On Tuesday May 31st, I participated in the 4th Take That concert at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light of their 2011 European Tour. I cannot describe myself as a fan of either the original or later Take That male singing group or of Robbie Williams the Solo singer who also participated in this concert by the group after an absence of 15 years. However when the invitation arrived there was no hesitation on my part other than to immediately accept and the event became the centre piece of the bank holiday half term week which included several meals out, some good swimming sessions and the first of the 20 20 cricket matches this season at the Emirates Durham International.
The last stadium concert attended was in 2003 to watch for the third occasion, Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band. It was attending the Metro Arena X factor concert in Newcastle where Leona Lewis was the winning star which led to discovering of My Space and the publication of my new writings there and the decision to stop contributing to the now defunct AOL Blogs where in addition to the writings I had published some 40000 photos of my 101 work to that date. I mention this because it is as a consequence of writing about the Take That Concert that the decision has been taken to concentrate once more on my project 101 artwork and more significantly, on the work on my life to be published posthumously. I will complete the writing of the Game of Thrones experience but alongside that work of reading the books and watching the TV series. I will publish writings of my contemporary experience but these will be no more that diaries until the major writing is finished and then substantial progress has been achieved in the artwork project
I have been to several stadium concerts with David Bowie at the former Sunderland Football ground at Roker Park, coming to mind and Elton John, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and the most memorable of all the July 13th 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley. I therefore described myself as a seasoned rock concert goer prepared to queue early to get a good seat and to spend hours in traffic jams at end of an event. In this in instance there was a specified seat so there was no need to arrive mid afternoon and from my experience as a Sunderland Stadium of Light season ticket holder I knew where it is possible to park within a couple of minutes walk from the stadium if you arrive about two hours before event.
It was therefore possible on the Tuesday to take the Car for a midmorning swim at the Marriot and find surprisingly that the pool was again empty as lunchtime approached and then enjoy a cheese and pickle sandwich in the bar lounge with a soft drink before parking the car around 14.15 and returning home by bus. There are three bus routes from Sunderland back to Shields with the quickest and most direct the 35 which has the advantage of stopping close to the stadium and starts at the South Shields bus station. Around 5pm I walked part way down the hill to the local Wetherspoon’s for an eight oz rump steak with jacket potato, a mushroom, tomato and peas accompanied by a bottle of Beck’s, akin to Peroni all for the same price as the lunch! It was then time to walk down the rest of the hill to the bus station and a wait for ten minutes before the next 35 bus journey to the stadium.
Usually, in the roadway, immediately leading to the stadium there are programme, magazine and souvenir sellers with stewarding only within the stadium arena. On Tuesday there were dozens of stewards at the beginning of the approach roads advising everyone which part of the stadium they should head for. The car park area was fenced off for those who had ground tickets and wished to queue to gain entry into the arena and close to the stages. There were also stewards at the turnstiles helping to ensure that everyone had arrived at the appropriate entry point for their ticket which had to be inserted in an electronic check machine that opened the gateway. Other stewards inside the concourse were available to direct further if required although outside the turnstiles and inside there were large sign boards showing the locations of aisles, and seat numbering. Similarly within the stadium area the stewards were present to help rather than for security purposes. There was no security check for any baggage and no signs preventing the use of mobile phones or other recording equipment. There are some 900 videos available on You Tube of events at the stadium with one ten minuets of good quality vision and sound of the event. In addition to the music the videos provide evidence of the development in production from the days when concerts consisted of a stage, lighting and banks of huge speakers.
The seats were one row from the back of the second tier just below the Black Cat Club lounge whose window overlooks the whole length of the North Stand pitch immediately opposite the main stage. The seats were at the same height as those within the stadium outside the executive boxes which fill the whole length of the West stand above the Chairman’s and Board central seating area, the media area and the other more expensive seating in the stadium. The price of the ticket was £63 plus Vat plus booking fee.
The main stage was at the opposite end filling the full width and height of stadium. At each end there were close up screens and centre back, a larger electronic screen. Above and around the screen on what appeared to be just a covered steel frame with large coloured squares. At stadium roof level there was the lighting control gantry and above this, there was a huge spider man figure whose outstretched hands embraced the entire width of the southern end of the stadium. From the main stage area there was a large runway leading to the second stage area which was located in the final third of the arena, closer to our position than those hugging the guard rail front of stage. The runway and stage was at the head level of those standing in the arena. Major stage productions are not new with David Bowie setting the standard in the early 1980’s although it was Queen which created the international standard with its tour of the United States as they did with Bohemian Rhapsody video, a record which lasts twice that of the standard pop chart number and which everyone in the industry said would not be played but headed the charts for nine weeks, selling over one million copies 1975 1976 and is regarded by many as one of the top 100 singles of all time world wide.
