And what a show it was - a spectacular two-hour circus themed show complete with hot air balloon, mechanical elephant and a huge array of acrobats, tight-rope walkers and trapeze artists made you scared to blink in case you missed something amazing.

Clowns in sky-coloured suits holding bunches of over-sized balloons began the show with the boys emerging from under the huge hot air balloon in the middle of the stadium to sing Greatest Day as hundreds of balloons were released into the sky.

For Back For Good Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald, scaled ladders as a stage waterfall soaked nearby fans.

Mark later performed Up All Night and Jason sang Wooden Boat and How Did It Come To This, before the boys donned clown outfits and applied clown make-up as they sang What Is Love?

The jaw-dropping show, named after their smash hit album The Circus, offered surprise after surprise where the songs were nearly second fiddle to the action, as they rattled off classics like A Million Love Songs, Pray and Could It Be Magic.

Jason, Mark and Howard then rode to the second stage on unicycles, and Gary, much to the amusement of the audience, rode a tiny bike with stabillisers.

And just when you thought they could have nothing else up their sleeves, a giant inflatable ringmaster puppet appeared on stage for Relight My Fire, as flames were fired into the night sky.

Acrobats on trampolines, trapezes, and dancers filled every part of the stage to ensure not a minute went by without something spectacular for our viewing pleasure.

The magnificent show was without doubt the best I have ever seen, and ended with a huge firework display as Gary and the boys sang Rule The World.

An absolutely incredible piece of showmanship that fans and non-fans alike could not help but love.

The band will play a second night in Sunderland tonight (Saturday), before moving on to Coventry, Dublin, Cardiff and Glasgow.