Take That review – oddly packaged pop still packs a wallop

O2 Arena, London
There’s some magic amid the cheese as the trio revisit a stacked catalogue of hits – and gamely give their old choreography a go

It’s difficult to say exactly what Take That are going for on their This Life tour: a 41-date behemoth that has shifted more than 700,000 tickets. Video interstitials show the three remaining members doing their very best at acting in retrofuturist infomercials. The set is sometimes done up like a 1950s sitcom, sometimes just with sterile white staircases. At times we’re at a pop show and at others a museum retrospective. It’s confusing packaging for three decades’ worth of songs.

But you simply have to relinquish reason and give into the vibe, which is Butlins’ redcoats doing Britain’s Got Talent. The trio emerge dressed like youth pastors by way of Balenciaga for a downbeat start to the show, but soon nudge it up a gear with crowd favourites nestled among the new material. Gary Barlow makes the most sense when he’s safely ensconced behind a piano, bashing out a ballad. A Million Love Songs absolutely shines, while Back for Good sounds as good as it ever has – which is very. Barlow never delivered these songs with much in the way of youthful energy, so the intervening 30 years have taken nothing from them.