Tribute act given thumbs up to continue ruling the world

Rule The World, who perform in Motherwell Concert Hall later this month, were invited to meet Mark Owen, Gary Barlow and Howard Donald on the Graham Norton Show and were delighted to get their seal of approval.

Matt Hall, who performs as Mark Owen, said: “The producers of the show were good enough to arrange for us to spend some time with Take That.

“It’s fair to say we were a little nervous as we weren’t sure whether they would like us or not, maybe they’d tell us to stop doing the act, but happily they were so lovely and really encouraging.”

Rule The World, made up of Matt, Gabriel Keogh as Howard and Dan Maines as Gary, were formed 10 years ago and try to keep up to date with the real band including the departure of Jason Orange.

Matt said: “Over the last decade we’ve evolved to mirror Take That, last year when we came to Motherwell there were four of us, now we are a three-piece, in addition instead of a backing track we have a proper band so even for those who’ve seen us before it should be a new experience.

“The tribute market is saturated so you really have to work hard to stand out, but I think that hard work is paying off as we are so busy and I’m looking forward to the release of Take That’s new album next month so we have new material to work with.”

The show starts at 7.30pm on Friday, February 24, and tickets costing £14 are available by calling 01698 403120 or visiting Culture NL

The Times & Speaker has two pairs of tickets to give away, for your chance to win complete the following song title “Relight my ...”

Send your entries, with your name, address and daytime telephone number, to: Tribute Contest, Motherwell Times/Bellshill Speaker, 10-12 Tay Walk, Cumbernauld G67 1BU by Tuesday, February 14.