Take That reunites, plans 11-date arena tour |
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Sat, 26 Nov 2005 23:10
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LONDON: The erstwhile boy band Take That is all set to reunite and tour Britain but without the memorable Robbie Williams. Members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen announced here Friday they are coming together for an arena tour in April.
"It is kind of now or never for all of us," said Owen at a news conference. "I think if we don't do it now, we probably never could."
The group was the first after the Beatles to have four consecutive number one singles and sell nearly 25 million records worldwide. It had disbanded in 1996. Recently a documentary, The Final Report, which captured their six years at the top of pop scene, had revived memories of its glorious days.
Barlow, rival for Williams in the pop charts as the band split and went solo, said unfortunately Williams will not be there in the tour much as they would want him to. Owen said Williams has his own deal going on, but "The door is always open for Rob. If ever he's bored one day and we're on the road and he wants to come and sing a song, we're always ready to do that. We'll have a spare mic ready for him on stage."
The five Manchester lads had become a craze, especially among young girls, as they put up shows that gave them a flavour of next-door neighbour boys and won hearts through their pop renderings. They had global following, even in far-off Asian countries. Some of the band's most popular shows included Pray, Relight My Fire, Sure and Back For Good. Along with their music, the group had generated an industry that is replete with videos, posters and even dolls, and worth several million pounds.
It was Williams who decided to break and go solo in July 1995. Later he achieved unmatchable popularity as a solo singer and his name recently figured in the Guinness Book of Records for selling 1.6 million tickets in a day for his 2006 world tour.
Owen told the media that the four, all in their 30s, had grown up since the split in 1996, along with their original fans, but hoped to attract existing and new fans. The four admitted it would be a challenge to return to the level of fitness demanded by a tour.
The 11-date reunion tour will bring them nearly 1.5 million pounds each and take them to stadiums such as Wembley Arena, Birmingham NEC and Glasgow's SECC.
The four said they will not play any new material on the tour, but Barlow indicated further dates and a new album are possibilities if the tour went well.
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Sales are down and it's not music to HMV's ears 