Take That to Begin Tour in Sunderland Tonight!

27th May 2011

Following months of planning, hours of rehearsals, massive levels of excitement and the odd bout of nervousness, Take That are set to begin their Progress Live tour at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland this evening. At around 8:30pm tonight, Take That will walk onto the stage and appear before a screaming crowd of 55,000 fans, as their much anticipated tour gets underway.

Take That's tour crew, which includes 110 trucks of equipment, arrived at the stadium following last Saturday's football match and started to transform the venue in readiness for the concerts. The cost of staging the Progress Live tour is roughly twice that of the band's previous Circus tour, which gives an indication of the work involved.

Take That will perform four shows at the Stadium of Light, before moving on to Manchester for a further eight shows. In total the band will perform 36 shows in front of an estimated 1.75million fans over the course of the summer. After that, the boys will understandably need a holiday!

UPDATE: Click here to see a selection of opening night reviews from the local and national press...