The stadium was about three quarters full for the support act of the Pet Shop boys who played a set from about 19.20 to 20.00. If I am honest, and I try to be, I am more familiar with more Pet Shop songs than Take That with West End Girls, Always on my Mind, Heart and It’s a sin being known to me and to millions of others given sales of 100 million world wide and 42 Top 30 and 22 Top 10 singles in the UK charts. The duo compromises Neil Tennant now 56 born in North Shields and Chris Lowe, three years younger, from Liverpool and both with degrees, Neil’s in London which led him to become London based. He then worked for Marvel comics and then for music industry magazines and papers. He was one of the biggest donors to the Labour Party before joining the Liberal Democrats. Chris Lowe became an architect and a Trombonist before forming an association with Tenant in the early 1980’s both having an interest in the development of keyboard club dance music.
Their stage performance is traditional with Chris famous for his static playing of the keyboard without any movement or attempt to project himself to the audience. For the Take That tour performance Neil was accompanied by a backing group of four young women who wore coloured boxes on their heads for much of the act or performed healthy exercises in swim wear. The audience while appreciative of the music and singing along with the songs remained seated and there was flatness about their set as everyone waited for the main event. I say this in the context that their Glastonbury appearance last year was highly regarded. They have performed with Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Boy George, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and more recently Girls Aloud and Lady Gaga.
The 2 hour Take That extravaganza commenced around 8.30 and was in three parts, and by this time I could not see a vacant seat and the pitch audience covered 90% of its area. The big screen showed some 54000 customers before it was dismantled along with the coloured squares revealing a five section backstage with a central section which also made way for various surprises. In the fist part Take That, the four entered and came to the foremost part of the extended stage to sing The Greatest Day and to say hullo, how appreciative they were of our presence and how much they looked forward to starting their tour in Sunderland. If I remember accurately they disappeared into the big screen and then became part of it just as Robbie Williams came out of it to commence his individual set of songs which ended with a rendering of Angels.
At the commencement of the writing I said I participated although my contribution was to stand for the performance, clap and move about on the spot in time with the beat of the music. This was one the less expressive performances from the audience who general knew the words and joined in whether they can hold a tune or not and vigorously moved body and hands with great energy. Given the cost fo tickets, the transport and accommodation for many, the programmes at £20 and T shirts and other souvenirs pro rata, it is understandable that many also drank several pints beforehand to get into the spirit of the event. In order to ensure that the voices of the performers were raised above the mass choir and the excellent backing band there was a great array of speakers slung around the rim of the roof as well as strategic positions at the stages so that the sound reverberated against the roof and against the windows of the Black Cat Club.
Looking at videos the Circus tour it is evident that that they are used to spending a fortune in building sets which add to the excitement and sense of wonder and which will form my lasting visual memory of which there were three main components. When located at the end of the raised platform closest to where I was sitting the group performed with dancers in a variety of costumes and effect which included fire twice with swirling flames for Light my Fire and then towards the end surging upward flames followed a major explosion of flame the heat of which I felt from where I sat for Relight the Fire. The most spectacular event at this end of the arena was KIDZ which involved a full set of living chess pieces engaging in combat and the most colourful Shine which included a large Caterpillar on top of which a member of the group sang.
The back stage was the setting for two spectacular moments with around 25 aerial dancers performing like spider men and then forming giant size figures of the evolution of human kind as we rose from being on all fours to two legs. The other event was the Flood which as the title suggests comprises water cascading the down the width of the stage. Finally all the framework screens were removed to reveal huge projection screens again the whole width of the stage to colourful visuals reflecting the mood of a song bathing the whole stadium as lighting around the stadium matched.
This leaves the central walkway which had to be lowered twice to facilitate the use of major mechanicals. The first has become a standard at concert involving a swing arm in this instance or some physical projection which enable the artist to move above the assembly allowing them to bend down and touch hands. This was a Robbie Williams moment. This was no more than a build up for the appearance of Mr Om a giant mechanical who first appeared on the front of the main stage but was then wheeled along ground base tracks to a central point in the arena where he was transformed from a flat position to standing tall with his head again above the height of the stadium roofing when the construction remained as the Encore finale took place at the extended stage end with the singers saying this was the end and while still singing, moved at ground level either side of the walkway shaking hands with the closest admirers.
