REVIEW: Take That - Progress Live 2011

City of Manchester Statium, 10th June 2011
Supported by: The Pet Shop Boys

*** Warning: spoilers below. If you're going to the event or planning to watch it on the inevitable DVD release, don't read any further ***

After a big adventure in getting hold of tickets to see the boys (disclaimer: I went to see them because I enjoy Robbie's music and their excellent 'Progress' album, not because I fancy any of them. Honest) and thanks to Katie for securing them, it was off to Manchester to do two things I'd never done before: firstly go into a football stadium and secondly see a gig on such a scale, having only seen bands in Academy style venues before. And I'm glad I picked Take That as the first big show to see as it was definitely worth every penny.

Landing in Manchester I soon realised how confusing Manchester Piccadilly station is for such a small one with signs that point you seemingly in circles. After scratching my head for a few minutes over an over-priced Burger King meal I eventually decided to stop trying to find one of the twenty buses I could have caught at the seemingly mythical bus stops and walk the mile-and-a-half to Manchester City's football ground. Luckily, once I'd found the throng of people heading there, the signage was clear to the ground and getting there was fairly simple, even if walking through some parts of it with its fenced off areas and eerie hoardings looked like parts of Manchester had gone through the apocalypse. But at least I could get to experience the cash-in Lancastrians trying to flog me ponchos (seven in total) for the rain that thankfully wouldn't come, and people trying to buy or sell tickets to the event, some sounding like they'd said it so many times without luck I almost felt like buying them a pint to cheer them up. But not quite.

Getting into the stadium was a piece of cake. I considered buying a programme but at £20 a pop thought better of it, and a walk up the spiral towers into the stadium was quiet. At a quarter to six the stadium was only still filling up, giving me time to take in the stage and getting climatised to the height of the place, something I wasn't too comfortable with at first. Heights aren't really my thing. Like £7 burgers.

The stage was impressive to look at: a massive fibreglass humanoid figure towering over a large video screen and two smaller ones, with coloured squares attached to grids between. From the stage extended a long run to a smaller square stage two-thirds along the venue.

*** Part 1 - Support ***

At around seven thirty, with the venue pretty full but still not crammed (those who didn't turn up until Take That missed a cracking support, more on that now), the show began.

The event kicked off with a typical mad-scientist walking down the stage and to the smaller jutting stage, where a keyboard stood. There he tried to use it but failed until he plugged in a massive USB port allowing a message to appear on the screen greeting Manchester and introducing the Pet Shop Boys, who appeared subsequently on stage: Neil Tennant in the centre, Chris Lowe in the DJ booth and two dancers with cubes on their heads. To much applause, mainly from the older crowd as the younger ones probably weren't as familiar with them (the group of young girls next to me took the opportunity half-way through the set to go for burgers), they began with 'Heart', beginning an incredible forty-minutes where the London-duo flew through most of their massive hits. It was a well rounded performance. Neil Tennant's voice was as fantastic as ever and tackled the songs brilliant and Chris Lowe, though as seemingly anonymous as ever, provided some cracking fresh interpretations of the songs that boomed all around the stadium.

Recent come-back single 'Love etc' came second, the singable sections and bass being amazing in such a large venue. The performances of the songs, which included fan-favourite 'Go West' and new single 'Together' after, were accompanied with a variety of dancers with, erm, some rather revealing tight clothing that the camera close-ups seemed to enjoy, plus some great video effects that mixed up archive footage with the official videos, with some video effects that perfectly matched the videos, especially in the key sections of 'Always On My Mind', the next song performed, where the images collapsed down on the screen. The dancers live performances were also mixed and edited on the screens.

'Always On My Mind' was as excellent as ever, with Neil's voice holding up well and the crowd singing it back to him. The video effects continued to be great and were used in interesting ways. For instance, during 'Together', a track that many were probably not so familiar with, the flying camera in the venue kept catching people in the crowd and the inevitable five-second realisation from them they were on the screen. A particular highlight was someone standing still but putting up the hand rock gesture.

'Left To My Own Devices', possibly the weakest song in their set, was followed by a great digital drums solo by Chris, before 'Suburbia', the sun-drenched 'Se La Vida E' and 'It's A Sin' followed, all excellent renditions that sounded as good as the studio versions but with much more power from the stadium sound system. In fact, several songs were made even better in the live environment. The duo ended their set with more dancers appearing on stage, to the hit 'West End Girls' which got all the ages in the stadium singing along.

