Saturday’s show was my third time seeing Take That live.
The first time, I was only nine years old and it was my first-ever live music experience. I was blown away then, full of girlhood amazement and a newfound crush on Mark Owen.

This time, I was just as blown away… and I still have a crush on Mark Owen.

I never saw the The Circus tour the first time around in 2009, so the opportunity to go to the recreated version in 2026 was absolutely unmissable. I had high expectations as The Circus has always been a favourite album of mine, and the show didn’t disappoint, not by a long shot.

It was an extra hot day at London Stadium, the home of West Ham United FC. With a sold-out show meaning the ground would hold 80,000 people, the event organisers had to take action to prevent dehydration-induced fainting en masse. Their bottled water pricing was halved, and reusable water bottles were allowed – a break from their usual approach to prevent alcohol being surreptitiously brought into events.

The first support act was 80s queen Belinda Carlisle. We noticed that there were still quite a lot of empty seats when she was performing – Take That were still two hours away at this point. Despite a lack of bottoms on chairs, the atmosphere was still very joyful and definitely audible! She closed her set with her best-known song, ‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth’, and the mood was very much set for the evening.

An hour later Irish icons The Script took to the stage, as they did back in 2009 for the original The Circus tour. Frontman Danny O’Donoghue pointed this out proudly, confirming that the band were very pleased to have been asked by Take That to join them again to recreate the original performance. Their set included their most popular tracks, ‘Breakeven’, ‘Hall of Fame’ and ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, which each raised tens of thousands of arms to the sky, waved in unison.

As I had a front-on view of the stage, sitting behind the standing area, this made for fantastic viewing. Personally, I watch the audience almost as much as the artist on the stage at these points – the sight of a crowd simultaneously waving arms and/or flashlights is something so beautiful and moving, making you feel a real sense of community and belonging. Flashlights in particular always create a stunning visual; the sea of floating lights waving in an otherwise darkened area often captivate me to the point that nothing else in my mind matters for that moment in time.
There weren’t any flashlights for The Script’s set as it was still daylight – but once darkness hit later on, I was in my element!

At one point, O’Donoghue asked the crowd to perform a Mexican wave – something I’m not entirely convinced I’ve been a part of since before the pandemic! It made its way around at least three-quarters of the stadium before dissipating; there was a large gap between seated sections where the staircase was, so the timing failed a little by the end.

Eventually it got to 8:30pm, and Take That’s two-hour performance began. The band themselves didn’t take the stage at first… instead we were presented with the first of their dramatic circus acts, made up of balloon tricks alongside classic big-tent tropes. Balloons played an enormous part in the entire show, as one of the biggest displays was a huge blue hot-air balloon flanked by smaller balloons released at key points. As the venue was open-air, we could watch the balloons make their journey up out of the top of the stands and gradually float away.

The trio then appeared to a chorus of cheers, screams and tears, and began their setlist. I immediately reached out next to me for my mum’s hand as the first song was one that has always been meaningful in our mother-daughter relationship.

From there, the show just kept getting better. The production value of Take That’s tour shows are absolutely incredible – from the songs themselves and the iconic choreography they come with, to the physical displays including pyrotechnics, fireworks, acrobatics and mechanical/human displays (notably the massive elephant – whose tail is actually a woman named Briony, tasked with elegantly swinging herself while dangling head-first at 30 feet high!)

We were treated to a medley of hits including the majority of the tour’s titular album, some 90s classics like ‘Never Forget’ (again, lots of arms in the air!) and ‘Back For Good’, and other fan-favourites such as ‘Shine’ and ‘Pray’ – the latter still done with arguably one of the most recognisable boyband dance routines ever performed!

Once the show had wrapped up and the band left the stage, there was one last moment that will remain a fond memory for potentially thousands of us for years to come…
As we began to leave the stadium and walk in herd formation back to various train stations/tube stops/car parks, the sound of ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ of Dirty Dancing fame started coming from the speakers. We all started merrily (if not tunelessly) singing along, and as the sound from the speakers faded away the singing from the crowd gradually got louder. Eventually, the entire herd leaving London Stadium was loudly singing the chorus without a backing track! This was accompanied by lots of giggles, phones recording the moment, and a couple of suggestions to carry out “the lift” done by Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze at the end of the film (yes, I was one of those, and no, it didn’t materialise…)

The whole evening was absolutely incredible, and I’d go again and again given the chance. 10/10 experience!

From a lifelong ‘Thatter’ desperate to relive the night,

Wildflower x