May 314 min read

This Life Is Yours – Take That MK Stadium 30.05.24

I had been poorly earlier this week and was not in full ‘Storm’ mode to go to a gig. In fact with the weather looking dodgy and it being an open-air stadium, I didn’t decide to go until 12 noon on the day. But oh, I am so glad I did.

Sadly, the organisation for MK Stadium was not great. There needs to be a map with the closed roads on it. We tried to drive to the drop off but it was sectioned off so we went down another industrial road and walked from there. All the security staff and purple vested volunteer helpers were really friendly – but had been given no useful information. Know one knew which queue we should be standing in – know one knew where seated people should go. Everyone you asked gave a different answer. It was an absolute shambles.

Also, if the stadium is going to put rules up, they should stand for everyone. Not only did I see banners and umbrellas (which apparently are not allowed) but more concerning I saw a young person on someone’s shoulders in the standing area. One person on social media mentioned that seated people were allowed to come into the standing area For obvious health and safety reasons this shouldn’t be allowed and it did make me wonder how well organised they would be in a more worrying situation. I also read online that people’s bags were only being checked if they came forward for a check. I mentioned to my friend that the queue situation was so worrying it reminded me of Hillsborough. Luckily fate lent a helping hand and they opened door 4 for us all to pour through to stop the build up at gates 3 and 5.

I was so glad we had got there early. I could pop to the toilet with no queues – but I did see already some ladies’ toilets with no toilet rolls in them – at this very early stage. MK Stadium was not prepared for this event. I grabbed a delicious Pappa John’s pizza to accompany my £3.50 bottle of water (extortion at its best) from a stall out the front. I then headed for my seat.

We had the odd video from Take That promoting This Life in a very humorous way. The theme was based on This Is Your Life and there was a 70’s themed videos and sets to match. It was setting us up for the main event. But before that could happen, Olly Murs was the support. Olly was great and I cannot think of anyone better to support Take That. He is a ‘Barlow’ a generation apart. He gave us his all and really got the crowd going. I thought it was rather cheeky for him to sing a Take That song in his set but he has obviously cleared it with the band.

Take That are now three, but they never forgot (see what I did there) that they were once a five. The show felt like it was broken down into three distinct parts. Firstly, they come on all in black. They played a lot of their new album, which for me didn’t need quite as many tracks (nine according to FM Setlist). While they have some good tracks, you need to balance this with something for the die hards (Sure) and something for the greatest hits fans (Pray, Rule The World). My all-time favourite song is Shine so I was slightly disappointed this was played so early in the set but it does let Mark shine! I was also delighted to hear Giants.

The second part was the ‘This is your life’ element sharing the story of Take That. How Gary loved to play keyboard as a child and how he got the band together. This gave the boys a chance to indulge in playing some solo stuff but personally I did feel this could have been cut (there is a reason that Open Road was a bargain bucket CD). But soon we were back to what we know – Complete belters that knocked it way out of the ball park. The Flood, Back For Good, Patience, Relight My Fire and it just demonstrated why they are still filling stadiums all these years later.

They almost always finish with Never Forget – its expected, but as an extra special treat we got an extra song – Rule The World – accompanied by fireworks. We had already had amazing sets with a lot of staircases, huge videos, fire coming out of those steps, fabulous outfits (at least four costume changes but sorry – I was too busy enjoying myself to count). It was an extravaganza – maybe not as huge as the circus or progress tour – but our boys did us proud. What a show. What a performance. What a night. I also loved how much they appreciate their fans. They kept saying how grateful they are and Mark said he cannot believe they are still this popular. They came down into the crowd and hugged a few lucky people at the very front (of both the main stage and second stage). Those people will remember this day for the rest of their lives. You could say it’s the greatest day of their lives.

I want to say that TT fans are the best in the world. I have been to many gigs and TT fans are some of the friendliest and kindest people. It’s so lovely to chat with them all. We left the stadium (along the closed road) singing Never Forget at the top of our lungs.

Take That – Please don’t leave it another five years to visit Milton Keynes. We love you.

Set List (from FM Setlist)

1. Keep your head up

2. Windows

3. Giants

4. Days I hate myself

5. Everything changes

6. Sure

7. Shine

8. A million love songs

9. I found heaven

10. Pray