Over the coming month, close to a million people will see Take That secure their position as Britain’s most popular band with a show of such preposterous proportions and lavish excess it could make Cher sporting rhinestones seem subtle. Like Britney Spears, Take That have themed their tour around a circus, but the boys’ show makes their rival’s look like an end-of-pier performance. Britney has a cast of 50? Pah, Take That have over 200. She rides an umbrella, they have a hot air balloon hovering above, but hitch a lift from the centre of the stadium to their big top tent on a 20ft high, mechanical elephant with glowing eyes whose tail is an upside down woman with hair extensions. Heck, they even learned to ride unicycles.

Take That’s third tour since reforming – officially the fastest-selling UK tour of all time – was notable not just for its sets, stunts, eye-catching costumes and army of acrobatic extras, but for the attitude of its leading men. Where, previously, the foursome’s faces were etched with amazement that they had been given a second shot at fame, at Stadium Of Light, they were fixed with a steely professionalism that meant even dressed in sequins, thrusting their crotches throughout routines they first learnt in their teens, they betrayed not a trace of embarrassment. Yes, they looked ludicrous on countless occasions – among them, applying amateur greasepaint to their faces while wearing tartan clown trousers and delivering a soppy ballad without smiling – but their lack of shame proved a prime selling point.

Over almost two hours, every conceivable circus act from the fairly normal - trapeze and tightrope, jugglers and showgirls hula-hooping with fire – to the breathtakingly bizarre likes of clowns in cloud-covered suits and matching bowler hats dancing with pretend newspapers was explored and exploited to the extent that the music sometimes took a back seat. The old hits – Pray, Could It Be Magic and a fabulous Never Forget, performed with a full marching band, plus a bloke tap-dancing the beat on a giant drum – had the crowd handclapping in unison and howling along, as did the highlights from 2006’s nine times platinum-selling comeback album Beautiful World.

Songs from current album The Circus were more hit and miss – a run of bland ballads was greeted with a rush for the bar, but the Beatles-y Hello went down well, as did Up All Night, during which the four played like a regular rock band (with Howard on drums, Jason and Mark on guitar and Gary at piano), albeit a rock band looking like a cross between Village People and Richard Gere in the cheesy scene in Officer And A Gentleman.

By the time flames were bursting through the air and fireworks exploding for a finale that saw Relight My Fire performed with its pint-sized, original singer Loleatta Holloway and an evil, inflatable ringmaster, the circus theme had been well and truly wrung dry. A pop show that’s too over the top? Take That almost achieved it.

16 June 2009, Cardiff Millennium Stadium 19/20 June 2009, Glasgow Hampden Park

23-28 June 2009, Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground

1-5 July 2009, London Wembley Stadium

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