 1996 (they split in February 1996). As you see I had terrific timing with when I chose to get hooked (but hey - uptil I was 11-12 I thought all modern music was crap and classical was the only thing worth listening to so there really was no opportunity to get hooked before that ;-P).
Anyway, they were a pop band that was particularly famous for their live shows. And I really do believe that there is no pop band or pop singer ever that did shows which were as spectacular to watch. I think there may have been quite a few boybands that made a bigger name for themselves worldwide like The Backstreet Boys, The New Kids on the Block and perhaps even Boyzone, but none of these boybands had the dancing skills, physical fitness or frankly even sense of humour and creativity to be able to pull off shows to the standard of Take That (btw, the choreography and ideas for Take That's shows came from within the band - another aspect not typically to be found in most pop acts).
Just to demonstrate what I mean, here's one of Take That's live performances at the Wembley Arena (their first arena tour) in 1992:
Apart from very energetic dance routines they also did very cheeky TV appearances, which were another thing of theirs that I loved (hey, I think it's quite obvious from this blog that I like cheeky TV appearances ;-P). Here's one that had me laughing for a whole weekend (from Italian TV I think and this was their last single so it must have been late 1995 or early 1996 - no Robbie Williams just the four of them):
And here's the bizzarre part - 10 years later Take That have decided to make a comeback. Many doubted this would work out. Take That's whole image was built on things which seem very difficult to recreate by men aged 35-38. Many also thought that they wouldn't manage without Robbie Williams (though I hardly thought it would be an issue - they managed without him very well after he left the band in the 90s).
But it seems like everybody was wrong ;-P In fact Take That are getting more impressive results in the charts than they did the first time round! They did an amazingly successful comeback tour, which sold out in a few hours. They managed their first ever chart double (no.1 single and no.1 album in the same week). "Patience", their first single was no.1 in the charts for 4 weeks. Their new album was no.1 for five weeks and after the release of their second single, "Shine" (which was no.1 for two weeks) the album has gone back to the no.1 spot on the charts, which so far makes a total of 7 weeks (more than any other of their previous albums!). Their second tour since their reunion sold out even faster than their first. And they made the most spectacular comeback in the history of the Brit Awards - winning Best Single for Patience. You can see them getting the award in the video below (I guess I put it in mainly because I was amused by the Valentine kissing bit ;) but the whole thing is rather sweet ;) ):
It's quite an amazing story considering all that happened to them after they split up. Robbie Williams was the only member who commercially survived the break up. Gary's solo career started better than Robbie's but once it went wrong it went wrong drastically. Mark although his career never went as low as Gary's also ended up losing his record deal. He got back into the public eye after winning Celebrity Big Brother, but his solo career really couldn't be called particularly successful. Howard's solo material never even got released and he ended up doing DJ work. Jason never even tried for a solo career...
And then all of a sudden they get together again and they're even more successful than they were the first time round - it's a strange business, isn't it? ;)
Anyway, I love their new live performances as much if not more than their old ones, so I'll just fill the rest of this post with youtube videos ;-P
I think my favourite performance of theirs is what they did to "It Only Takes a Minute Girl" which was a very early single of theirs (probably about 1991 or so) and it's a veeeery primitive kind of tune which I think they rightly decided they couldn't perform the way they used to. But for you to really get the "joke" I think you need to hear the original tune first, so check out this live performance from Manchester in 1995 (I think the staging of this one is great but if you don't then trust me - the modern one is drastically different ;)):
In contrast this is what the same song looked and sounded like on the 2006 reunion tour lol:
Take That apart from managing all sorts of firsts in the charts did a different sort of "first" in a TV program in December. You can read up on the concept of the "Audience With" program here. Take That are the first ever band to do the program live. And I'm going to put a youtube video (or rather playlist) of the whole thing below. I think the opening is particularly good, but otherwise just watch whatever you like - I couldn't really make my mind up so I just decided to put the whole thing into the post ;-P If you're wondering what Jason and Lulu are talking about in clip no.3 - well the whole comeback thing actually started out because of a documentary. It rekindled a lot of interest in Take That. In that documentary it was implied that Jason and Lulu had at some point slept with each other... Anyway, here's the program :) :
Finally, for the figure skating fans - you might like to see a clip of Take That performing on Dancing on Ice with Torvill and Dean. Check it out here
Monday, February 12, 2007
Harry Potter nude and some even more exciting Potter news
I keep putting off writing anything because I've not written properly for such a long time and I feel I should write a long, clever post about something. The problem is I'm really not feeling clever or up to writing a long post ;-P
So I'll just be boring and write more of the usual. It's not that I don't have anything to write about - on the contrary, you wouldn't believe how many drafts I have on my blog (I just checked - the number is 80 drafts versus 43 published posts :D), but a lot of it seems just too much effort to write about just now ;-P
Therefore lets continue the topic of nudity (apparently it's the main theme of my blog since January 15th).
