The Ultimate Tour

The Ultimate Tour is a reunion tour by British pop group, Take That. The tour, featuring four of the original members of the group Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Howard Donald; ran for a total of 32 shows in Britain and Ireland. Sugababes were the supporting act for that year.

History

The Ultimate Tour was the first time that Take That had performed together since they split in 1996. The show featured all the original members of the group, except Robbie Williams who quit the group in 1995. At a press conference in London on November 25, 2005 the group front man Gary Barlow announced: "Thanks for giving us the last 10 years off but unfortunately the rumours are true. Take That are going back on tour."^[1] The news came after renewed interest in the group after a televised documentary proved to be a ratings success and their album Never Forget: The Ultimate Collection peaked at #2 in the UK Albums Chart. The tour was originally scheduled to be an 11 date arena tour but after they sold out within 30 minutes of going on sale^[2], more dates were immediately added as promoters doubled the number of shows. The group sold 275,000 tickets in the space of under 3 hours^[3], ironically making it the second fastest tour of 2005 behind former member Robbie Williams' solo tour.^[4] Such was the level of interest in the tour, promoters were forced to add further dates to the tour, this time in Stadium venues. Dates at the new Wembley Stadium, City of Manchester Stadium and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff were all announced. When Wembley Stadium sold out in just 30 minutes^[5], further more dates at Wembley and Manchester were announced. In March 2006, the dates at Wembley Stadium were re-scheduled to the Milton Keynes Bowl due to the delay in the construction of Wembley Stadium.^[6]

Supporting acts

The main support act for The Ultimate Tour was British soul singer, Beverley Knight. Knight was originally scheduled to perform only on the arena dates of the tour, but proved so popular with audiences that she was invited to play the stadium shows as well. As well as playing her own set, Knight provided backing vocals for Take That during "Once You've Tasted Love" and gave a spoken introduction to "Relight My Fire", as well as singing Lulu's vocals from the same song at the arena shows. At the stadium dates, Lulu performed her own vocals for "Relight My Fire" and Knight only performed the introduction. Knight also appeared during the finale song, "Never Forget". The other support act for the five British stadium dates at the end of the tour was British girl group Sugababes, and the singer Lulu made a guest appearance during Take That's show to sing her part on "Relight My Fire". The Pussycat Dolls supported the band upon their return to Ireland and the very last date of the tour.

Setlist

1. "O Verona" (Traditional)
2. "Once You've Tasted Love" (Featuring Beverly Knight) (G.Barlow)
3. "Pray" (G.Barlow)
4. "Today I've Lost You" (G.Barlow)
5. "Why Can't I Wake Up With You?" (G.Barlow)
6. "It Only Takes A Minute" (D.Lambert/B.Potter)
7. "Babe" (M.Owen)
8. "Everything Changes" (G.Barlow)
9. "A Million Love Songs" (G.Barlow)
10. "The Beatles Medley" (J.Lennon/P.McCartney)
11. "How Deep Is Your Love?" (R.Gibb/B.Gibb/M.Gibb)
12. "Love Ain't Here Anymore" (G.Barlow)
13. "Apache 2006" (F.Lordan)
14. "Relight My Fire" (Featuring Beverley Knight & Lulu) (D.Hartman)
15. "Let It Rain" (G.Barlow)
16. "Back For Good" (G.Barlow)
17. "Could It Be Magic" (B.Manilow/A.Anderson)
18. "Never Forget" (G.Barlow)

Tour dates

The tour sold 464,004 tickets of 466,478, selling out 26 shows out of 27 shows according to Billboard boxscore. The final gross was 29,448,273$ and was the 20th most successful tour in 2006.

• Dublin RDS boxscore 27,526 (30,000) 1,919,916$
• Cardiff Millennium stadium boxscore 55,675 (55,675) 3,710,832
• Manchester MEN arena boxscore 85,823 (85,823) 5,421,153$ (6 sellouts)
• Manchester City stadium boxscore 112,292 (112,292)7,493,888 (2 sellouts)

London Wembley arena boxscore 66,276 (66,276) 4,186,671$ (6 sellouts)

• Birmingham NEC arena boxscore 57,007 (57,007) 3,640,386$ (5 sellouts)
• Newcastle MetroRadio arena boxscore 19,087 (19,087)1,215,514$ (2 sellouts)
• Sheffield Hallam FM arena boxscore 22,933 (22,933) 735,654$ (2 sellouts)
• Glasgow SECC boxscore 17,385 (17,385) 1,125,259$ (2 sellouts)

Video release

The Concert recorded at Manchester City Stadium was released in a limited-edition package, alongside a live CD containing five unreleased live recordings.

References