Posted December 28, 200717 yr I don't have a scanner and I can't seem to pick this up online as its a pull-out bit from tonight's Manchester Evening News. Reviews of the year's best gigs - Helen Tither chose Take That. THAT was the return we were all waiting for As CityLife's reviewers pick their gigs of the year, Helen Tither reckons a certain boy (now man) band topped the lot ... It's worrying really - this is the second time in a row that Take That have been my gig of the year. It's almost as disturbing as the unhealthy crush I'm developing on the newly-chiselled Gary Barlow (I know, it's so wrong but strangely so right at the same time). In fact, I've got a confession to make - I've never really been a Take That fan. While the other girls in my class were kissing their Robbie Williams posters, I was drawing kohl round my eyes and pining over Kurt Cobain. But fast forward a decade and here I am, cooing over Gary's cheeky butt and praising Howard's pole-dancing. So why the transformation? Call it hormones, call it temporary insanity, or maybe it's just the fact that the fab foursome put on the best gig of the year. Pure and simple. They called it the Beautiful World tour - but really, it was more like World Domination as they arrived on stage in a flurry of ticker-tape, fists waved defiantly in the air at the critics (including yours truly) who said it would never work. And, once they'd whipped the crowd of former teenyboppers into something of a revolutionary fervour, they didn't disappoint, with one superbly staged hit after another. From the Las Vegas strip-joint-style reworking of It Only Takes A Minute to a hot voodoo dance version of Relight My Fire, it was one spectacle after another, as flames leapt into the air and giant glitter globes descended from the sky. I guess what I'm saying is it was a real show, a real eyeball-grabbing spectacular. A kind of "ooh" and "ahh" experience that makes you feel like you've really seen something special. And, when you've seen as many bad boybands as I have that's something special. Maybe it's because they're a man band now. But, for all the glitz and glamour, the simple touches made this the gig of the year. The reminiscences of how they used to catch the bus into town, or Gary's teary-eyed declaration of how it feels good to be back home. There's something about them that will forever be Manchester - how could you not love that? My fingers are now killing me ... and if someone finds a link to an electronic copy of this - I'll cry! Norma Edited December 28, 200717 yr by Norma_Snockers