Having had seats at the back of the second level before I know that if you do not set off five minutes before the end you have to wait until everyone else departs and in this instance those on the pitch area had to be included. Everybody left in orderly fashion and there was no crush. Reaching my vehicle I had expected to find a car jam when exiting into the one system to the right which takes vehicles back along the Newcastle Road towards the Regional Capital, or over the Wear Bridge into Sunderland town centre, or in the opposite direction along the coast road to Roker, Seaburn and on to South Shields. It is possible to get to South Shields by two other streams on the same one way system, by going straight on at the first set of traffic lights and joining the coast Road at the junction between the coast and the river, or swinging left with the option of taking a road parallel to the coast road, having first passed the former site of Sunderland Football Club, Roker Park, now an estate of yuppie housing, and on until reaching Sea Lane where I lived and swinging down the hill passed my former home to the Marriot Hotel, or alternately continuing through Fulwell to joining the road for South Shields which connects with the Newcastle Road going through the Academy of Light and the village of Cleadon.
For the same size of crowd or less at football matches unless you left the ground early one became caught up in a slow moving car jam but on the evening it was possible to join in and make the way home at normal travelling speed. The only thing spoiling the occasion was to find, or not find, more accurately, the remote control for the garage with the spare left inside the house. It was not until following afternoon that I visited the stadium in the hope of checking under the seat where I remain convinced the remote fell. What happened is that the person to my right spilled the pint drink at their feet and in the rush to rescue my coat which I had placed under my seat it was turned upside down and in the noise of the stadium I failed hear the remote fall out. Alas I was not given permission to check and after sending emails and a telephone call I received the information that the stadium had been swept and surprise nothing be found. Such a small item would have been easily missed and swept up with the rest of the rubbish. Fortunately the spare is in good order but a new spare will cost around £50 as the it has to be delivered a set with the cost of the petrol and labour being significantly greater than the remote itself.
After Sunderland there are eight days in the home town of Manchester, 2 nights at Cardiff and Dublin, 3 Glasgow and 2 Birmingham followed by 8 London before visits to Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich, Given that the crew for the set were based in Sunderland over a three week period, it is amazing that the dissembling and resembling can be accomplished with a couple of days unless there is a duplicate staging. The Sunderland crew did not pack up into their two coaches until the day of morning of the final concert. It is said that the staging cost £15 million produce but with total audience set to reach 1.75 million a total yield in excess of £100 million is likely of which £50 million could be available to be shared between band members. Take That has an interesting history formed by bringing together talented individual singers in 1989 with Gray Barlow impressing most because of his catalogue of created original work. It was four years before superstardom came their way with a number I album success of original work by Barlow, and followed by new albums in 1994 1995 with a world tour planed for 1996. Meanwhile Robbie Williams was hitting headlines for the wrong reasons of drug abuse and talk of a solo career, being seen partying with other performers such as George Michael and Oasis. He left the band breaking his contract for which a $200000 settlement was arranged and while the tour continued, the band disbanded in 1996 with all the members following separate careers. The effect upon thousands of teenage girls was dramatic with so many in tears and threatening suicide that the government established counselling helplines.
It was ten years later that the group minus Robbie came together and went on tour culminating in backing Leona Lewis in her A Million Love songs single for the X Factor final live show. As Christmas approached their comeback album Beautiful World and single topped every chart in the UK including downloads and DVD thus becoming immediately the top group of its kind in the UK. They had major tours in 2007 and 2009 and foursome. It was in 2010 that the group confirmed that Robbie Williams had rejoined and he and Barlow had created a new album Progress which when released broke all records. It is said that over 1 million tickets were sold for the tour on the first day they went on sale leading to the addition of dates. A second album branded as Extended play called Progressed will be released later this month with both albums issued as a special edition. Among the numbers performed at the concert I have already mentioned Kidz, Happy Now and there was also Underground Machine with the one of single issued songs The Flood and Love Love.
It has been quite a week with on Sunday going for the first day of the successful cricket championship game in which Durham went to win against Lancashire by an innings. On Wednesday the morning after the concert I watched a recording of the ballet Swan Lake from Covent Garden Opera House and then had a great roast beef lunch at the Britannia Toby Carvery in Cleadon Village. The weather was glorious for the fist 20 20 game on Thursday evening when alas Durham could not get their heads from the Championship into the new format, whereas their opponents had a week to prepare. However it is the behaviour of the Durham University student on which I end after mentioning the excellent behaviour of the 50000 at the concert despite tens of thousands of pints being consumed. On Thursday evening a few hundred party mood students the worse for drink confirmed popular media imaging at the Emirates International Stadium. Added to which Durham lost.
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