Greatest Day: Exclusive interview with Gary Barlow of Take That

All we do each night is pray, hoping that Take That will return to Singapore and captivate the crowd once again, someday. Well ours and many other female fans’ prayers have finally been answered – Take That is coming back for a concert next month on 5th March at the HSBC Women’s Champions at Sentosa Golf Club. Cue squeals of excitement!

The irony while writing this article, is that it was exactly 20 years ago on 13 February, when the English band first broke up, thus shattering the hearts of many Singapore fans on Valentine’s Day (pre social media era meant Singapore only got the news on V-Day). Now those very hearts are about to be mended.

Marie France Asia caught up with Gary Barlow, singer-songwriter, for a chat over the phone recently on his thoughts and what fans can expect from the trio when they arrive on our shores next month.

Marie France Asia: You were last in Singapore in 1995, what was your fondest memory of Singapore?

Gary Barlow: I cannot believe it’s been 20 years because it seems just like yesterday. Very interestingly, during the last concert, my wife flew out to Singapore to be with me as we had just got together. We’ve been married for 20 years now. Of course my fondest memory was the audience because we had such a great night. We played Bangkok and Singapore in one weekend, and we had a day off in Singapore and we went to Raffles Hotel to have afternoon tea, did some shopping and to top it all, a great show in the evening.

MFA: What message would you say to your fans in Singapore, especially those who waited 21 years for the band to return to our shores?

G.B.: When we were offered to do a show in Singapore, we were very excited because I do not know why it has taken us so long to go back, but we are definitely due a trip. We were on tour for 7 months last year and we have hit a great stride with our live shows, we are feeling good with the 3-piece band, and we had an amazing run of gigs across Europe and UK last year. We are looking forward to seeing all the lovely people in Singapore again!

MFA: What can the fans expect from your concert next month?

G.B.: We have an extremely good setlist, which now spans over 23 years. I have to say, whenever we go on stage, we have an amazing audience. One of the greatest things is we have grown up with our audience. We started our young adult lives with them; had a little time off to get wise, to became husbands and had children. It feels incredible to sing songs right back to 1991, and sing songs right up to date as well. It feels like we are having a great time in the band right now and it’s great we get this opportunity to come see you guys. Whether you are an ‘old’ fan or one of the newer fans, there will be something in the show for everyone.

MFA: Will the band be singing “Pray”?

G.B.: You just reminded me, because we got to do a bit of dance routine in “Pray”, it gives everyone a smile and a bit of chuckle. If there is one song I have to take out of the setlist, just because I have to do the dance routine, it would be for “Pray”.

MFA: It is the dream of many female brides-to-be, to have Take That perform at their wedding, would the band ever consider doing this as a surprise? I know Gary’s done that for a few very lucky brides in UK.

G.B.: You know what, I was having a completely boring day at the start of last year, so I went on the Internet and said, “if you campaign on social media and tell me why you’re marrying your wife etc, I’ll sing at your wedding.” That’s how I got to sing at 6 weddings last year because the stories were so brilliant and totally heartwarming. I surprised 6 brides and it’s the most fun I have ever had. It was literally 6 minutes per wedding. You arrive; no one would know you are there, except for one person usually. You perform one song, everyone would be blown away and you have some photos with the bride and groom and then you are gone. It would be the most incredible 6 minutes you could ever imagine. Everywhere I go now, someone knows somebody who is having a wedding and wants Take That to sing at. It could actually be our new career after all!

Our chat with Gary Barlow ended as quickly as it had begun, with him promising to give the fans a great show next month.

It only takes a minute to get those few remaining tickets for their concert next month – get them now before everything changes and you will be left heartbroken and praying for some patience before they come back for good again.

Get your tickets for the Take That concert on 5^th March, 2016 at the HSBC Women’s Champions here!

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Riley Leong