Take That switch on festive lights

Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Gary Barlow of Take That switch on the Regent Street Christmas lights

16 NOVEMBER 2014

Screaming crowds have watched Take That switch on the Regent Street Christmas lights in central London.

Singers Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald flicked the switch to help mark the countdown to Christmas and also pointed out that it was a special day for the band.

Mark said: "This is the first time we have been on stage together for four years. It is good to be here."

Gary said his best Christmas present was a BMX bike when he was a boy, Mark said it had been a karate suit, while Howard said a track by Nat King Cole had been his best festive gift.

This year's lights were themed around the film Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb.

A wealth of entertainment, including performances by Union J, Jessie Ware and the Jersey Boys, were part of the event hosted by London's Heart breakfast presenters Jamie Theakston and Emma Bunton.

Children got the chance to meet some of their favourite movie characters including Skipper, Rico, Private and Kowalski from the upcoming DreamWorks animation Penguins Of Madagascar as well as Po from Kung Fu Panda and Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon 2.

Living statues from Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb also came to life at sites across Regent Street, including Robin Williams's character Teddy Roosevelt, Steve Coogan's character Octavius, Dan Stevens' character Sir Lancelot, Owen Wilson's character Jedediah and Rami Malek's character, the Egyptian Pharaoh Ahkmenrah.

Take That about their favourite tracks from III album

Amazon Front Row team asked the band what their favorite tracks from III were and here is what they said:

Gary - “Get Ready For It”

One of my favourites tracks on III is “Get Ready for It‎.” We wrote this track with Steve Robson. It's always a pleasure to work with him. “Shine”, “Said It All” and many others‎. He always starts the day with an instrumental so we can sing our melodies on top. From the outset it just sounded enormous! I always have a list of song titles in my lyric book and spotted “Get Ready For It”, the music and the sentiment were perfect.
We all then went about putting it together. It really didn't take long, like all the best songs. It's going to be amazing live, maybe even a show opener!

Mark - “If You Want It”

The full line is “If you want it, come and get it” and that's really what the song is all about. In my eyes it's about saying don’t wait for stuff to happen; have you lived your stories? Similar to the bucket lists people create.
I love what Stuart Price brought to this song, especially the accordion that’s on there being played in the background, I always get a picture of us stood on a street corner in Paris belting this one out. It's a fun song and the atmosphere behind it is supposed to be uplifting but at the same time just asking you the question…because you never know do you.

Howard - “Flaws”

“Flaws” is probably my favourite track on the album. Definitely in my top three. It's such a powerful song both lyrically and musically. The lyrics are so beautiful and vulnerable, “If you take me you take all my flaws”, it's so raw. It would would be easy to think the track just stays on one level with the piano part but suddenly this massive middle eight comes in, this huge chant that just knocks you out.

TAKE THAT - THESE DAYS GALLERY