I don't think the new songs are weaker than the older ones, personally. Given the choice between the likes of UAN, Hold Up A Light, Greatest Day or many others from The Circus and the new material, I'd easily choose the songs from III. I guess it's just a matter of taste. We all have songs we prefer to others and songs we can't stand.

I warmed up to Affirmation, but not enough to say I'd include it on the list of TT songs I play frequently. And I definitely would not have enjoyed Everything Changes sung by Howard. It's enough that The Flood is weird as it is, no need to trash other songs as well :P

It's normal the crowd wouldn't react as well to the new songs as to the old one and wouldn't sing along, simply because, for many of them, it would be the first time they'd hear them, hence the change in atmosphere. I've been to concerts where I didn't know some of the songs and I did notice that the audience tends to get quieter, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the moment as much, if not more, as the ones I could sing along on.

It certainly is down to taste and that is why different music genres and styles appeal to so many different people which is the wonderful element of music. I too enjoy the material on the three album, we must remember the material is still new and new music takes time to grow. There is a part of me that understands the loss of transition of the music, for example I have loved Let in the Sun since i first heard the album but when they performed it live at the Brits i did not enjoy the live version as much as i expected too, I felt the song did not translate as well live as it does in the studio version. I would also have to be in agreeance that The Flood does sound very different sung by 3 rather than 5 and it has lost some of its magic been delivered by 3.

 

I personally would take tracks such as up all night and hold up a light over material from three as they are songs that i thoroughly enjoy and love but that it not to take away from some of the songs i am enjoying from three.

I'm a bit late, but thank you very much for the detailed review. Great reading and very interesting to get your opinion on the show and also how you perceived their different personalities. It's funny what you said about Mark looking much older in the flesh. I went to one of Mark's solo gigs in 2013 and because the gig was in this really tiny club you got to see him very close up, and like you I was also surprised by how in some way different and older he looked in real life than on TV etc.

 

It was great that you finally could go to a TT show after being a fan for so many years :)

 

I'm going on the 30th May in Manchester, will also try to post a review after I've got back home again. Two songs that I don't like at all are Affirmation and Portrait, so we'll see if I've changed my mind about those after the show. I'm not a big fan of Back For Good either, but I'm not expecting them to ever get rid of that one :P

Edited May 19, 201510 yr by Cat62

I still haven't warmed to Affirmation or Portrait and I've watched a lot of the tour videos. I quite liked Portrait on the album but it doesn't sound strong enough live while Hold Up A Light is an example of a song which in my view sounds better live.

 

I think The Flood still sounds great, even with the 3 of them, although it doesn't quite have the depth of sound it previously had. I would have dropped Relight My Fire from the set list - I know many like it but it isn't one of my favourites. It would have been interesting to hear one or two of their B sides such as Rocket Ship. And I must admit that I wouldn't miss Back For Good if it was left off the set list either!

I don't understand why higher than higher didn't replace Portrait. Surely they considered it and decided against it for whatever reason. I am pleased love love got on the playlist though

Edited May 19, 201510 yr by jay727

Wow, we all have such different opinions :)

I would never get rid of BFG. I think it's their best song to date and it's also the song that made me fall in love with Gary's voice.

 

I love how Portrait sounds live, but still don't get the chorus. HUAL bores me lately and I skip videos of it.

I enjoy Relight live. I'd never listen to it as part of my playlist, but I'm fascinated by some of Gary's notes on it, just like I'm totally mesmerized by Gary's high note on IF at the end of Flaws.

 

I guess the boys can never find a middle ground with us, fans :)

I'd have loved Rocket Ship as well and it's needless to say that their decision to leave out HTH doesn't make any sense. It was the most requested songs by fans, together with Another Crack and Flaws. I'm curious what they plan to do with HTH.

Hold Up A Light is fantastic, that said,when i initially purchased the Circus album it was not among the stand out tracks. Through time it grew on which eventually resulted in me loving the track.

I haven't watched that many tour vids yet. I've just watched short bits of some of the songs because I want to have some surprises left when I go to the show, I've seen lots of pics though. I'm too curious to completely stay away from spoilers :)

 

Hold Up A Light is a song that at first I didn't like very much. It took quite a while before I warmed to it and now it's one of my favourite songs from the Circus album so I'm very happy it's on the setlist.

Edited May 20, 201510 yr by Cat62

I went to see this last Saturday. I hate to admit it, but I was pretty underwhelmed by the show. :o :( There was a hell of a lot going on that seemed totally irrelevant & nonsensical, almost bordering on stupid at times... and a lot of it wasn't that visually appealing either.

 

Nevertheless I enjoyed a handful of the performances, mainly the ones towards the end of the setlist. It did make me realise that I'm not too keen on the songs from Progress(ed) & III that they chose to perform. It was quite a weird choice not to do 'Higher and Higher' - as well as being the new single, it's one of the songs on the latest album that I really like.

 

My overall feeling after seeing the show was that I wished I'd got to see a previous tour rather than this one... :blush: Unfortunately I don't think I'd see them again in a hurry, unless they became a 4 or 5 piece act again & created a better set list.

 

Sorry to be negative. :snif:

 

Oh Jay, so sorry you were underwhelmed by the concert. It has received fantastic fan reviews , but a concert is a very personal thing.

 

I hope it doesn't put you off seeing them again because I genuinely think they are the best around. Having seen all their tours post 2006 the only one I didn't enjoy was Progress, partly due to the set list.

