Take That sell out biggest tour in UK history

Take That have sold out the biggest live tour in UK and Irish history. After tickets went on sale on Friday morning, the group smashed records with first-day and weekend sales, crashing vendor websites and swamping the entire BT telephone network. “We are speechless,” Gary Barlow said in a statement, “truly and utterly shocked.”

You can still buy tickets on the Viagogo UK website.

Let’s put it this way: lots of people want to see Robbie Williams reunited with Gary, Howard, Jason and Mark. At first, there were just 14 concerts to choose from, with European dates to be added on 5 November. But almost as soon as the wickets opened, it was clear these 14 were not enough. Websites for Ticketmaster, Ticketline and the Ticket Factory buckled under fan interest, according to the BBC, and as potential buyers jammed vendor telephone lines, BT said the national telephone network had received between three and four times the normal number of calls.

So Take That announced more concerts. 11 more, in fact, at teeny tiny venues like, er, Wembley Stadium and Dublin’s Croke Park. But with fans snapping up almost a million tickets within the dates’ first 24 hours on sale, even these provisions were soon exhausted. Ticketmaster claimed to have received more than 20m page views in the first day of the sale, “at least double” the interest shown for Michael Jackson’s O2 arena residency, which was for twice as many concerts. By the time of writing, all major ticket vendors listed Take That’s 25 dates as sold out.

Talking to the BBC, Take That’s promoters said they were not certain of how many tickets had been sold, and remained coy on the prospect of further UK dates. European dates will go on sale as planned, later this week. One thing is certain – Take That are not playing Glastonbury. “It’s muddy and wet,” Williams explained. Police have warned ticket-seekers not to purchase tickets from unofficial sellers, due to widespread piracy and even scams involving identity theft.

Unfortunately it’s not just unlucky Take That fans who will be cursing the tour’s popularity. As the Quietus reported, ticket sales were disrupted for many other smaller events that relied on Ticketmaster’s website. Mogwai’s 2011 concert tickets became available at the same time as Take That’s, and the Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival also went on sale Friday. Fans of each were temporarily unable to make their purchases.

The Progress tour marks Williams’s first tour with Take That in 16 years. Although he will perform some of his own solo material, Williams also expressed a wish to sing on Take That songs released after he left the group. The quintet’s new album, also called Progress, is due out in two weeks. (source: Guardian)

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