Overall to get an act like the Pet Shop Boys supporting Take That was incredible as I'd expect to pay to see them separately. Neil Tennant's voice was as great as ever and Chris Lowe translated the songs perfectly to a live environment. For a support performance they crammed in a great mix of hits old and new and I can't find fault in their song choices. A perfect start to the show even if it was annoying having to constantly get up as people walked back and forth to get drinks, food and go to the toilet. Couldn't people sit still for thirty bloody minutes?

Set list:
Heart
Love etc
Go West
Together
Always On My Mind
Left To My Own Devices
Suburbia
Se La Vida E
It's A Sin
West End Girls

*** Part 2 - Take That Part 1 ***

After a break of about half-an-hour or so the mad scientist returned on stage to chat about evolution, recreating the change from ape to human on the long walkway and introducing the band, switching on the computer on the main video screen which began a 2-minute countdown for the band to come on which got the young Liverpudlian girls next to me in an almost cliched-tizzy with one declaring she was having heart-palpatations and muttering to herself to 'breathe'. Clearly the boyband effect is strong in people even not old enough to remember them from their original time. The graphics on screen were great with a nod to the album with a progress bar.

To much screaming the four members of the re-formed Take That line-up appeared on stage to 'Rule The World' from the 'Stardust' soundtrack, tackling it perfectly and kicking off the show. Running down to the second stage they performed 'Greatest Day', recreating the video with a shower of golden ticker tape at the crescendo, before being joined by dancers holding lights to perform, well, 'Hold Up The Light'. 'Patience' followed' and all tracks were performed slickly to the delight of the crowd. The performance took a surreal break, to an excerpt from the ELO classic 'Mr Blue Sky', as Alice in Wonderland-style characters appeared, plus a massive caterpillar, which Mark Owen rode on to perform 'Shine'. Not sure what it had to do with the song or indeed the theme of 'Progress' but it was a sight to see.

Then it was time for the first amazing piece of stage direction. The four members headed over to the big screen and disappeared into it, appearing in video footage of it with a certain Mr. Williams in a 'You Know Me'-style rabbit costume who performed an adapted version of the Beatles 'Sergeant Pepper' song but now 'Robbie Williams and the Take That band'. There was then some excellent footage of Robbie pretending to be trapped in the screen before emerging, in time with the video, through a door in the screen and onto the stage to possibly the biggest cheer from the audience ever.

Set list:
Rule The World
Greatest Day
Hold Up The Light
Patience
Mr Blue Sky (Music excerpt)
Shine
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band (Short Adaptation)

*** Part 3 - Robbie Williams Solo Set ***

It's no secret that I was really at the gig to see Robbie, and he did not disappoint. Displaying all the energy and cheekiness that we've come to expect, he was even more a showman live than he is when you see him on television. Kicking off with 'Let Me Entertain You', his set was mainly 'classic Robbie'. Though it's a shame that there wasn't some newer material I understand his choice of his bigger hits. 'Let Me Entertain You' got the crowd immediately on their feet and singing along with the stage effects and live adaptations of it being excellent.

This energetic start was continued with my personal favourite 'Rock DJ', performed perfectly with the crowd joining in at sections. Robbie was joined on stage by lots of girls on rollerskates, mirroring the video (though thankfully he didn't strip down to his bones). For all of the spectacle coming up in the show, see below, with robots and dancers and aerial work, it was Robbie's set that most captured the audience in my opinion. He didn't need any visual distractions, aside from the excellent complimentary video screen effects, with his stage presence and crowd interaction getting everyone going. I could easily have just watched Robbie for the whole thing.

Taking a break in songs with a hilarious poem about Ryan Giggs, super injunctions and Mancunians (sample: "you could learn Shakespeare and join the elite, or be like a Manc lass and piss in the street") he hit into a powerful version of 'Come Undone', mixed in with a sample of 'Greatest Day' and Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wildside', both designed to get the crowd involved once more.

There was another brief pause as he joked with a member of the audience leaving to the toilet just before he would appear on stage with the other four ("is it the Menopause, dear?") before hitting into 'Feel', being moved on where the collapsed walkway now was on a small crane, allowing him to reach out and touch the crowd. Again, another great performance, before returning to the stage to do fan-favourite 'Angels', dedicated to those who have passed on, which got everyone singing along and was made all the better by a great video playing at the back with chinese lanterns.

Overall Robbie's set was as great as expected with his eschewing a lot of the spectacle coming later for some good old-fashioned showmanship, singing back sections and cheeky humour. Oh and great energy.

