Huge demand for Take That tickets crashes websites

Take That sold one million tickets for their latest tour in less than 24 hours yesterday.

Ticket agencies struggled to cope with fans reporting websites crashing and phone lines being constantly engaged under the weight of the massive demand.

New dates were also added to the tour which will be the first time all five members of the band – Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald – have performed together since 1995. A statement issued by the band said: "We are speechless, truly and utterly shocked. This is the most amazing news for all of us. To sell one million tickets in a day is mind-blowing and we think we'll be in shock for a few days! We want to thank everyone who has bought tickets today and look forward to seeing them next year."

Tickets went on sale at 9am yesterday morning and by 2pm new dates had been added to the tour in Sunderland, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and London. Fans queued overnight outside venues to get their hands on tickets.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster said "totally unprecedented demand" had left the company struggling to cope.

Fans logged on to social networking sites to complain about the situation. One, Laura Docherty, wrote on the band's Facebook page: "I got tickets. But I've never experienced every website down. Got tickets in the end. Good luck to you all who are trying."