It is, as Mark Owen points out backstage, our national stadium.
And, on a balmy Saturday night in July, it's full for the third of four sold-out concerts as Take That's The Circus live tour reaches Wembley Stadium. The 80,000 here tonight are among 1.2 million fans who will have seen GQ's Band Of The Year perform by the end of the summer.
Howard: "We do try to treat everyone the same and mingle as much as we can."
Gary: "We come out of this room for two or three minutes every day."
Jason: "We wave at people."
Gary: "We wave, but we never shake hands because of germs."
Mark: "And we surround ourselves with good people."
Gary: "Even the dancers, we choose them for their personality as well as their ability."
Howard: "And their arses."
Jason: "In no particular order: ability, personality, arse." "It's hard to comprehend," says Howard Donald, sitting shirtless on a sofa in Take That's dressing room, with a few hours still to go to show time. "When you look out at the stadium, see how high the seating goes, how many people are here for us, it's... pfft." "It's good not to think about it," says Gary Barlow. "Who are they, and why have they come? Why are there 80,000? It's too much." "If I'm honest," says Jason Orange, "I look at these three and think, 'What have they got that's attracting all these people?'"
Later, Jason reasons "you can't spend too long quantifying it.
We're good mates and that shows. People love the story: where we came from, how it started, how we've tried to mature and progress.
And I think they like the fact none of us has gone too far up our own arse." "Hang on a minute," says Howard, turning to the band's manager. "Jonathan, did you park me Rolls-Royce?"
Take That are the biggest band in Britain.
Since their 2006 comeback after a decade in the wilderness, they have sold close to five million albums. The Circus, released last December, topped the charts for five weeks. The Circus live show was the fastest-selling tour in UK history.
The Wembley concerts alone are a staggering achievement. No other group - not U2, not Coldplay, not Oasis - attempted to sell more than three nights there this year. "We're playing our biggest gigs 19 years into our existence," marvels Gary. "It's taken us that long to get here."
If nostalgia accounted for the immediate success of their return, then it's something else that is sustaining this second act in the life of the nation's favourite former boy band. "Our story is too complicated to sum up in a few lines," says Gary. "If we'd tried to plan it like this it would never have happened.""There's a funny thing going on," says Mark. "Although we're quite an old band, it feels new; like we're just starting in some ways."
My own take on their popularity is that as well as having almost 20 years' worth of chart-topping tunes, Take That simply radiate good vibes - they warm hearts. For once, it really couldn't have happened to nicer blokes.
Originally published in the October 2009 issue of British GQ.
