Take That's Howard Donald made a surprising end-of-life admission as he reflected on their latest epic tour coming to an end. Last Tuesday (July 14), the 58-year-old musician confessed he would "die a happy man" knowing that the band has achieved in more than three decades. This summer, Take That fans have been showering the group with praise after they revived their memorable Circus Live tour 17 years after their last performance.
The tour first took to the stage back in 2009 and broke records as the fastest-selling tour in history, selling more than 600,000 tickets in under five hours. The tour also attracted over one million fans to the sell-out shows across the UK and Ireland.
The Circus Live 2026 tour saw Howard, Gary Barlow and Mark Owen reboot the tour, which featured one of the band's most-celebrated live productions. The tour featured fire-breathers, stilt-walkers, clowns, acrobats, tap dancers, and a 30-foot-tall mechanical elephant.
The stadium run, which included some of their biggest hits, began at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium in May and continued to travel the length and breadth of the UK, including four epic homecoming shows at Manchester's Etihad Stadium, before concluding in Dublin earlier this month.
More than a week since they pulled down the curtain on the Circus, Howard took to social media to reflect on the epic tour coming to an end, admitting it hasn't been easy. Sharing pictures from the tour over the past few months, the dad-of-four penned: "It's taken me time to process the events of the last three months and my head has been in different places, so here goes...
"Forgive me if it's all over the place, and my English sucks! PTB (post tour blues) is a thing and takes a while to disappear for some of us (especially me) takes a hold of you and your body craves to move and doesn't want to stop performing even though your body hurts and your throat is done!
"You crave the hotels, travel and cities along the way and crave being away from the energy of your children, but at the same time love when they come on our. We are well looked after by our Linda! But the reality is, after a tour, your body goes into a coma and says, 'Don't you date, stretch, dance, or lift anything!'
"You also have to go back into full parent mode when you are slightly depressed about the tour finishing. The end is never a nice thing to look forward to because your brain goes, 'Why can't I have more, more, more rather than ending something on top?'
"The love, energy and pure excitement on the faces in the crowd is hard to shake and stays etched into your brain when you close your eyes at night. You run through the routines and the show in your mind, and look at the time, thinking this is what I would be doing now! The rush of being out of breath and sweating coming off stage! What a drug!"
The performer went on to admit that he would "die a happy man" knowing that he had delivered joy and great hits to his loyal legion of fans throughout his career. He gushed: "There will never be a show as good as this one, but we will always give a great, creative show that people will always love!"
It didn't take long for viewers to flock to the comments to pass along their congratulatory messages online. One user penned: "Oh, Howard. Spoken from the heart! The joy you bring us is amazing. I'm in awe of how you managed to do so many shows so close together. Now is a good time for reflection and refocusing. So excited to see what's to come next! Thank you for the memories!"
Another echoed: "Awwwww love this Howard!! We love you so much! It was the best tour ever!! Cannot wait to see you again!! Roll on the next tour!!!" A third chimed in with: "Thank you for sharing this with us, Howard. We really appreciate everything you and the whole team do. We love you all, and it's clear how much hard work, passion and love go into every single show. Thank you for giving us such an unforgettable tour."
