Take That turn Greatest Days film premiere into a performance
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Take That members (from left) Howard Donald, Gary Barlow and Mark Owen backstage at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – British pop band Take That transformed London’s Leicester Square into a concert stage on Thursday as they performed some of their tunes at the premiere of Greatest Days, a film adaptation of their hit musical.
Trio Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald sang Greatest Day (2008), Back For Good (1995) and Rule The World (2007) before hitting the red carpet alongside the movie’s cast, which includes actresses Aisling Bea and Alice Lowe.
Adapted from Take That’s 2017 stage musical The Band and featuring more than a dozen of the group’s songs, Greatest Days centres on a tight-knit group of friends who are bound by their love for the fictional 1990s band The Boys. A traumatic event pulls the five of them apart, but 25 years later, they rekindle their friendship as they reunite for a show by the band.
“I don’t think it’s hit home really what tonight actually really means for us,” Barlow, 52, said on the red carpet.
“It’s kind of like three decades of work all going to be on that screen in an hour and it just feels like the stars are aligned and people are really taking this story to hand, enjoying it and enjoying the music at the same time, so it’s wonderful.”
Barlow, Owen and Donald, who performed at a concert in May marking the coronation of King Charles III, are executive producers on the film.
“The next instalment... is we’ve got some new music coming at the end of the year, so we’re very excited,” Barlow said.
Originally counting five members when they formed in 1990, Take That became one of the most successful boy bands of the early 1990s, storming the charts with hits like Relight My Fire (1993), Sure (1994) and Everything Changes (1994).
They disbanded in 1996 – a year after singer Robbie Williams left the group to embark on a hugely successful solo career – and reunited a decade later as a quartet. Williams rejoined on and off in 2010. Singer Jason Orange left in 2014.
In April, Take That teased of a possible reunion on Instagram with a video of all five members performing in 2011, with the caption: “Never forget we will have fun like this again… someday soon.”
Donald, 55, said on Thursday: “It’s amazing... Thirty odd years later, (fans are) still here and they’re still supporting, we’re still selling out arenas around Europe and it’s great. I have to pinch myself sometimes.” REUTERS
