It was a miserable night, and after spending the previous four nights on the lash (thanks to a long weekend), I found myself unsurprisingly jaded and so trekking out to Hammersmith for a gig was not exactly what I felt like doing.
However, the gig happened to be Travis, who, after a 3 year hiatus – making music and babies apparently – are back with a new album (blessedly not filled with monosyllabic ditties a la ‘sing’ and ‘turn’).
Travis seemed as eager to be back on the stage as their fans were to see them on the stage and they put on a mighty show.
These charming Scottish lads sometimes get a bad rap, mainly from the ‘too cool for school’ brigade who think they’re soft and lump them in the same category as Coldplay, a band I also like, but who were once amusingly described by Oasis’ manager Alan McGee as playing ‘music for bedwetters’.
Anyway, Travis may well pull out a slow jam or two, but live they’re damn good fun and they did their fair share of rocking out.
Their entrance was choice. Apparently they were bored of coming on ‘the usual way’ for the last decade, and so decided a Rocky Bilboa style entrance was in order. The lights were out and to create a sense of drama we were blasted with the 20th century fox theme. Then the lights blared on and to the tune of Rocky, out came the boys, spotlit as they snaked through the masses; Fran holding his mic high like a trophy.
Once on stage they let the tunes flow, with energetic renditions of sing-along crowd pleasers such as ‘side’, ‘turn’ and ‘sing’ and the odd bit of witty banter in between. There was plenty of kicks and leaps from Fran and Andy, a fair share of sexy swaggering from Dougie the bassist, and even a great crowd-surfing whilst guitar-playing ensemble from Andy. The set list was peppered with new tracks which met a good reception also; particularly the rocky opener ‘selfish jean’.
Towards the end, Fran delivered a lovely acoustic rendition of ‘flowers in the window’. He usually does this one alone, but dedicated the track to Klaus the cute young Swedish keyboardist who had got engaged the day before. The band were invited out to join Fran on stage and they all stood behind in a heart-warming show of solidarity, and at the end they all gave little Klaus a hug. Awwww!
The finale, predictably was ‘why does it always rain on me’, to which many fans reacted by grabbing their brollies, and thrusting them in the air. It was a sight that evoked their famous gig at Glastonbury ‘99 where as they played the opening chords, the skies suddenly opened and another Glasto downpour began.
Fran demanded that everyone ‘pogo’ to the last chorus and pogo we did. I jumped for so long (it was a damn long chorus) that I thought I’d buggered my knee at the end of it, but it turned out OK. So after it ended all too soon, the fans left tired and wobbly-legged but happy and certainly all the better for that trek to Hammersmith.