By Hanna Rantala
LONDON (Reuters) – British pop band Take That transformed London’s Leicester Square into a concert stage on Thursday as they performed some of their tunes at the premiere of “Greatest Days”, a film adaptation of their hit musical.
Trio Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald sang “Greatest Day”, “Back For Good” and “Rule The World” before hitting the red carpet alongside the movie’s cast which includes actors Aisling Bea and Alice Lowe.
Adapted from Take That’s 2017 stage musical “The Band” and featuring more than a dozen of the group’s songs, “Greatest Days” centres around a tight-knit group of friends who are bound by their love for the fictional 90s band “The Boys”. A traumatic event pulls the fivesome apart but 25 years later they rekindle their friendship as they reunite for a show by the band.
“I don’t think it’s hit home really what tonight actually really means for us,” Barlow said on the red carpet.
“It’s kind of like three decades of work all going to be on that screen in an hour and it just feels like the stars are aligned and people are really taking this story to hand, enjoying it and enjoying the music at the same time, so it’s wonderful.”
Barlow, Owen and Donald, who performed at a concert last month marking the coronation of King Charles, are executive producers on the film.
“The next instalment… is we’ve got some new music coming at the end of the year, so we’re very excited,” Barlow said.
Originally counting five members when they formed in 1990, Take That became one of the most successful boy bands of the early 1990s, storming the charts with hits like “Relight My Fire”, “Sure” and “Everything Changes”.
They disbanded in 1996 – a year after singer Robbie Williams left the group to embark on a hugely successful solo career – and reunited a decade later as a foursome. Singer Jason Orange left in 2014, leaving the group three-strong.
“It’s amazing… Thirty odd years later, (fans are) still here and they’re still supporting, we’re still selling out arenas around Europe and it’s great,” Donald said.
“I have to pinch myself sometimes.”
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
