BACK in the grim days of the mid-1990s, when Take That announced they were no more, Mark Owen was the first to release a solo album.

Spawning hits like Clementine and Child, sadly Green Man failed to really dent the charts.

Over the intervening years – appearances on Big Brother and the reformation of the country's finest and greatest “man band” notwithstanding – Owen has continued to record with varying success.

No, he can't sell out stadiums like his sometime colleague Robbie Williams and he isn't an X Factor judge, but Four Minute Warning is undeniably a slice of pure indie-pop heaven.

And now the most mortherable Take Thatter is back with a new album, The Art of Doing Nothing, and a new tour to boot.

Appearing at The Ritz the night before aforementioned Williams is due to perform at Manchester Arena, it was clear Owen had stepped out of his comfort zone – and was a man ready to stand on his own.

Before I continue, I have to confess I am a die-hard Take That fan. I first saw “the boys” 20 years ago and have been to each one of their increasingly more extravagant gigs since they made a nation (well, one half of it anyway) sigh with relief with they finally got back together.

Yes, it would be fair to say the vast majority at the sell-out concert were with me in their adoration of Take That and putty in the Oldham singer's hand.

But that should take absolutely nothing away from the beautifully crafted, at times anthemic, at others unapologetically “poppy”, set.

Owen doesn't need 60ft robots or walking elephants to make his show a fans' favourite.

Yes, Owen threw in one or two Take That numbers, mainly the ones he sings lead vocals, such as Shine, but even each of these had his own twist to it.

The highlights for me were the fantastic Raven, the wonderful End of Everything and, the frankly amazing, Heaven's Falling.

Old “classics” Clementine and Four Minute Warning were greeted with rapture from the audience, whose cheers were deafening.

And when Owen, who had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand from the moment he stepped on stage, sang the final few bars of Up All Night, it was clear that the audience could have done just that, listening to his latest artistic triumph.

This man deserves as much success as his band mates – wouldn't it be nice if this time he got it.