Gary Barlow gives blessing to fans using VPNs to bypass Take That concert From Home geo-restrictions

The remaining members of Take That are reuniting with that pesky old scamp Robbie Williams tonight, for a concert that’s going to be live streamed for free on YouTube. Don’t you worry, Gary “Gareh Baahlore” Barlow, Marc Owen and Howard Donald will all be social distancing at their respective homes. Sadly there’s no sign of Jason Orange, for whom Love Ain’t Here Anymore.

The other big scandal is that only people based in the UK are allowed to tune in.

Related: Here’s the full list of films releasing early to streaming and on-demand services

However, a couple of fans have pointed out on Twitter that there may be a way for Take Thatters based outside the UK to get around the geo-restriction. Could It Be Magic? Nope. It’s in fact a VPN… and Gary Barlow’s only gone and given the method his blessing (via TorrentFreak). Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll.

Tweets endorsing Windscribe, TunnelBear and Hola VPN have been retweeted by Barlow, but it’s well worth doing your homework before signing up to one.

VPN stands for virtual private network. You can use them for privacy reasons, since they encrypt and anonymise your internet use. The other big draw is that they can also allow you to appear as if you’re in a completely different country, and therefore provide access to the likes of the US version of Netflix, for instance.

Or, in this case, a UK-only Take That live stream.

However, some can be slow, some are expensive, and some don’t actually work for streaming services. We’ve tested loads of free and subscription services, and here’s our roundup of the best VPNs available, and here’s one that’s purely focused on the best VPNs for streaming.

We’re not sure how the concert’s organiser, Meerkat Music, will feel about Barlow’s relaxed attitude to this naughty rule breaking, but they should be more than familiar with the crooner’s Do What U Like attitude.

That said, he’s also been known to distance himself from his own words and deeds, once famously saying, “Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it.”

The Take That concert kicks off at 8pm BST tonight (Friday, May 29). You can watch it on YouTube, via the CompareTheMeerkat channel.