Take That Tour 2026 brings four Etihad shows for Manchester homecoming
take that tour 2026 reaches Manchester with four homecoming shows at the Etihad Stadium, putting Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen in front of a hometown crowd on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and July 1. The run is part of the rebooted Circus Live stadium tour, which began last month in Southampton and has already moved through Coventry, Sunderland, Glasgow and Cardiff.
Etihad stadium run
The Manchester dates are the biggest local stop on a 2026 stadium circuit built around the revived Circus Live production. Take That last staged the show in 2009, and the new version keeps the scale large enough to fill a two-hour slot with material spread across the main stage, the B stage and the central runway.
That layout matters for anyone planning a night at the Etihad because the band is not treating the set like a straight concert. Circus performers join the trio on stage, and the production brings acrobats, tightrope walkers, fire-breathers and trapeze artists into the performance rather than leaving them as separate pre-show noise.
Belinda Carlisle and The Script
Belinda Carlisle is one of the support acts, with The Script also on the bill and Danny O'Donoghue fronting the group. The stage times are subject to change, so the practical value for ticket-holders is simple: arrive early enough to catch the support sets rather than assuming Take That will be on immediately.
The line-up is still the stripped-back version of the band, with Barlow, Donald and Owen carrying the tour without the wider original configuration. That puts more weight on the production around them, especially in a stadium run where the scale has to do as much of the work as the set list.
30ft elephant at Etihad
One of the stranger pieces of the show is a 30ft animatronic elephant that walks through the crowds at the Etihad. Take That also perform some of their 90s classics in clown garb, which keeps the Circus Live theme visible rather than leaving it as a title only.
For Manchester buyers, the clean takeaway is the timing: Friday, Saturday and Sunday night are the first three Etihad dates, with July 1 as the fourth and final homecoming show. Anyone heading in for the weekend should plan around a packed stadium production, multiple support acts and a show built to move across every part of the venue.
