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Take That add SEVENTH Manchester date despite grumbles over ticket prices

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Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 4th October 2023

Take That are basically moving into Manchester’s Co-op Live arena next spring it seems – the pop trio have just added a SEVENTH date to their run in their home city.

Their first shows sold out at light speed and Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen have added even more dates to their This Life On Tour tour.

Take That will now be gigging at Manchester’s soon-to-open Co-Op Live arena on 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 May – then coming back for more on 11 and 12 June.

They’ve also added a sixth date at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena, bringing their tour up to 41 dates across the UK and Ireland.

The trio will be joined by Olly Murs as the support act in Manchester.

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The phenomenal ticket sales come despite a fair few grumblings about Take That ticket prices, which started as soon as the pre-sales went live.

With prices between £69 and £129.50 for general admission, and up to £242.70 for VIP packages, fans have labelled the pricing structure ‘crazy’.

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Co-op Live has announced 2000 new jobs
The smart bowl at Co-op Live arena. Credit: Supplied

One person wrote (and I don’t know why she’s directly targeting Gary Barlow here): “Wow, @GaryBarlow the price of the Take That tickets are totally out of reach for a lot of us this time round . Two tickets approx £490, that’s a food shop for 5 weeks . Enjoy the profits.”

Another person said: “You know what @takethat you don’t need to charge a bloody fortune for the tickets, you’ve got enough cash yourselves and not every artist does it. I went to see Paolo at the Hydro 3 times for the price of 1 ⫩ ticket Ripping off your fans! Tickets are 4 times the price of 2015.”

Someone else said: “Prices are crazy…first time in 30 years that I’m not even trying for tickets.”

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Another person commented: “Prices are ridiculously expensive, I got through to buy tickets for Birmingham but refused to pay £70 to sit at the very back of the arena.”

General sale tickets for Take That’s newest date are available through Co-op Live from 9.30am on Friday 6 October, and you can grab them here.

Take That are heading on a huge tour including seven nights in Manchester

Take That tour dates for Manchester’s Co-op Live arena in full

  • Tuesday 7 May – SOLD OUT
  • Wednesday 8 May – SOLD OUT
  • Friday 10 May – SOLD OUT
  • Saturday 11 May – SOLD OUT
  • Sunday 12 May – SOLD OUT
  • Tuesday 11 June 
  • Wednesday 12 June

Take That ticket prices for Manchester

  • Take That Premium Floor Seat Package (includes a gift, a limited-edition city-specific signed print, a souvenir laminate, and an exclusive VIP tote bag) – £242.70 including booking fees.
  • Take That Premium Tiered Seat Package (includes a gift, a limited-edition city-specific signed print, a souvenir laminate, and an exclusive VIP tote bag) – £242.70 including booking fees.
  • Seats – £129.50
  • Seats – £107.50
  • Seats – £91.00
  • Seats – £69.00

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Featured image: Publicity picture

Audio

Take That shine at the AO Arena in an over-the-top spectacle of a show that we’ll never forget

Danny Jones Danny Jones

Iconic 90s boy band and homegrown heroes Take That played the first of their five-night run at the AO Arena this Tuesday night and boy do these lads know how to put on a show.

I’m going to start this off by admitting I wasn’t necessarily the biggest Take That fan going in – the hordes of huns, mums and tipsy grans firmly won that – but I did walk out with my headphones full blast listening back to all the greatest hits I’d just had brought to life in front of me in glorious technicolour.

At one point, it looked like they might not get to play their truly massive Manc arena shows after the drama with Co-op Live’s ‘opening’ fortnight was derailed but, fortunately, the AO Arena were there to rescue this week’s performances and put together the frankly barmy production in just a few days.

So, first of all, big props have to go to them and they rightly did on the night; the venue helped keep lots of people’s dream gig alive, with both the headliners themselves and support act Olly Murs encouraging a huge round of applause from the packed-out 23,000 cap arena.

Take That first night at Manchester’s AO Arena was pretty special, can’t lie.

‘Olly olly’ opening (yes, he did chant get the entire crowd to chant that)

Speaking of Olly, again, I can’t pretend to be the biggest Murs fan but two things are true, I knew most of the words to his biggest hits as he played a medley of his career from start to finish and the man has bundles of energy.

He cut a George Michael and almost Harry Styles-esque figure at times (even if a few years older, sure), sprinting from one side of the stage to another, cycling through the whole roster of dance moves and giving the crowd exactly what they wanted: that cheeky chappy vibe that got him where he is.

While the 2010s UK chart-topper was a deeply unserious performer for the most part, simply having fun and pratting about as he wished – he even had a fun little stunt where people could call his number on stage – we’re not mad at it because make no mistake, he showed everyone a good time.

