THEY may be down to three but Take That are still very much pop royalty.

Thousands of fans packed the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on Monday night for the North-East leg of the band’s UK tour.

Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald took to the stage to perform tracks from the album ‘III’ as well as classics from the days with Jason Orange and Robbie Williams.

Fans were promised a spectacular show and with previous tours having featured holograms, giant elephants and a 60ft robot, anticipation was at fever pitch.

The three piece opened with I Like It from the new album, and followed it up with Greatest Day from 2008 album The Circus.

Greeting the North-East crowd, the band said in unison: "We are what's left of Take That."

The set featured unicycles, a giant hamster wheel, colourful cityscapes and an explosion of colourful confetti.

Speaking as the tour was announced the trio said: “Playing live is something we love the most about what we do and we're looking forward to putting on the most amazing show we can.

“It will have been four years since our last tour so we're really keen to get back out on the road to play some of our biggest songs from the last 20 years alongside our new ones.”