“I’m a bit worried I’ve become an alcoholic,” says Take That’s Gary Barlow. “Because of all these No. 1 hits.”
“We’ve been opening bottles all the time. And every time we do it someone says, ‘Well, if you can’t celebrate this, when can you celebrate?’ I’m recovering now, but it’s been hectic. The week we made No. 1 on five separate charts, well… that was quite a week!”
The return of Take That has been nothing short of sensational. It was prompted by the excitement surrounding an ITV1 documentary reunion. Says Gary, “right up till the end, we were having second thoughts about it, but I’m glad we took part. It was the catalyst for everything that happened.”
Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen rather gingerly put tickets on sale for Take That: The Ultimate tour. It sold out in minutes. Then they thought of an album of new songs (a gamble, but one that proved they do not have to rely on former band members, or regurgitating favourite tunes). Only released on 27th November, it had sold 1.5 million copies in the UK by the end of December, making it the second biggest-selling album of the whole year. (Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open sold a few thousand more, but had been on sale since 1st May). And Beautiful World has topped the chart for six weeks so far. Feet firmly on the ground as usual, Gary Barlow’s mind boggles a bit as he admits, “It’s a proper, proper hit album. You know, I don’t think any of the others stayed at the top for so long. The most was four weeks - and that was the Greatest Hits.”
The notion that the success of Take That’s further adventures has so far outstripped anything experienced before by the World’s Biggest Pop BandTM 1993-1996, is testament to one thing. This is much more than, as Smash Hits once prophetically hoped, “Take That: One More Time For The Laydeez…” This is big.
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