Take That & Robbie Williams Live at Wembley

July 5, 2011 - Wembley Stadium, London
I first heard of British pop group Take That in 1995/1996.  During this time, they had their first and only US hit with the ballad Back for Good.  In March 1996, on my first trip to Europe, I was in Heathrow Airport on the way home, when I saw a copy of Take That's Greatest Hits for sale.  Since I liked that song so much, I bought the CD, and soon was a lifelong fan of the group. 

Take That broke up in 1996, and one of their former members Robbie Williams went on to become one of the biggest solo British artists of the 90s and early 2000's.  Ironically, he lived in LA but never performed in the US, except for a brief club tour in 1999.  Long story short, Take That reunited in 2005, and in 2010 Robbie Williams rejoined the band and they released a great new album called Progress.   I jumped at the chance to see Take That and Robbie at Wembley earlier this month. 

Arriving at Wembley is awesome - the walk from the tube station to the stadium is short and a few steps away are a string of restaurants to fill up your belly before a concert or sporting match.  My seat was at the far edge of the action, but well under the roof (a blessing on this rainy evening).  The fine folks at Samsung were even passing out faux backstage passes to fans at the entrance.  Here I am in my seat with my reasonably priced glass of wine waiting for the show to start. 

The opening act for the concert was the Pet Shop Boys.  I have been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys since West End Girls was a hit in 1985.  I realized I had never seen them in concert even though I purchased their CDs well into the 90's.  In a brisk 45 minutes, they powered through nearly a dozen of their hits with gusto, only singing one song I didn't recognize.  The crowd was sufficiently warmed up and ready to go. 

The rain started to fall just as the Pet Shop Boys came on stage, but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd in the standing sections.  They were tightly packed up against the center stage and the catwalk, camera phones at the ready.  I hadn't been to a concert this large since I saw Wham and the Pointer Sisters at the Oakland Coliseum in 1985!

The 4 members of the reformed Take That (minus Robbie) took the stage to perform their biggest hits of the last decade - and got the crowd really going, everyone singing along. 

Thanks to the stadium screens, everyone got close up views of the show.  Gary Barlow wrote many of Take That's greatest hits and sang lead on a majority of the earlier material. 

And not content to let the singing do the talking, so to speak, what show is complete without a number performed on top of a giant purple caterpillar? 

After the opening set of songs recaping Take That's recent hits, Robbie Williams blasted on stage to perform a 40 minute set of his just a few of his biggest solo hits.  The energy in the stadium exploded, particularly as Robbie took to a crane floating above the crowd to sing his huge single Feel. 

For the rest of the show, it was the group as a 5 piece, singing songs from their latest album as well as their biggest songs from the 90s.  I would've loved them to throw in a few more of the early 90's songs, but that's just me being a bit fuddy duddy. 

It was an awesome night, and I have many a jealous Brit friend here in the US who didn't get the chance to see the show.  The Wembley shows (hopefully the ones without rain) were filmed for an upcoming DVD release, so I can't wait to rewatch the show in my living room to see the details that you miss being in a crowd of 80,000+.