“They’ve Been the Soundtrack to My Life” Fans Share Their Love for Take That ahead of Coventry shows.
Ahead of Take That’s sensational Circus Live Tour return to Coventry Building Society Arena we reached out online in a quest to find the boyband’s biggest fan.
We had an incredible response on social media. Here are some of the stories you shared with us.
Kerrie Given
Kerrie, who lives just outside Brandon in Warwickshire, has been a massive fan since Take That broke onto the pop scene in 1990s and can’t wait to see them again at the third date of their upcoming run at Coventry Building Society Arena.
So besotted with the boys, as a teenager Kerrie would regularly camp overnight in Coventry so that she and her school friends could be at the front of the queue for concert tickets.
“Nothing beats singing every word with a crowd full of equally obsessed fans,” she says. “It was pure magic.”
Kerrie, 47, and her friends would arrive mega early on concert days to get as close to the stage as possible.
“My bedroom was completely covered too,” she says. “Walls, ceiling, even the windows, all plastered in Take That posters from Smash Hits magazine. My poor little sister had to put up with it!”
Kerrie once tried to sneak out of her home to deliver a massive Christmas card to Mark Owen - even though she had no idea where he lived - before she was stopped by her mum!
In a further display of her infatuation, Kerrie convinced her parents to let her buy an iguana as a pet because Mark Owen had one. “I named him Markie, of course,” she adds.
“Safe to say, the obsession was real, and honestly; I still love them just as much today.”
Photo from Kerrie Given
Helena Waterworth
Helena, from Coventry, is such a super fan that everyone at the group of nurseries where she works knows about her love of Take That. When she turned 40, her husband even bought her a Take That cake!
The 48-year-old’s claim to fame is that she kissed Mark Owen on the cheek during the This Life on Tour and has video evidence to prove it!
Helena has followed the group since their first live shows in 1992. She saw them in Wolverhampton, aged 14, at what was her first ever concert, “and I was hooked!”
As a youngster she would plaster her bedroom walls with massive Take That posters. Mark was her number one, but Gary has now taken on the mantle as favourite. She bought every album, every single and every magazine and has attended EVERY tour since.
Helena felt like “a young kid again” when the band announced in 2005 they were reforming. “I have been to every tour since,” she says, “sometimes more than once. And this time my younger sister joined me as a huge Take That fan. We have been to every concert since.”
Helena will attend the Coventry dates on Friday and Saturday with her younger sister and 25-year-old daughter, whom she has converted into a fan. She hopes the shows will top those from the original The Circus Live tour in 2009, “my favourite concert of all time”.
Photo from Helena Waterworth
Dawn Milton
Dawn Milton, from Burton-upon-Trent, has been a fan since she was seven and hasn't missed a tour since.
“I still have my scarf from the 1994 Everything Changes tour,” the 41-year-old says. “It even has my name tag sewn in it so I could wear it at school.
Dawn has a wardrobe full of tour T-shirts and a kitchen cupboard packed with Take That mugs that have been collected over the years, but arguably her biggest show of fandom can be found on her person, given that she has a Take That logo tattooed on her wrist.
She’s been accompanied at every show over the years by her mum Pam, who is just as much a diehard fan. They’ll be attending the Friday show along with Pam’s best friend Nicky.
Photo from Dawn Milton
Kyle Pell
Kyle Pell is only 17, yet has already seen Take That in concert seven times!
Kyle, from Northampton, was just a baby when the band originally performed The Circus Live tour. Naturally, he was “gutted” to have missed out, but that has only served to ramp up his excitement for the Thursday night concert he has a ticket for.
“I’m so excited to see them at Coventry Building Society Arena,” he said. “Now I get to see it in real life for the first time. One of my favourite bands ever.”
Bex has been in love with Take That since 1992, when she first saw them on the TV show Hangar 19.
She was aged 12, and her sister six, when her parents took them to see Take That on their first tour when it arrived to Scarborough in 1992. “Being a T-Thater is now in my blood and DNA for life.”
Bex still has the pictures she took on a disposable camera and all of the fan club material she collected in the early 90s.
Like so many others, Bex, now 46, was heartbroken when the band broke up, but always felt they would reform. “And boy they haven’t disappointed me once since returning,” she says. “They have been an important part in my life, in the happiest of times getting married and having a baby.”
Bex missed The Circus Live Tour first time round so is especially excited about seeing its modern-day incarnation.
“It’s going to be super special as my daughter Eynaarah is also coming,” Bex says. “She will be 10 and the tickets are a surprise for her birthday.
“She came to see the This Life tour with me in Birmingham in 2024. She is just as mad about them as me. Gary is her fave. We got to see him enter the arena and got a pic of him.
“I’m sure everyone who replies to this will say they are their biggest fan. All I can say is that they have taken permanent residence in my heart. They have become the musical loves of my life and I can now share that same love with my young daughter.”
Photo from Kyle Pell