Robbie Williams reunites with Take That for online concert

He said it was ‘less weird than standing in front of 80,000 people’.

Robbie Williams has reunited with Take That for the first time in two years during an online charity concert.

The 46-year-old joined ex-bandmates Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald – with each performing from their homes during the lockdown.

Williams joked that their first online performance was “less weird than standing in front of 80,000 people”.

The trio began with a rendition of Greatest Day and Shine, before being joined by Williams for the remainder of the six-song set.

Money raised by the performance will go to music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins, and Crew Nation, which supports concert crew workers.

Barlow led the performance from his home studio, outfitted with numerous keyboards and microphones, while Owen appeared to sing from his garage.

On Pray, the group sang against green-screens featuring projections of crowds, glitter balls and animals, while Donald donned a crown for Never Forget.

In between songs, the group discussed what new skills they had learnt during lockdown.

Barlow said he had taken up the guitar again, while Donald said he had read more books in the last two months than during his time at school.

The show featured an appearance from Aleksandr Orlov, the fictional meerkat and founder of comparethemeerkat.com, which was hosting the concert on its YouTube channel.

He aimed a jibe at Donald, telling him that he had “the least rock and roll name in the history of music”.

The website’s customers were able to access extra performances of Everything Changes and Rule The World.

Williams last played with the group in 2018.

The singer joined his former bandmates on stage during the X Factor series final, where he was a judge, for a rendition of Shine.

Fifth member Jason Orange left the band in 2014, saying: “There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this.”