Seriously, what an awesome show Travis put up? My throat is sore from the screaming and 'singing', my feet are sore from the pogo-ing, my arms are sore from throwing them up in the air. They tore the Haus down!

When me and Marina arrived at Kool Haus around 6pm, there were aleady people in line. I guess you could say we were the early birds, as we ended up standing about 3 rows from the centre stage. The crowd kept growing behind us, and we tried to stand our ground and not be pushed away. Our only obstacle was an obnoxious girl next to us, who got drunk and wanted to party hard. She was screaming, shovelling, grinding into a taken man, spilling beer everywhere, and most ridiculously, smoking in the crowded venue. Her friend did nothing to control her. Getting off to such a rough start wasn't exactly what we had in mind, but the pest soon wriggled away from us thanks to Travis.

After the opening act, Strata, performed, 2 hours had gone by since our entry. The lights dimmed, spotlights circled above us. People started to turn their heads to the back and the lights focused into the crowd. Cheers erupted. The wait was over. The boys emerged dressed in boxing robes and the crowd parted for their entrance. All four were in arms length from where I stood, I felt dizzy already!

There was a mix of old and new songs, with Fran Healy on vocals and guitar, Douglas 'Dougie' Payne and Andy Dunlop on guitars, Neil Primrose with the drums and Swede touring pianist, Claus Bjorklund. Everyone was singing along to the tunes word for word. The boys were very interactive with the crowd. They got us to welcome Claus by shouting his name repeatedly while pointing at him, so to pressurize him into doing his best. I was hoping they did Big Chair and One Night, but one can't always ask for all..

Fran told us backstories for some songs, like how My Eyes was written for his child. When security was going around cracking down on people recording the performances - guilty as charged here - Fran came to we video-camers' aid and encouraged us to take as many pictures and videos we like, jokingly adding how more Live DVDs are long overdue and that we should upload our videos on YouTube and MySpace. They also got us to wave and make noise at a lappie perched atop a speaker, as it had been recording us come and go, and hopefully it will be up on Travis' MySpace.

While performing All I Want To Do Is Rock, Andy leaped over the barrier and charged into the crowd to where I was standing. He continued to rock the guitar on the floor in front of my very eyes, and shaked Marina's hand! It was crazy.. After the solo encore of 20, Fran was joined by the band for a Flowers In The Window singalong. At one point, he lifted his hands, and Dougie strummed while Andy took care of the other end of Fran's guitar.

As the final performance of the night rained on us, Fran urged us to 'pogo' (jumping up, down, up, down..) to the final chorus of Why Does It Always Rain On Me? I pogo-ed so hard that even though my legs felt like they were going to give way, I kept pushing myself and throwing my arms in the air. I did not care who I was bumping into as I landed on my feet each time, and we just went on till the last tune sounded and we were left breathless.

I would have posted this sooner, had it not been for the difficult picture/video-choosing decision. The night's setlist is captioned with the pictures..


Travis imprint


Opening act: Strata


Spotlights overhead


Fran and Dougie


Dougie and Neil


Fran, Dougie, Neil and Andy


Hey Selfish Jean


Eyes Wide Open in the darkness


Interval after Writing To Reach You


Love Will Come Through


Travis breaks and discusses


As You Are


Ya ya yay, ya ya yay, you got My Eyes


Pipe Dreams


Fran ties his shoelaces like we do


This Line Is Fine


The grass is always greener on the other Side


Drum stunt with Driftwood


I have a Good Feeling, followed by Closer


Sing to the Battleship


Andy says: All I Wanna Do Is Rock


And so he does


Power to Turn


Flying solo with 20


Flowers In The Window, it's such a lovely day


Dougie guitaring on Humpty Dumpty Love Song


Fran mimicking the violin start to Why Does It Always Rain On Me?


Goodbye boys!
And for the videos.. Finally settled on a few that have slightly scrapped by recording my awfully out of tune and cracking voice on tape. I thought my voice blended in with the crowd's.. Apparently not. My camera somehow managed to pick that up.


Closer


Sing (credit to Marina)


20 and an introduction to Claus (credit to Marina)


Flowers In The Window and Fran's freehands


Why Does It Always Rain On Me? and sadly cuts off as I was doing the pogo!
Seriously, what a blast! I enjoyed it so much, even more so than Mr Rice's, sadly for him. The merchandise store was flooded with people, and despite the shortage of sizes, I got an XL Selfish Jean t-shirt, the very same design Fran was wearing, to serve as a token of reminder of the fabulous time I had. Because I heart them so, I'm spreading the Travis-love around. Do give them a listen if you haven't.

They may have taken the backseat for a while, but Travis proves that they still have the soul, energy and commitment of the band that founded the sounds of Brit alternative-rock. If they ever come to town again, and they better do, consider myself present.