Take That's Gary Barlow: Birmingham fans can expect a night to remember

May 22 2011 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

WHEN extra tickets for Take That’s Villa Park supershows went on sale on Friday morning, they sold out within an hour.

Desperate fans recruited entire families to man the phones, internet servers creaked as they struggled to cope, and promoters of the Progress Live tour watched as the cash counters spun faster than the average petrol pump.

There will, of course, be capacity crowds when Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and some bloke from Stoke called Robbie Williams turn up at the home of Aston Villa on June 27 and 28.

It will, say Villa supporters, be the first time that the ground has been completely full for two fixtures on the run.

By that time, Take That’s UK tour will already be 17 shows old, and well bedded in. They open at Sunderland’s Stadium Of Light this Friday for four giant gigs, followed by eight nights at the City of Manchester Stadium.

There are a couple of dates at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, three shows at Glasgow’s Hampden Park – and then bring on Birmingham.

So what is it that makes 1.5 million tickets sell out in a matter of minutes? Why is the quintet’s 27-show trip around the UK (which ends in an unprecedented eight nights at Wembley Stadium) such a big draw?

Well, there’s the Take That phenomenon itself. After re-inventing themselves as a quality pop band, they’d have sold out the tour as a Fab Foursome. But the return of prodigal son Robbie has sent sales soaring sky high.

“Rob’s return has been so well accepted by the fans,” says Barlow, who adds that it was always his ambition to bring his old mate back into the band, even if they did have well-publicised differences.

Williams frequently took verbal potshots at his former boy band partners, and famously performed an outrageous punk version of Barlow ballad Back For Good at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre – a stone’s throw from the stadium he will play in June.

“Even when we came back as a foursome in 2005, the goal was to get us all back together eventually,” insists Barlow. “But the fact that it has actually worked out that way is incredible.

“I think it’s lovely because it gives everyone a platform now to do whatever they want. For us, as well, it’s about getting people used to the fact that this band will always change.