Take That: one of the biggest pop groups in Britain. Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty
Two tickets for Take That's sold-out show at London's 02 Arena on December 7? That'll be £350, please, via eBay. That the seller can get away with charging six times the £27 face price is the latest evidence that the no-longer-boy band's comeback is unique among pop reunions.
Taking into account the performance of their new album, Beautiful World, which has so far sold 1.3m copies and spawned two chart-topping singles - including the Brit award-winning Patience - Take That can justifiably claim to be one of the biggest groups in Britain.
Don't scoff. While it's not unheard of for a reunited pop band to sell thousands of concert tickets or to scramble back into the charts, hardly any achieve both. As All Saints know, most simply fizzle at the first hurdle. So, however improbable, it looks as if Take That really are back for good.
The funny thing is that - Robbie Williams possibly excluded - everyone seems to be delighted. Male, female, gay, straight - there's a consensus of positive feeling toward this reunion that's hard to believe. Reviewers have gone out of their way to be kind to Beautiful World, while the first series of comeback gigs last year were almost unanimously pronounced a terrific pop event - you would assume nobody had ever had a bad word to say about them.
Amid the gushing, it seems to have been forgotten that, in their first flowering, this band were vigorously despised by all but 14-year-old girls. Critics used to queue to slate them for their cheesiness, while Noel Gallagher's depiction of Robbie, circa 1995, as "the fat dancer from Take That" summed up the nation's prevailing view. Amazingly, all of that has been forgotten. Now critics can't get enough of them, a previously cynical male friend of mine admits he quite likes them these days, and Gary Barlow is £1m richer after publishing his autobiography. If they're not careful, Take That will end up national treasures. In fact, there may be no way to avoid it.
What has happened to sway opinion so dramatically? It's probably the Kylie factor: if a band take their lumps with good grace, and are witty with it, it goes a long way towards establishing them as official good eggs. Amazed that they've been given a second shot, Take That come across as people you wouldn't mind sharing an arena with. Their refusal to gloat about Williams' current troubles - beyond an impish suggestion that he might consider touring with them in December - also stands them in good stead. And so here they are, answering the call for a feel-good pop experience that everyone can enjoy without the need for guilty pleasures irony. Great - just as long as Boyzone don't start getting any ideas.
