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Take That’s Gary Barlow: ‘We had to crawl under the sheets’

The date was Oct 10, 1995. The place: The Singapore Indoor Stadium. British boy band Take That performed to a packed house on the last lap of its Never Forget world tour. But that concert would be the only time that Singapore audiences saw the band performing ‘live’ on our shores. Within months, in February 1996, the group would officially disbanded.

Take That. Photo: HSBC Women's Champions 2016 organisers

Take That. Photo: HSBC Women's Champions 2016 organisers

The date was Oct 10, 1995. The place: The Singapore Indoor Stadium. British boy band Take That performed to a packed house on the last lap of its Never Forget world tour. But that concert would be the only time that Singapore audiences saw the band performing ‘live’ on our shores. Within months, in February 1996, the group would officially disbanded.

Made up of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams, Take That was considered the premier British boy band of the early 1990s, with a slew of hits, from fast-paced numbers such as Relight My Fire, Everything Changes and Pray to ballads such as Back For Good, Never Forget and Love Ain’t Here Anymore.

The members would go on to have individual careers — some with more success than others — but it would take a decade before they would fulfil fans’ wishes to get back for good, with an album (Beautiful World) and a tour. In the meantime, the space they vacated would filled by other boy bands who flourished in the late 1990s, such as Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and Westlife.

Now, 20 years after they first broke up, Take That will once again be coming back to Singapore. The concert, on March 5, is in conjunction with the HSBC Women’s Champions 2016 golf tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club, and will be performed on a custom stage built on the driving range. Just don’t expect Take That to hit the fairways.

“Howard does (play golf), but I know nothing about golf,” said Barlow in a phone interview. “We’re not in the golf tournament, so that’s a relief to me. The one thing I owe to golf, though, is that we have this opportunity to go to Singapore again and to see the beautiful audience again. So I’ll be ever in golf’s debt for what it’s done for us this year.”

Barlow said he remembered the 1995 concert “like it was yesterday”, partly because they had “a really good show” — “my fondest memory is of the audience,” he added — but also because his then-girlfriend (whom he would marry in 2000) was also in Singapore at the time.

“My wife flew out to Singapore to be with me. We got together just before we went to Singapore. That’s why I know it’s been 20 years since we’ve been to Singapore.”

Barlow said that he was “very excited” about be able to perform in Singapore once more. “I don’t know why it’s taken so long for us to get there again,” he said, adding: “You’ve caught us at a good time. We’ve come to grips with the new line-up and we have a great band. We are feeling good and we had an amazing seven-month tour in the United Kingdom and Europe last year.”

Unfortunately for some fans, this concert — like the last one here — won’t feature the full line-up. The group currently features the core trio of Barlow, Donald and Owen. Williams had originally quit in 1995, sparking that break-up in 1996, although he did rejoin the group in 2011, before leaving again in 2014. Later that same year, Orange also announced his departure from the band, saying it was “a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this”.

Nevertheless, Barlow said the audience can expect a good time at this show. “We have a very good ‘live’ band and an extremely good setlist that spans 23 or 24 years ... It’s so great to sing songs from 1991 and new songs too. Whether you’re an old fan or a new one, there’s something in the show for everyone,” he added.

“We’ve had a bit of a second wind this time. To get a chance to go back to a country we’ve not been to for so long is a real treat for us. We’re looking forward again to be in Singapore.”

Although Barlow had some initial solo success as a pop star immediately following Take That’s 1996 dissolution, he made a bigger name for himself as a songwriter, penning songs for a diverse range of artistes, including Shirley Bassey, Charlotte Church, Olly Murs, Lily Allen, T-Pain and Elton John.

In 2009, he was voted as the greatest British songwriter of all time — with The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney placing second and third, respectively.

Since the reformation of Take That in 2006, Barlow has found himself taking on a more diverse range of projects, including writing the score for the musical Finding Neverland, being a judge on the talent show The X Factor, and helping to organise Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee party (he also co-wrote the official single Sing with Andrew Lloyd Webber).

He even had a brief run as a wedding singer last year. “I was having a completely boring day at the start of last year, so I went on the Internet and put up something saying that I would sing at a wedding if the person could tell me why they’re getting married,” Barlow elaborated.

He ended up singing at six weddings because he felt that their stories were “so brilliant and heartwarming”.

“I would be on for only six minutes: I would arrive and no one would know I was there except for one person usually, and I would go in and surprise the bride or groom, sing the song, take pictures with the happy couple and then I’d be gone. It was the most incredible six minutes you could ever imagine!”

Is there a downside to that? Maybe — or maybe not. “Of course, now when I get on the train or into a taxi I meet someone who knows someone who has a wedding coming up that they want me to sing at. So it could actually be my new career.”

But of course, what’s dominating his career right now is the Take That tour, which is in support of the group’s album III, which broke the record for the most pre-ordered album in Amazon UK’s history. Despite having to perform the same set for the better part of 2015, Barlow said he never tires of singing the songs, even though he has sung some of them thousands of times.

“(It’s different) when you’re in a concert and you’re seeing people full of happiness having the time of their lives. I’ve got to tell you, I could be singing A Million Love Songs for the 4,000th time, but there’s something different every time you get out there on stage,” he said.

“Of course, you do get times when you’re not on top form, but 95 per cent of the time, every show is completely different — even though we’re singing the same songs. For that reason, I love doing everything from the old songs to the brand new songs.”

Still, Barlow said that there’s one thing in the concert that he could do without. “We’ve got to do a bit of a dance routine during Pray. It’s the only song left in the setlist where I participate with dance moves because it gives everybody a smile, you know, a little chuckle. If there was one song I could take out of the setlist just because I have to do a dance routine, it would be that one.”

What he might not want to occur in Singapore, though, is a moment like what happened in Vienna — a “Spinal Tap moment” where something embarrassing happens that could derail the entire show; although Barlow said the group had “such things happening to us nearly every night”.

“Our show opens with us standing on stage and singing, but behind a cover that’s hiding us from the audience,” he explained. “It slowly lifts up as we’re singing and it’s very dramatic and, of course, everyone goes crazy at that point and it looks amazing.”

But not, it transpired, in Vienna. “So we’re singing and this thing in front of us is not moving anywhere. And we’re thinking, it’s going to happen, but by now, we’re halfway through the song and it’s not moving.”

He continued: “So what could we do? We decided to crawl underneath it. Literally, we were on our hands and knees trying to sing the song and crawling underneath the sheet so that the audience could see us. It was one of the most anti-climatic beginnings of any concert you’ve ever seen: These three guys crawling under the sheet.

“Poor ol’ Vienna had to see that, unfortunately. Hopefully that won’t happen in Singapore!”

The Take That concert happens on March 5 at the Sentosa Golf Club. The HSBC Women’s Championship runs from March 3 to 6. Tickets available from SISTIC.

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