Mooi Weer De Leeuw - Almere

Early Saturday morning, after a short night, the horrors of an alarm clock... But the horror was for a good cause: Take That's appearance in a Dutch show.


So Sofie, Tamara and Nathalie left at 6.15 am to pick up Lindsy and Els. The five of them started the party in the car, who was baptised to 'Toffetantemobiel' by Lindsy... They arrived at Schiphol at 8.30 am to find out that they did not miss a thing yet!
The waiting had started and some random driver made it interesting immediately: he kept up a sign for 'Mike Stevens'... They ofcourse kept their eye on this man and followed him to his passengers, only to see tha backside of his passenger and think it was not Take That's musical director. (while posting the blog, Nathalie has figured out that it must have been Mike Stevens anyway, since the driver has been seen by her on a picture taken hours later of Mark Owen arriving and this driver walking right next to him. And she saw Mike leaving the hotel on Sunday morning as well).

More and more fans appeared at gate 1 and finally got rewarded for their patience. James came out, so all the cameras came out as well! Gary was the first to appear and the first to dissapear, followed by Howard. Jason bumped into a wall of fans as did Mark. Both of them took some more time to 'meet and greet'...

They were escorted to their 'A-team like van' and drove off. Sofie, Els en Nathalie ran to go pay the parking and faught with the machine, while Lindsy and Tamara already made their way to the car. Nathalie jumped behind the wheel and hurried to the studios. They saw the two vans (the second one for the management and I guess Liz the hair and make-up artist) but weren't able to catch up in time and missed their entrance.



At the studios, a big tent was placed with a TV inside, so the fans outside could follow the recordings. What a nice gesture, especially since it was raining!
Paul had a laugh with the two Dutch fanclubs, with the fans outside and then got on with the rest of the show.

By the time Take That was on, the four crazy Belgians left in the cold (Lindsy had one a ticket) were waiting in the car... Why in the car you ask? Well, you better just don't ask!
Arrived in Amsterdam and waited around hoping to see them again. Unfortunately James told all the fans there was no use in waiting, Take That would not go anywhere anymore... So they went of for dinner ourselves and after passing by the hotel once more, went to their own 5 star hotel. They pampered themselves with long hot showers, candy and some jenever and had an early night, since the horror of the alarm clock would wake them again very early!



At 6 am, they got up. Els took a shower, while the other 3 (Lindsy went back to Belgium after the show) tried to figure out how that bloody 'teletekst' works in the Netherlands. Don't ask them how they did it, but they managed to find the flights to Zurich... Sofie was still in the shower, but was told to hurry up. Nathalie and Tamara than had a quick wash in the bathroom and changed, since they all thought they were running late to see Take That leave the hotel.

So at 6.45 they were at the hotel, the same time 2 German fans showed up. A few minutes later 2 others followed as well and even more later some Dutch fans as well. Finally at 8.15 the vans arrived and the nerves could grow bigger. James came out, so did Liz and Jonathan, their manager.

Mark was the first one to come out in the sunshine and still seemed slightly drunk. Than there was Gary, who took the time to go on a picture with a Dutch fan. Right after him was Howard, who dissapeared in the van quite fast... He had sunglasses on and gave the impression he had been at Marks party. Jason was the last to show off his beautiful self. He was proud of his Amsterdam sweater, was all smiley and listened very carefully to Judith, the lovely German girl who asked him to look her way for the picture she was about to take of him and ................ NATHALIE!!
Nathalies first ever picture with a member of the almighty Take That!

(Thank you James, for allowing ;-) )

Than they were off to face probably a huge bunch of fans at Schiphol again.

For the Belgians, it had been good and crazy enough. They went back to the hotel, to have breakfast in style. And Nathalie had her shower (which she needed badly after being sick (literally) of relief). Check out, a last sigh and then in the car, for a very karaokestyle drive home...

What a weekend, what an adventure!!!