Photos by Kate Arnott
We’ve always found Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s timbre a tad too aloof and smug, TBH – probably because of the way she pronounces dance as if there’s an ‘r’ between the ‘a’ and ‘n’ – but anyhoo...
Her four-piece backing band arrives on stage sporting stylish, matching, black-sequinned suits. For opener Crying At The Discotheque as well as Ellis-Bextor’s closing breakout hit that we all know and love (watched Saltburn yet? IFKYK), they also wear animal-head masks – eg. shark (bassist) and pigeon (drummer). Shimmering like a human disco ball, Ellis-Bextor prances on to join them in her long-sleeved, jade green, sequinned micro-mini dress and sparkly silver heels. She does a lotta skipping across the stage and kicking on the spot on one leg, sometimes even revolving around – somewhat like an aerobics move.
Gesturing towards her phone, which is propped up on a step behind her, Ellis-Bextor explains her teenage son – who’s back in London – is watching via Facetime. She sings a bit of Modjo’s Lady – Hear Me Tonight (choon!), which seamlessly transitions into the killer Spiller song on which she features: Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) – a Balearic banger.
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The party-playlist faves keep coming with ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and Madonna’s Like A Prayer. “Just play Murder On The Dancefloor, for God’s sake,” an impatient neighbour in the crowd hollers. And when Ellis-Bextor eventually closes out her set with this belter, many audience members spring up onto their dancing feet. Singing along with gusto, many are probably visualising Barry Keoghan’s naked dance (aka Saltburn’s climactic scene), which transformed Ellis-Bextor’s 2002 song into a viral TikTok phenomenon before topping Spotify’s viral-hits playlist and charting in the US for the very first time.
Take That’s crack backing band is six musos strong. As soon as we clap eyes on the boyband’s three remaining members – Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen – we regress, squealing en masse like a pack of 13 year olds. “Today this could be/ The greatest day of our lives…” – opener Greatest Day further amplifies our excitement levels.
While Barlow takes lead vocals on Giants, Donald and Owen each strike a giant drum, bookending the stage. Between songs, Owen – whose winsome smile and dimples would surely be visible from the moon! – takes a second to read out some of the banners held up by fans down front, including one suggesting Barlow should slide into Human Nature’s DMs for a collab. As for those claiming it’s their birthday, we’ve always been suss on that – who would ever know?
Howard takes lead on Everything Changes, with added sax, and points the mic towards the crowd just in time for us to relieve him of that super-high “forever MO-ore” bit.
He looks most comfy ensconced behind a piano – no dancing required – and Barlow expresses his delight to be performing in Melbourne – “the coffee capital of the world”. Barlow then reminds us that he wrote A Million Love Songs – which pretty much launched the “all-singin’, all-dancin’ extravaganza” that is Take That – when he was just 14. Later on in their set, Barlow sure does nail This Life’s sustained high note.
The summer of ‘93 is pinpointed as their launchpad, off the back of Pray – a chart-topper. During their performance of this song, we recognise the lads reprising some OG film-clip chorey – a true delight.
Take That’s cover of How Deep Is Your Love by our very own Bee Gees is rapturously received with lots of guided arms-waving-overhead ops to strengthen those bingo wings. One fun skit sees the trio recreating phone calls to “get the band back together” before we’re treated to Patience (and reminded how hard the titular melody actually is to sing). Prepping to video the crowd from the stage, Barlow jokes it’ll go up on “FaceTube” post-show. Then during a funky instrumental number that wonderfully showcases their band, Take That change into matching all-white ensembles with snazzy shimmery shirts.
“Relight my fire/ Your love is my only desire…” – Relight My Fire is an absolute jam.
They all head down to crowd level to press some front-row flesh – just handshakes. With its soulful, soothing melodies, Back For Good – Take That’s only Top 10 hit in the States – sounds as gorgeous as it did upon release back in 1995.
“We’ve come so far and we’ve reached so high/ And we’ve looked each day and night in the eye/ And we’re still so young and we hope for more…” – we recognise the brass fanfare and Henllan Boys Choir intro to Never Forget (“…where you’ve come here from”) and get a l’il misty for some reason. During this song’s chorus, the entire audience stretch their skyward in a ‘V’ while singing “Neeeeeee…” and the lads look suitably chuffed. Barlow warns us Rule The World will be their last song – no encore fake-out? Huzzah! – and phone torches illuminate the arena, illustrating the lyrics: “All the stars are coming out tonight.”
Take That’s This Life tour sees the now-trio presenting music from across three decades. It’s cheesy, joyful goodness that makes us forget about the worries of this world for the set’s duration.