And it wasn’t all just playing forgotten pop tunes to his main and admittedly adoring demographic, he he paid a touching tribute to his late friend Caroline Flack with a slower ballad and gave plaudits to his live band who helped bring plenty more. And then these three other lads emerged through the fog…

Olly Murs opens for Take That at the AO Arena
It was never going to be just an ordinary show…
Credit: The Manc Audio

Non-stop shenanigans and we loved every second of it

Quite literally, we mean: Take That’s entrance felt like some kind of weird second coming and, to be fair, it looked to be a biblical experience for the die-hards who began to scream at pitches we’ve rarely heard as they walked out to ‘Keep Your Head Up’, the opener from their last year’s album.

An obvious way to start their Manc tour dates off, we had some idea of the shenanigans about to happen after spotting a few videos on social media but in no way we’re prepared for the thematic whiplash that was about to take place. Or how much we were going to enjoy it.

We’re not joking when we say we lost track of how many costume changes there were, how many times the set design shifted from a set of stairs (think of a Vegas-style cabaret show, only at one point they were on fire) to a walkway descending from the ceiling and so much more madness.

The overarching narrative, in short, was a slightly sardonic twist on a Take That TV show, with Gary, Mark and Howard introducing and flicking through all the big moments down the years. It reminded us of The 1975 stage production at times, only a little less artsy and a bit more wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

If we had to give you a top-line summary of the show overall, it’s intentionally camp, over-the-top and often silly by design, but all with plenty of self-awareness underpinned by the lads who, just like Olly did beforehand, did nothing but have a laugh on stage. Oh, and yes, Gary did ‘the thing’, don’t you worry.

Be it marching up and down stairs in synchronicity before running out of breath when they remember they’re 50, to delivering dance routines galore and getting the rest of the band to come and sway side-to-side with everyone sitting round a sofa, they pull out of the stops when it comes to pageantry.

It also has to be said that no matter how big a Take That fan you are, hearing a full AO Arena belting out ‘Patience’, ‘The Greatest Day’, ‘Never Forget’; ‘Rule The World’, ‘Back For Good’, ‘Relight My Fire’ and oh my they really do have a shed load of absolute bangers, don’t they?…

I mean, just look at this:

Probably the best moment of the night – even if they were wearing strange, Daft Punk-type space helmets.

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Back for good? We certainly hope so

To cut a long story short, while Take That obviously wished “all the best” to the Co-op Live for when it hopefully opens next week, it felt rather fitting for them to return once again to the venue that first started playing decades ago and still how the record for having played the most shows at.

Better still, the whole bells and whistle spectacle did add something to the experience and it wasn’t as gratuitous as it perhaps looks in some of the clips that have been memed up online. Still daft, don’t get us wrong, but they know it is and it made moments when the vocals were front and centre memorable.

It doesn’t matter how many years on they are, Take That’s latest show proves exactly why your mum, grandma, auntie and probably your uncle loved them in their heyday, why it was such a big deal when they came back in the noughties and why they’re still selling out arenas to this day.

They’ve been doing this for years and they’re absolute pros – we don’t see them going away again any time soon. Roll on the next few nights!

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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Travis Scott announces massive Manchester gig at Co-op Live arena

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Travis Scott has announced a Manchester gig at Co-op Live on his Utopia 2024 tour

Travis Scott will be bringing his epic Utopia – Circus Maximus Tour to Manchester this summer, announcing a huge gig at the Co-op Live arena.

The rapper and producer today released details of 12 arena and stadium dates across Europe, including his biggest UK headline show to date at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

His 2023 album Utopia became the biggest hip-hop album of the last year, racking up more than 50 billion streams globally and spending four weeks at the top of the Billboard charts.

And now Travis Scott is heading to Manchester’s new Co-op Live as part of the European leg of the tour, which sold out across North America.

The Utopia – Circus Maximus tour will donate £1 (or one euro) from every ticket sold to the artist’s Cactus Jack Foundation, which helps young people in Houston with scholarship programmes, toys, and experiences.

The eight-time Grammy-nominated artist will play hits from his record-breaking Utopia, as well as his three previous studio albums – Rodeo, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, and Astroworld.

Travis Scott’s live show is promising to ‘transport fans into an unparalleled audiovisual experience’ when it kicks off in the Netherlands in June, before arriving in Manchester in July.

Tickets for his Manchester gig will go on sale on Friday 10 May at 10am local time through See Tickets here.

Travis Scott 2024 European tour dates in full

  • Friday 28 June – Netherlands, Arnhem – GelreDome
  • Tuesday 2 July – Poland, Krakow – TAURON Arena
  • Thursday 4 July – Switzerland, Zurich – Hallenstadion
  • Saturday 6 July – France, Nice – Allianz Riviera
  • Monday 9 July – Belgium, Antwerp – Sportpaleis
  • Thursday 11 July – UK, London – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
  • Saturday 13 July – UK, Manchester – Co-op Live
  • Tuesday 16 July – Germany, Hamburg – Barclays Arena
  • Thursday 18 July – Czech Republic, Prague – O2 Arena
  • Saturday 20 July – Germany, Cologne – RheinEnergieSTADION
  • Tuesday 23 July – Italy, Milan – Ippodromo SNAI La Maura
  • Saturday 27 July – Germany, Frankfurt – Deutsche Bank Park

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Featured image: Publicity picture

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