Set list:
Let Me Entertain You
Rock DJ
Come Undone
Greatest Day (Short)
Walk on the Wildside (Short)
Feel
Angels

*** Part 4 - Take That Part 2 ***

With Robbie's set finished, he disappeared off stage whilst some trickery went on with the main stage and platfrom. It was an excellent show of dancers coming down the back of the stage doing acrobatics, eventually forming the album cover evolution picture using their bodies, which was a sight to see. After a few minutes of this the band appeared on the parapit above to perform five-piece comeback-single 'The Flood', complete with water effect flowing down the backing. It was great to hear them all together and as they performed selections from their 'Progress' album they really brought them to life and made me immediately want to listen to the album again which, in my opinion, is their best as it's much more adult and musically interesting than their previous ones.

'The Flood' was followed by arguably the best song on their new album 'SOS' which was very impressive on stage with the group dancing around and performing it. 'Underground Machine' was the next interesting choice, not one I would have done, but was excellent live, built against a cult-setting with the small robot, now appearing on stage, that was being coaxed into life. Single 'Kidz' was next and was one of the best live adaptations in this part of the show, even if something went wrong at the start with Mark Owen being out of time for a few lines.

The song saw a marvellous dance-off between Howard and Jason, giving them something to do, whilst Robbie rapped over the top with excerpts from controversial hit 'Rudebox' which worked perfectly and was a great use of the track in among the newer hit; can't wait to see if they release this live version on CD.

As expected all these songs were accompanied by great visuals and displays on the screens and on the stages with all sorts of dancers, pyrotechnics and, of course, the giant robot which, over the course of the show, moved out from inside the stage to moving through the crowd to, at the end, standing up in the centre. It was a marvellous technological feat and looked great on stage. But that's skipped ahead a bit.

'Pretty Things' was the final song from 'Progress' for a while before the band moved into their impressive back catalogue. Though the hug and conversations about Robbie leaving the band seemed too staged and scripted, there were excellent sights with everyone encouraged to take photos of them, with lots of camera flashes filling up the stadium.

The band moved onto a quieter, more reflective, section around the piano, each member performing a snippet of a variety of songs, with a fair bit of 'A Million Love Songs', 'Babe' and 'Everything Changes' being performed to the enjoyment of the crowd. There was also a nice skit where everyone got a glass of wine on stage, apart from Mark and Robbie, who got milk.

It was then onto the old songs proper, with the band spoofing their past selves with their old boy band dances. 'Back For Good' and 'Pray', performed without the stage-based pizzazz of previous songs, were sung back to them by the crowd before, as a short sample of 'Happy Now' from Progress was played, as the Robot made its impressive way to the centre of the stadium, stood up and put out its hands.

The tempo was kicked up with brand new single 'Love Love', from the 'X-Men First Class' film, performed with lots of energy after two hours of a great show, before the anthem of 'Never Forget' brought the show to a conclusion.

But, of course, the band had to give us an encore, the whole band signing the opening verse and chorus of 'No Regrets', famously Robbie's song about his time in the band, given a new twist by the band now singing the words. This bleeded into a great version of 'Relight My Fire', complete with flame effects, naturally, before ending on a more subdued nature with 'Progress' almost-closer 'Eight Letters', bringing the show to an end after 130 minutes of old, new and older hits from the band.

Set list:
The Flood
SOS
Underground Machine
Kidz (feat. Rudebox)
Pretty Things
Million Love Songs (Short)
Babe (Short)
Everything Changes (Short)
Back For Good
Pray
Happy Now (Music Short)
Love Love
Never Forget

Encore:
No Regrets (Short)
Relight My Fire
Eight Letters

Overall, I don't think I could have picked a better first stadium gig. The set list was an ideal mix of old and new tracks. The Pet Shop Boys as support act were amazing and led into a great spectacle by the band that tranversed quiet, reflective sections at the piano, to full all-out dance sections, moving robots, acrobatic displays and stunning video effects.

But, in the end, it was Robbie's show. His solo set, with its lack of bombasticness but high on showmanship, was the highlight of the event for me, with his contributions to the band's hits bringing them up a notch when performed. The mixing in of Robbie solo material into Take That hits, the cheekiness and banter he brought, was something that the rest of the band couldn't match, but complimented them. It was, in effect, a perfect show for them as it encompassed so many musical styles from so many eras, and I find it difficult to fault the set list.

A marvellous show for everyone of all ages with both musical brilliance and great spectacle, and I can't wait to relive it on the inevitable DVD release in the autumn.

10/10