 

I think you would have loved the BW tour as it struck a good balance between production and music and the set list in my view was fantastic. I also loved the Circus. I saw the last but one night in London and it was truly magical . TT are somewhat caught in a dilemma in that they're known for big productions so I now think the band feels they have to top the last one. Consequently the music can get lost in the visual production and sea of dancers.

 

I'll post my review next Wednesday after the Manchester gig - I hope I love it as the price of the ticket coupled with travelling and an hotel is staggering!!!

I hope you enjoy it! I did get some enjoyment out of the show though, perhaps I should have added in that I loved the performances of 'Rule the World', 'Pray' and 'Never Forget'!

 

Annoyingly I actually did have tickets for the Beautiful World tour, but I was ill when it rolled around and couldn't go! :( I eventually enjoyed watching it on DVD at least... :lol:

The balance is very hard to get right, especially for acts that have a lot of material to offer and choose from. Some concert attendees like more of the old and less of the new while others are vice versa. Take That are very well known for putting on a show in conjunction with the musical offerings, they have a great name for big productions and they likely feel pressure to deliver a higher standard each time they tour.

Jay, if you ever have the chance, try one of Gary's solo gigs. They're focused more on the music than on the production.

I love reading what everyone who's seen this tour has to say about it.

 

 

I know it's not the same as you guys going to an arena to see the boys, but I'm mega excited about seeing the concert in the cinema on 19 June. It will be my 1st ever TT concert :)

I saw the BW tour in Birmingham and loved it. I then went to the cinema with a different friend to see the show from the 02. It was a great experience and although you don't have the immediate atmosphere of a live gig, it did allow me to see many things I'd missed at the live show.

 

Because TT do have large productions a cinema show actually works really well for them. Glad TT have rolled out the cinema show to many more countries. I would be astonished if you didn't absolutely love it, Milly !!

 

I also saw Gary's solo show and it was so very, very different to a TT show. The music was the integral part of the show, it was less frantic and the set list was actually far more to my liking that the Progress tour, for example. My favourite part was the acoustic section which really showcased Gary's voice and was a lovely mellow section in the concert. The piano section in the middle of the arena was also wonderful and I actually think that TT should to some degree go ' back to basics' and use their production elements far more sparingly.

 

 

It seems Affirmation is turning out to be the dull moment of this tour:

http://manchesterinnews.com/review-take-th...may-21-2015-35/

 

I wonder if they included it because they were set on having another song from Progress, aside from The Flood.

Progress is turning out only now to have been the worst mistake of their career; now they have a full album that they can choose almost nothing from because they were so generous as to let Robbie take the lead on most of them.

Love Love has appeared on the tour along with The Flood which appear to be the most popular songs from the era. The album featured a lot of Robbie which does make it harder for them to perform as a three piece. It was a different offering from them, enjoyable in parts,The Flood remains one of their strongest singles in my opinion alongside excellent tracks such as Patience and Rule The World. Progress remains their weakest album to date from my own perspective and the artwork was hugely disappointing. That said, the music on offer from Three is much stronger than Progress but like Progress the artwork is also poor and not the most eye catching when sitting on a shelf in a music store among thousands of other cd's.

They have announced some countries where the III show is being broadcast in cinemas on Friday 19th June. Hopefully as many countries as possible will be added outside of Europe also.

 

Austria,

Belgium,

Brazil,

Cyprus,

Denmark,

France,

Germany,

Ireland,

Italy,

Luxembourg,

Netherlands,

Poland,

Portugal,

Romania,

Spain,

UK

 

Some of these countries surprise me as I didn't think based on chartings TT were popular in these countries but the more countries the better I suppose. I know South and North America have twitter fan pages so those countries would be good to be included.

On twitter Argentina and Chile seem to have the most requests at the moment. Hopefully the fans will be happy for the show to come to their town in the cinema if not in person.

Edited May 22, 201510 yr by nirvanamusic

The main problem with the cinemas is that most people in these countries don't have any means of learning about the broadcast.

For example, the concert is broadcast in Romania only in one cinema, near 1 airport near Bucharest - it's not even in the city. We're just a handful of fans who follow TT on twitter and fb and know about it. The rest of the fans probably don't even know about this event. I can't imagine too many fans showing up at the airport, Friday night, at 10:30 p.m, to watch a concert they weren't informed about.

I think the event should have been advertised a little.

A normal concert would have, normally, had a banner in the middle of Bucharest + all events sites advertising it.

 

I'm a bit worried that, if people don't turn up in big numbers at the cinemas, the boys will believe that there isn't a fanbase for them in these countries and will forever leave them out of their tours list :(

 

At the opposite pole, we have Robbie's concert being hyped to the heavens and back by the biggest tv station. Even people who aren't fans would buy tickets to see what the fuss is all about.

Sometimes I think Robbie's PR team is doing a better job than TT's.

The cinema should have been in the city centre and not out of town close to the airport - what a strange location!!

 

Robbie has been active as a performer since the early 90's and has toured extensively for over 20 years gathering a world wide fan base. TT came back to extensive media coverage in the UK but nowhere else. They didn't undertaken any major promotional tours outside of the UK, aside from Germany.

 

Rob's PR is clearly far more professional and TT should really push for better promotion outside of the UK , but I can't see that happening. Unfortunately for fans outside of the UK and some European cities there is little chance of them touring. I think so many dates in Germany is a mistake and one date in Germany with some dates in other European countries, with good promotion thrown in would have been more productive. I agree with many, TT's management and PR is quite poor for a well known act not that's not going to change now - it is what it is.