Take This

Will the tabloid tales about Robbie Williams and his former band, Take That, ever end? I for one am sick to the back teeth of reading about it. And just when you think it's over and you're settled into summer, dreaming of the upcoming Take That tour ... BAM! it's right back in your face.

The latest revelation is how Rob needs Take That to revive his career..... hold that thought.....

WHAT?

Hasn't Rob just completed a record breaking, year long, sold out world tour? How does this reflect a flagging career?

But but......"Take That have reformed and achieved a bigger success, Rob's done nowt all year"

Rob's taking a year off, something people may not know as all the papers constantly use anything related to him to help sell their newspapers or celebrity magazines. In truth he's not done any promotion or interviews all year so basically he has said nothing official, everything in the tabloids has been nothing more than the journalists lack of imagination with a spoonful of speculation or taken, out of context, from his online blog (his official blog, on his site where fans have to pay £30 to view and all's being revealed and twisted by The Mirror's 3am 'girls' for what 35p?)

Yes the lads, Gary, Jason, Mark and Howard (or Chewy as we fondly call him) did reform and are currently back in the limelight after a 10 year absence, the same 10 years that saw Robbie catapult to global stardom, win masses of Brit awards, MTV awards, sell millions of albums and singles worldwide, perform at the Albert Hall and be placed as the number 1 male in the UK amongst dozens of other achievements like his charity work and celebrity soccer.....to name but a few.

If Rob's popularity is dipping then why on earth was he recently voted Greatest British Male? This was a public vote...... I just don't 'get' where the notion his career and popularity are flagging comes from....

Now i've nothing against Take That, or their recent success and i have loved watching fans reunite online in their fanclubs. It's nostalgic and the buzz around Take That sites is amazing but (did you see that coming?) i do feel the Take That PR machine use Rob's name to help promote the band in the media, which helps fuel the fire, keeping ten year old stories such as the 'Rob v Gary fued' prominent in the tabloids and specualtion about them reuniting as a 5 piece wide open. (It's my opinion, and i refuse to apologise for it.)

It has now been revealed by Gary/Ross King/GMTV that they've recently spoken with Rob and the hatchet as been well and truely buried and that Rob will NOT be regrouping with them and he is NOT joining them on their pending tour.

This has been made public, yet strangley ignored and more tabloid stories such as Take That back! claim Rob's career is flagging whilst Take That are basking in glory and even imply he needs them to revive his own career....

But but..... " That Rudebox was rite crap"

Ok lets look at the recent facts by comparing the 'success', in sales, of Robbie Williams' album Rudebox and Take That's Beautiful world just to see IF Rob needs anything reviving, other than his lawyer who should be sueing the arse off The Mirror.....

The following quote is courtesy of Scotty from http://www.buzzjack.com/

"Starting off with the massive hit that was Patience up against the massive flop that the single Rudebox apperently was. Patience went #1 in 4 countries and top 5 in four more, Rudebox went #1 in 8 countries (twice more) and top 5 in a further nine. Lovelight top 5 in 10 charts, Shine top 5 in four. TT's latest single 'I'd Wait For Life' didn't go top 10 anywhere in the world, whilst She's Madonna was the biggest selling and most played track in all of Europe topping 3 charts, and going top 10 in a further 15 places. Now lets compare the albums. Rudebox, the album that got zero promo went to number one in 14 countries, BW, an album with more promo than any other I can ever remember, only did in one country (the UK). Rudebox was the 18th best selling album worldwide of 2006 (and the biggest selling album by a solo artist outside the USA) whilst BW wasn't even top 50. BW sold 2.2m copies worldwide, a little over 400,000 outside the UK, Rudebox sold over twice that amount worldwide (4.5m) and a massive ten times more copies outside the UK.

Now the tours........

1) In the UK TT will be playing 28 dates, 517,000 people to an average of 18,000 each night - Robbie played to 625,000 people, only having to put on nine dates, and an average of just under 70,000 people a night. BIG DIFFERENCE there. Also I was looking and there are still alot of tickets available for TT's UK tour. Have a look on ticketmaster and you will see.

2) TT's European Tour - They are playing 15 dates, with an expected audience of 159,000 for all the dates combined, and an average of 10,600 people per night. Funnily enough, around half of the dates still are not even sold out (again check Ticketmaster Europe). Robbie however, is in the Guinness Book Of Records for selling out all his tickets in record time. In Europe (not counting the UK), he played to a total of near 2 MILLION people over 30 dates, so an average attendence of 66,600 people.

Again an absolutelly massive different there yet again. And then of course outside Europe, where TT's album and singles did so badly they have'nt even bothered touring anywhere. Whilst Rob played to near 1 million people between Australia, South Africa, Mexico, South America and Dubai, breaking endless records on the way including having the most successful concert tour in the history of Australia (just under 500,000 people) as well as the biggest concert ever in Dubai."

Both Rob and Take That are doing great and any 'issues' the lads had have been resolved, in private where it belongs. There's no need to be paraded out as a 5 piece, even for a one off, to collaborate or pose for a few pictures.... neither has anything to prove and at this time there isnt a desire from them to do anything together....need i say more?

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*This is one persons opinion and does not reflect the thoughts of the entire Pure Robbie forum community.