THERE may only be three out of the original five left in Take That, but their ability to put on a live spectacular that blows most, if not all, other bands out of the water has not diminished at all.

Before the tour some were describing the production as stripped back and smaller than previous shows, and there may not have been giant robots or elephants, but this was definitely still a major undertaking that blew the crowd away.

Mark, Howard and Gary are celebrating thirty years of Take That by taking a greatest hits tour on the road that includes two nights at St Marys Stadium in Southampton.

A beautiful balmy spring evening saw thirty thousand people make their way to the stadium to catch the guys in action as part of this Odyssey tour. After a brilliant support set from Rick Astley, Take That descended from the skies in a futuristic dome to the appropriately named Greatest Day followed by It Only Takes A Minute and These Days. No sign of Jason Orange but Robbie did put in an appearance on the video screen for a rousing version of Could It Be Magic. As the tour title suggests the hits just kept on coming with Everything Changes, A Million Love Songs and more recent Out of Our Heads, which is one of the most catchy pop songs of recent years released by anyone.

The stage show, band and dancers were all fantastic and came together with the three guys to make this a show that will not be forgotten for a long time. How deep is Your Love saw the Bee Gees appear on the backdrop before we moved onto a mass singalong to Patience and a visually spectacular version of The Flood. As the guys left the stage for another costume change the massive sphere rotated to reveal Lulu who delivered the start of Relight My Fire from up high before joining Take That on stage for the rest of the song.

After Babe and Pray it was time for goodbyes and one more song to round off the evening. Rule the World provided a great show closer, sent everyone away happy knowing they had been to one of the best gigs and productions they will ever see. A truly fabulous night of entertainment.