Gary Barlow, 55, has admitted that he really struggled with Take That’s stadium tour, The Circus Live, which ended at the weekend after 17 shows in the UK and Ireland – so much so that he can’t repeat it physically for a third time due to “age-related challenges”.
In an emotional statement on X, after the final show in Dublin on Saturday, the singer bravely wrote: “I was 38 when we originally did this show, and I have to say it’s been a whole other challenge doing it as a 55-year-old.”
“I just can’t see a way I could physically do this show again,” he continued honestly, while also mentioning it being the “best tour ever”, which is quite a feat 35 years into their career.
“So, it’s with an extremely heavy heart that I leave The Circus in my past. I got to run away with The Circus twice.”
For some, Barlow throwing in the towel is a sad admission of declining stamina – but for many others, it is extremely refreshing. Phew! Gary Barlow is part of the human race like the rest of us – and isn’t afraid to admit to ageing and fragility.
It must be excruciating pressure to perform like his former self when he first took the hit show on the road in 2009 – and for it not to feel like a nostalgia exercise. But he pulled it off – impressing fans with his dramatic fitness transformation ahead of the tour.
Before the gruelling tour started in May, he posted photos to his Instagram of himself jogging on treadmills while wearing a VO2 max mask, which restricts the volume of air inhaled, forcing the diaphragm and intercostal muscles to work harder.
The grey-bearded star also shared a shirtless photo of himself looking pained and serious during a workout, along with the caption: “Big physical push now for me – excited to be doing this Circus show – but I was 38 when we did it last”, along with the weary face emoji.
Other posts show him measuring the strength of his leg muscles on a Biodex leg-extension machine. While getting the results of his spine lab assessment, he jokingly wrote: “Still in one piece” alongside several crying and laughing emojis. In another showing him getting his bloods taken, he wrote: “No pain, no gain.”
Can you imagine Madonna, 67, doing this? Of course not – and that’s the problem. Barlow is going against the grain, unlike Madonna, who with new album Confessions II is straining to stay relevant, recently collaborating with younger star Sabrina Carpenter on the song “Bring Your Love”.
But apart from Madonna complaining about a “bad knee” last week to Interview magazine, Madonna strives to look and act as if ageing simply doesn’t exist.
It’s the same for so many ageing rockers. Mick Jagger, 82, said The Rolling Stones, who release a new album this week, are planning to head out on a stadium tour next year. Jagger was forced to undergo heart valve replacement surgery during the No Filter tour of 2019, but was soon back on stage as if nothing had happened to complete the tour.
Paul McCartney, 84, completed his epic Got Back Tour in 2025. Earlier this year, Bruce Springsteen, 76, and his E Street Band completed the 20-date Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour. Elton John’s record-breaking Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, spanning five years and 330 shows, officially ended in 2023 when he was 76.
Barry Manilow played his last London concert at the O2 Arena last month as part of a farewell tour – the performance coincided with his 83rd birthday. There are rumours Cher might tour again – her last one ended in 2020, when she was 74.
As a society, we understand that celebrities pretend that they don’t age – and pretend to breeze through stadium tours – setting an impossible bar for the rest of us, when ageing is a natural process.
From 50 onwards, we lose 1 per cent of our muscle mass annually, and our strength deteriorates at nearly double that rate. Bones lose density – raising the risk of osteoporosis. Although resistance training with weights and a high protein intake are the most effective ways to slow or reverse this loss, it can’t give you back that youthful get up and go.
Your heart rate variability drops as you age, indicating that your nervous system is struggling to recover from stress. Likewise, your vascular health takes a nosedive: blood vessels and arteries stiffen, so that it takes far longer for your blood pressure to stabilise and for your heart rate to recover after physical exertion.
While it’s wonderful not to see many of these ageing musicians marching on the spot or doing seated knee extensions like some others in their age bracket – and who wouldn’t prefer to be on a world tour than in a care home – it’s the lack of transparency about how hard it is that is the issue.
This incessant narrative that celebrities are eternally young – just like actors Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt present themselves – is damaging.
That’s why Gary Barlow has done us a huge favour. Considering he battled with an eating disorder in the 1990s – driven by his solo career bombing and his jealousy at former bandmate Robbie Williams’ success – it makes his candid honesty about bowing out of future Take That tours even more admirable because he is showing self-acceptance – something he clearly struggled with in his past with bulimia.
Yes, we can appreciate the years he gave us – but sometimes, we do want our heroes to be a little bit more like us.
