Progress Live was the eighth concert tour by the English pop group Take That. The tour, sponsored by Samsung, supported their sixth studio album, Progress as they visited major cities in the UK and Europe. It was the first tour to feature all five original members performing together in 16 years and the final tour to feature Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. In its infancy, the tour accomplished many accolades including selling 1.34 million tickets in less than 24 hours. Official Take That 01.10.11 The tour quickly became the biggest tour in the United Kingdom. They played 8 nights each at City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester and also Wembley Stadium in London – breaking the previous record held by Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour set in 1988. These eight nights at Wembley Stadium saw Take That break the record for the highest-grossing residency by grossing £38 million ($61 million) from their respective London dates alone. At the conclusion of 2011, the tour was placed on Billboard's annual, "Top 25 Tours", and appeared third worldwide, earning over $180 million with 29 shows. Each member of the band received £7,900,000 from the tour after tax.
Background In early 2010, the media reported that Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow were recording a duet in Los Angeles, California. Since that announcement, numerous rumours emerged of Williams reuniting with the band. In July 2010, the band confirmed his joining and also announced that all five members were recording an album. The popularity of the tour surpassed their previous fest, which was viewed by over 600,000 spectators.
Opening act Pet Shop Boys
Setlist Take That (four-piece) "Rule the World" "Greatest Day" "Hold Up a Light" "Patience" "Shine" (contains elements of "Mr. Blue Sky") Robbie Williams "Let Me Entertain You" (contains elements of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band") "Rock DJ" "Come Undone" (contains elements of "Walk on the Wild Side" and excerpts from "Greatest Day") "Feel" "Angels" Take That (original lineup) "The Flood" "SOS" "Underground Machine" "Kidz" (contains elements of "Rudebox" and "Clap Your Hands Now") "Pretty Things" When They Were Young Medley: "A Million Love Songs" "Babe" "Everything Changes" "Back for Good" "Pray" "Love Love" (contains elements of "Happy Now") "Never Forget"
Encore "No Regrets" / "Relight My Fire" "Eight Letters"
Tour dates + List of concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, opening acts, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue Date City Country Venue Attendance RevenueEurope27 May 2011SunderlandEnglandStadium of Light206,334 / 206,334$21,600,07728 May 201130 May 201131 May 20113 June 2011ManchesterEtihad Stadium443,223 / 443,223$44,183,1454 June 20115 June 20117 June 20118 June 201110 June 201111 June 201112 June 201114 June 2011CardiffWalesPrincipality Stadium129,069 / 129,069$13,473,53415 June 201118 June 2011DublinIrelandCroke Park154,828 / 154,828$18,217,50019 June 201122 June 2011GlasgowScotlandHampden Park154,588 / 154,588$16,224,81223 June 201124 June 201127 June 2011BirminghamEnglandVilla Park94,694 / 94,694$9,763,10828 June 201130 June 2011LondonWembley Stadium623,737 / 623,737 $61,713,1841 July 20112 July 20114 July 20115 July 20116 July 20118 July 20119 July 201112 July 2011MilanItalySan Siro371,500 / 370,500$38,078,750 15 July 2011CopenhagenDenmarkParken Stadium18 July 2011AmsterdamNetherlandsJohan Cruyff Arena22 July 2011HamburgGermanyVolksparkstadion25 July 2011DüsseldorfMerkur Spiel-Arena29 July 2011MunichOlympiastadionTOTAL2,178,028 / 2,178,028 (100%)$223,264,167
Cancellations and rescheduled shows 16 July 2011Copenhagen, DenmarkParken StadiumCancelled
Home media Progress Live was filmed on 10 and 11 June 2011 at Etihad Stadium in Manchester and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 21 November 2011.
A 'highlight' version of the concert was broadcast on BBC1 on 18 December 2011.
Critical response The tour had a positive reaction from critics, media and fans alike. Sky News praised the show commenting that "Take That [had] lived up to the hype surrounding their reunion with Robbie Williams as they kicked off their sell-out tour." Dave Simpson of The Guardian bestowed the highest award of 5 stars to the tour as he praised the achievement of the group by stating "Grins and a group hug later, the band upstaged their jawdropping visuals with the sight of five men performing the classic pop anthems that made them – Pray, Relight My Fire, and Back For Good – and dancing and smiling like they'd never been away." He ended his review by commenting that when "the quintet sang 'Never Forget' in front of an illuminated robot so tall it towered above the stadium, it felt like that almost mythical event: a once in a lifetime pop experience."
Show incidents Mark Owen and Howard Donald were both trapped on a stage robot during a concert at Etihad Stadium in Manchester on 4 June 2011. The pair were meant to be lowered to the stage on the palms of the group's giant robot man, Om, but the mechanics failed. Consequently, they were stuck singing "Love Love" The three metres (10 ft) above the rest of the band. Ladders were used to rescue Mark Owen so he could continue his performance. Howard Donald was forced to sing lead vocals for the next track, "Never Forget", his only solo performance, while still stuck on the robot before being helped down himself. A statement from the group read: "The mechanical man did stop in motion at the end of Love Love but the matter was resolved and by the end of the show he was standing tall again. Howard Donald was stuck singing Never Forget on a mechanical robot. There is no guarantee that with a mechanical structure the size of Om, there will be no recurrence at some point but all seems fine now."
During the 2011 Progress Tour, 16 July concert at the sold-out Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark was cancelled only a few hours before the beginning of the show. It was announced that Robbie Williams had caught a severe stomach infection, and was (in spite of treatment attempts) advised by doctors not to go on stage. Take That therefore decided to cancel the event, feeling the fans would not be satisfied with not having Williams on stage. This was the first time Take That had ever cancelled a concert.
Charts Progress Live was released on DVD and Blu-ray throughout Europe beginning on 19 November 2011 and debuted at number 1 in the UK and Ireland, whilst also appearing at number 2 in Italy and Germany. On the first two days on sale in the UK the tour DVD sold "twice as much as the entire music DVD chart combined."http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1047602&c=1 Musicweek 23 November 2011 The first week sales in the UK totalled 127,359, followed by a further 72,715 copies the next week.http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1047728&c=1 Music Week Chart Analysis 4 December 2011
DVDs Chart (2011)PeakpositionDenmark Music DVD Top 10http://www.hitlisten.nu/ SELECT MUSIK DVD and then UGE 47-20113Dutch Music DVD Chart1German Music DVD Top 202Irish Music DVD Charthttp://irma.ie/aucharts.asp#musicdvds IRMA Week Ending 24 November 20111Italian Music DVD chart Classifica settimanale WK 47 (dal 21 November 2011 al 27 November 2011)2UK Music DVD Charthttp://www.theofficialcharts.com/music-video-chart/ OCC Music Video top 40 27.11.20111
Year-end charts Chart (2011)Position Dutch Music DVD Chart46 Ireland Music DVD Charthttp://irma.ie/best2011.htm Best of 2011 IRMA3
See also List of fastest-selling concert tours List of highest-grossing concert series at a single venue List of most-attended concert series at a single venue
References
External links
Take That's Official Website