Harry Potter himself is appearing nude in a play in London and if you don't believe me I'm sure this article will convince you.
You can see some publicity pics for the play on the play's official site. And if like me you derive a certain amusement out of seeing people offended and acting as if it really is Harry Potter appearing nude rather than Daniel Radcliffe, then I recommend the imdb boards for Daniel Radcliffe. I particularly enjoy the comments in which certain Americans claim this is child pornography because according to American law Dan is not of legal age (no matter how many times they're told that under UK law he is, they still don't change their tone lol). But I think the people who think he's going to have real sex or masturbate on stage are even funnier (the arguments that there are no such scenes in the play don't seem to be getting to them ;) ).
On a more serious note, I do love the play. At least on paper it made a huge impression on me. It's the story of a boy who blinds six horses with a metal pick and gets sent to a mental institution. He is treated by a psychiatrist who has started doubting the point of his job. I really love the way the relationship between them is written out. I'm very excited about seeing it on stage (which I will in late April, wheee!).
But lets get to some more exciting and even more frontline Harry Potter news ;-P There is finally a release date for book7 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!! :D Of course annoyingly it has to be on the 21st of July which is during the film festival in Wroclaw that I want to attend ;-P I'll probably try to force myself to wait until the festival finishes about a week later cause I want to be able to sit down and read it in one go (book 6 took me about 11,5h non-stop reading when it came out ;-P).
So far my favourite news tidbit about book7 coming out is enlikening two characters in the series dieing off to Take That splitting up in 1996 (it appeared in this article). Here's the relevant quote:
British book retailer Waterstone's is hoping to set up a helpline for distressed fans of the popular
Harry Potter series because two characters will be killed off in the final instalment, The Daily Telegraph reported.
"This could be a similar moment to when (pop band) Take That split up -- there could be a lot of upset teenagers out there," said Debbie Williams, a buyer for the book chain.
"We are looking to set up a helpline for them."
(for those of you who don't know - when Take That split up they set up a helpline because they were worried girls might get suicidal!)
But actually everything surrounding the release is absolutely amazing. It has shattered all pre-sale records and even before J.K.Rowling had finished writing the book, the bookies were already taking bets for who would kill Harry. Of course we don't even know if Harry will die! (personally I think he won't ;-P)
Very often when I say I don't feel up to writing anything long I end up doing what I say I won't ;-P (but when I say I'm not feeling up to writing anything clever I do mean it ;-P)
On a final off-topic note - Surya Bonaly chickened out, she was not nude at all.
So I'll just be boring and write more of the usual. It's not that I don't have anything to write about - on the contrary, you wouldn't believe how many drafts I have on my blog (I just checked - the number is 80 drafts versus 43 published posts :D), but a lot of it seems just too much effort to write about just now ;-P
Therefore lets continue the topic of nudity (apparently it's the main theme of my blog since January 15th).
Harry Potter himself is appearing nude in a play in London and if you don't believe me I'm sure this article will convince you.
You can see some publicity pics for the play on the play's official site. And if like me you derive a certain amusement out of seeing people offended and acting as if it really is Harry Potter appearing nude rather than Daniel Radcliffe, then I recommend the imdb boards for Daniel Radcliffe. I particularly enjoy the comments in which certain Americans claim this is child pornography because according to American law Dan is not of legal age (no matter how many times they're told that under UK law he is, they still don't change their tone lol). But I think the people who think he's going to have real sex or masturbate on stage are even funnier (the arguments that there are no such scenes in the play don't seem to be getting to them ;) ).
On a more serious note, I do love the play. At least on paper it made a huge impression on me. It's the story of a boy who blinds six horses with a metal pick and gets sent to a mental institution. He is treated by a psychiatrist who has started doubting the point of his job. I really love the way the relationship between them is written out. I'm very excited about seeing it on stage (which I will in late April, wheee!).
