There was a strict rule not to take any pictures or videos as Gary Barlow arrived on stage for the second of three shows at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre on Tuesday.
The man who has packed out arenas on his own in recent years, as well as filling them and stadiums to the rafters as a member of Take That, is on Tyneside with his A Different Stage show, which aside from a few reviews which haven’t given too much away, has remained something of a closely guarded secret.
Going to a gig and not being able to take photos or vids seems almost absurd in this day and age but it actually felt strangely liberating as you could devote all your attention to what was going on in front of you. And my word, there was a lot to take in.
A Different Stage isn’t a concert, it’s very much a piece of theatre. If This is Your Life was a stage show, A Different Stage would be it, with the famous red book swapped for a keyboard, which allows Gary to take his fans on a two hour journey through his life and career, which he’s happy to admit hasn’t always been so illustrious.
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Without giving too much away, the first act features everything from Gary bursting out of a gold curtain in a nod to his days as a Blackpool entertainer to the very candid and actually uncomfortable to watch reliving of a chance to crack America as a solo artist which went horribly wrong.
A Different Stage’s trump cards are it’s honesty and it’s humour. Gary allows himself to go from multi-platinum singer songwriter, back to a lad from Cheshire, with a boom box and a dream. And Gary doesn’t hide the fact that, while one Robbie Williams became a solo superstar, he was sat at home, shutting himself off from the world with a box full of empty Quality Street in front of him.
On it’s journey through Gary’s life to date. A Different Stage, worked on with acclaimed Calendar Girls writer Tim Frith, stops off at the bad times as well as the good, with Gary baring his soul as he recalls the tragedy of he and wife Dawn losing their baby girl Poppy, right before Dawn was due to give birth.
Songs are of course the backdrop to the whole thing. From a witty reworking of a Take That anthem to kick things off, to some VERY surprising cover versions and some TT classics, while Gary’s outfit choice of a tracksuit top and jeans doesn’t scream music megastar, the production itself, as stripped back as it is, definitely does.
Yes, at times it’s cheesy and a tad corny, but that’s not bad thing, because Gary is willing to concede that he can be both of those things.
A Different Stage, a different show and a different Gary Barlow, but the same star quality and the same emphatic reaction, with Gary getting a well deserved standing ovation at the end.
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