I thought their version of the Flood on Strictly tonight was really good. Robbie has been a bit up and down on TV performances in recent years, but tonight he was on good form.

Who's singing in the final next week? I think Take That are biggies- its hard to top them.... who is??

P.S. Strictly have upped their game with their special guest singers this year and should be commended for it. OK, theres been 1 or 2 duffers but after the awfulness of last years guests ( the nearly dead) they've improved a lot!

I enjoyed it too. Robbie is such a plonker but I can't help liking him. Kudos to Barlow too for letting him take centre stage despite all that has gone down between them over the years.

Duffy the duffer!

I've only just started to like Rob over the last few months. He performed that song very well tonight. Being with the other guys has certainly helped him with any confidence issues. Now that he has that issue sorted out though ... does he really need the other four? He totally overshadows them on stage (not his fault) that I feel a bit embarrassed for the others. They're sort of surplus to requirements.

Barlow has written a fairly good song there though.

I agree, Rob seems to belong as a solo performer. His whole stage presence and everything. But unfortunately he doesn't seem to be able to get up on stage and sing on his own like he used to in the old days (when I guess the drugs helped him through it)

I don't know if he'll want to be on his own again, bless him

I was under the impression Robbie wrote that song, well it appeared that way in their TV Documentary few weeks back.

Robbie needs Take That but they don't need him. They have been so good without him.

I just hope he doesn't upset the apple cart again !

I prefer Take That without Robbie.

Agree

Robbie has undeniable star quality, but his solo career has been on the skids since he parted company with Guy Chambers - the real talent behind his success.

Take That were doing just fine without him, and Mr Barlow has always been a fantastic songwriter.

They all write the songs. On some of them Gary doesn't write at all, and vice versa.

I think The Flood was a joint effort by all five.

To be fair none of them need each other, Robbie's richer than all of them and his album did really well (although not at th heights of his earlier stuff)

They dod ot just cos they 'wanted each other' as they say. Robbie is rich enough to do nothing but play footie in LA for the rest of his life, but he fancied being back with his old friends performing instead.

I think its nice!

Isn't it strange how Gary Barlow, the one that was considered "The fat, ugly one from Take That" back in the early days now looks far and away the best? All the others clearly look like men heading into middle age but Barlow has barely aged at all. I suppose its a bit like Cliff, the rewards from a clean living life style?

Seems to be "Robbie Williams and Take That" now,

Mark seems happy,Gary doesn't care and Jason and Howard look unhappy-to my untrained eye,
Last edited by lealeeds : 12-12-2010 at 10:28

i was quite taken aback that they clearly have lost their looks over the years.

You could be right ... although it does have all the hallmarks of a Barlow song. I've heard a few of the other songs on the album and they definitely sound like Robbie songs (or whoever writes Rob's music ... I'm fairly certain he only writes lyrics.) I believe to write music it helps if you can play an instrument competently and I don't think Rob can. Can he?

Oh come on!
It's the difference between boys and men - I much prefer all of them now to how they were back in the day (apart from Mark who has never done it for me)

I thought Gary looked nice in a clean-cut, nicely presented bank clerk sort of way and he is certainly better looking compared the the Gary in the 90's - the one with a succession of unfortunate haircuts. But while the others looked a bit rough around the edges ... they still looked like pop-stars.

Mark looks a bit like one of my aunties.

He does! At times he does look like a popstar (tonight was one of them). But whenever I see still photos of him ... it always looks as though he is part of a photo-story from Woman's Weekly.

Robbie had the lyrics all ready when they met up, Gary Barlow wrote the music.
On the album - you will only see 'Take That' as writers because they want to show unity.
In reality - only Gary, Robbie and Mark (a bit) write the songs.

Yeah, but wait until you see how the others look in another ten or twenty years. Gary will be the Cliff/Macca of the group, IMO. The one that never seems to age.

All jokes aside ... I believe your's is the truest statement. I'm sure its one of the reasons Barlow was so gleeful to have Rob back. Although I've always liked (most) of the tunes Barlow his churned out ... his lyrics have been woeful (apart from perhaps Back For Good, Never Forget and Patience). Once Rob is out of his 'self-pitying' mode ... he does write some excellent, sharp and witty lyrics. The die-hard fans will try to get people to believe its a five-man song writing effort - I'm fairly certain its just Barlow and Williams with a bit of Owen to liven things up here and there.

When it comes to the live concerts however ... all five of them play their parts (and not just as backing dancers). Or four of them did do on the UT, BW and TC tours ... I've no idea what the shows will be like now that Rob is back. He just sort of overshadows the others with his stage presence (even though he probably isn't as good a singer as three of the others.)

True! He's to Take That what Betty Turpin is to Coronation Street (i.e. has never looked anything but one age). Barlow looked in his mid-thirties when he was in his teens/early twenties. I should imagine when he's knocking on 60 - he'll still look in his mid-thirties.

Is he? Gary is estimated to be worth 35 million as he writes songs for other artists and so earns the royalties.


I thinks so too, they really didn't need him back and I hope he doesn't sabotage anything this time