But lets get to some more exciting and even more frontline Harry Potter news ;-P There is finally a release date for book7 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!! :D Of course annoyingly it has to be on the 21st of July which is during the film festival in Wroclaw that I want to attend ;-P I'll probably try to force myself to wait until the festival finishes about a week later cause I want to be able to sit down and read it in one go (book 6 took me about 11,5h non-stop reading when it came out ;-P).
So far my favourite news tidbit about book7 coming out is enlikening two characters in the series dieing off to Take That splitting up in 1996 (it appeared in this article). Here's the relevant quote:
British book retailer Waterstone's is hoping to set up a helpline for distressed fans of the popular
Harry Potter series because two characters will be killed off in the final instalment, The Daily Telegraph reported.
"This could be a similar moment to when (pop band) Take That split up -- there could be a lot of upset teenagers out there," said Debbie Williams, a buyer for the book chain.
"We are looking to set up a helpline for them."
(for those of you who don't know - when Take That split up they set up a helpline because they were worried girls might get suicidal!)
But actually everything surrounding the release is absolutely amazing. It has shattered all pre-sale records and even before J.K.Rowling had finished writing the book, the bookies were already taking bets for who would kill Harry. Of course we don't even know if Harry will die! (personally I think he won't ;-P)
Very often when I say I don't feel up to writing anything long I end up doing what I say I won't ;-P (but when I say I'm not feeling up to writing anything clever I do mean it ;-P)
On a final off-topic note - Surya Bonaly chickened out, she was not nude at all.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Old Take That video
This is a video from I think 1992 (but I'm guessing from the hairstyles, I'm not sure) and I just have to share it cause it's made me laugh so hard ;) Anyway, here's Take That doing a kind of underwear fashion show ;)
Sunday, November 05, 2006
"My Take" - Gary Barlow's autobiography
I started reading Gary Barlow's autobiography My Take yesterday and I got so hooked! I wasn't expecting that! I mean I was expecting to enjoy it because I'm in a Take That nostalgia phase at the moment, but not this much. Even though I started reading quite late yesterday, today in the afternoon I had it finished (and I'm not exactly an avid reader).
I mean it's probably not a book that somebody who has no idea who Take That or Gary Barlow are would enjoy, but I think there's quite a few people who are not fans, but would enjoy the read (and I think that's a big compliment to his writing). It's really funny in places, sounds very honest and at least for me (not knowing much about the music business) it was interesting also in terms of how this sort of work is done, what happens behind the scenes. There's also a bit of insight into the differences between the British and American music industries. Of course there's lots of scandal and drama as well ;), but as long as you keep it in the context of the book, somehow it doesn't sound cheap (well not to me).
I think I'm not breaking copyright laws or anything if I quote a few parts of the book - certainly some of the media have done it and in fact quoting it as if they were part of an interview not the book. At least I'm saying exactly where I got these quotes from and encouraging you to give the book a go if you think it might be for you :)
This is part of a chapter in which Gary details some of his stranger experiences of working in clubs (before Take That he had a solo act playing and singing in various clubs in the North of England):
some of the clubs in Yorkshire had a disconcerting way of showing their appreciation after you finished. The compere would get a mic and say, 'Come on ladies and gentlemen, show your appreciation for Gary. I think you'll agree he's well worth sixty quid.'
At another Yorkshire club, I was halfway through 'Love on the Rocks' when a guy got up on the stage, walked right in front of me, switched on the compere's mic and said loudly, so as to drown me out, 'Pies 'ave cum.'
Every chair in the place was scraped across the floor as, en masse, they all stood up and got in line for their food.
On another night I was on with a duo from London, a couple of black guys who were really good.
'Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a couple of darkies who've come all the way from London. We didn't really want 'em, but now they're 'ere, show 'em some appreciation.'
As I say, working the clubs was an amazing experience.
About Take That's first video:
Beforehand Nigel got us all together to reveal an amendment to the masterplan.
'Lads, we've got to get the video banned.'
How in the hell were we going to do that?
(...)
I have to admit that we loved the finished version, not that anyone ever saw it. To get something banned a TV station has to want to play it, and none of them ever considered the unedited version. All we could get played, and then rarely, was the clean version.
And here by the way is what Gary calls the clean version :D
And if you're wondering after seeing that video - yes, they were trying to appeal to a gay audience (they regularly did gigs in gay clubs in the early days of their career). And actually there's a lot about that aspect of Take That in the earlier chapters of the book (and it's mostly very amusing).
About fan mail:
Among the fan letters were a lot of naked pictures, but some were more off-beat. I had one fan, Ilona in Germany, who was a policewoman. She used to send me pictures of herself taking part in riots. She'd be all dressed up in combat gear, complete with truncheon, hitting people - that freaked me out.
Anyway, the book is really a lot of fun to read (as I think you can see from those quotes!), there's a lot more very amusing and interesting stuff in there! :) There are some sadder, more emotional chapters as well - like the ones about his unsuccessful solo career, but particularly the last one which details his experience of being on one of the trains in the 7th of July London bombings.
Part of what I think is so great about his story is that he seems to be a very ordinary guy in many ways - I don't mean that nastily. Just that if he had chosen a different career he would have probably been somebody with a very quiet and "proper" life, but instead he ended up a performer doing things like the Do What U Like video that I've linked to above ;) I think the contrast between the two makes his story somehow nicer (well to me anyway ;-P).
On a final note, here is Gary Barlow promoting his book on the Jonathan Ross show (the video is in 6 parts, but each is quite short).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
I mean it's probably not a book that somebody who has no idea who Take That or Gary Barlow are would enjoy, but I think there's quite a few people who are not fans, but would enjoy the read (and I think that's a big compliment to his writing). It's really funny in places, sounds very honest and at least for me (not knowing much about the music business) it was interesting also in terms of how this sort of work is done, what happens behind the scenes. There's also a bit of insight into the differences between the British and American music industries. Of course there's lots of scandal and drama as well ;), but as long as you keep it in the context of the book, somehow it doesn't sound cheap (well not to me).
I think I'm not breaking copyright laws or anything if I quote a few parts of the book - certainly some of the media have done it and in fact quoting it as if they were part of an interview not the book. At least I'm saying exactly where I got these quotes from and encouraging you to give the book a go if you think it might be for you :)
This is part of a chapter in which Gary details some of his stranger experiences of working in clubs (before Take That he had a solo act playing and singing in various clubs in the North of England):
some of the clubs in Yorkshire had a disconcerting way of showing their appreciation after you finished. The compere would get a mic and say, 'Come on ladies and gentlemen, show your appreciation for Gary. I think you'll agree he's well worth sixty quid.'
At another Yorkshire club, I was halfway through 'Love on the Rocks' when a guy got up on the stage, walked right in front of me, switched on the compere's mic and said loudly, so as to drown me out, 'Pies 'ave cum.'
Every chair in the place was scraped across the floor as, en masse, they all stood up and got in line for their food.
On another night I was on with a duo from London, a couple of black guys who were really good.
'Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a couple of darkies who've come all the way from London. We didn't really want 'em, but now they're 'ere, show 'em some appreciation.'
As I say, working the clubs was an amazing experience.
About Take That's first video:
Beforehand Nigel got us all together to reveal an amendment to the masterplan.
'Lads, we've got to get the video banned.'
How in the hell were we going to do that?
(...)
I have to admit that we loved the finished version, not that anyone ever saw it. To get something banned a TV station has to want to play it, and none of them ever considered the unedited version. All we could get played, and then rarely, was the clean version.
And here by the way is what Gary calls the clean version :D
And if you're wondering after seeing that video - yes, they were trying to appeal to a gay audience (they regularly did gigs in gay clubs in the early days of their career). And actually there's a lot about that aspect of Take That in the earlier chapters of the book (and it's mostly very amusing).
About fan mail:
Among the fan letters were a lot of naked pictures, but some were more off-beat. I had one fan, Ilona in Germany, who was a policewoman. She used to send me pictures of herself taking part in riots. She'd be all dressed up in combat gear, complete with truncheon, hitting people - that freaked me out.
Anyway, the book is really a lot of fun to read (as I think you can see from those quotes!), there's a lot more very amusing and interesting stuff in there! :) There are some sadder, more emotional chapters as well - like the ones about his unsuccessful solo career, but particularly the last one which details his experience of being on one of the trains in the 7th of July London bombings.
Part of what I think is so great about his story is that he seems to be a very ordinary guy in many ways - I don't mean that nastily. Just that if he had chosen a different career he would have probably been somebody with a very quiet and "proper" life, but instead he ended up a performer doing things like the Do What U Like video that I've linked to above ;) I think the contrast between the two makes his story somehow nicer (well to me anyway ;-P).
On a final note, here is Gary Barlow promoting his book on the Jonathan Ross show (the video is in 6 parts, but each is quite short).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
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