Travis @ O2 Academy Birmingham : 12/05/2016

Everybody knows Travis and everybody knows a Travis song. You might think you don’t
but you do. Two multi-platinum albums which topped the UK album
charts in the late 90’s/early 00’s (The Man Who and The Invisible
Band) and headlining slots at Glastonbury and T In The Park saw them
gain international recognition and gave us songs that can frequently
be heard on the radio to this day. In short it’s impossible you’ve
not heard a Travis song at least once in your life. They may not be
in the public eye as much in 2016 but they remain a hugely respected
live band and their latest tour which arrived in Birmingham on
Thursday night in support of their new album Everything At Once sees
Travis showing no signs of slowing up.

Travis took to the stage shortly after 9pm on Thursday night and eased into the gig
with What Will Come, an instantly catchy song that hits the heights
of anything the band did during their (to date) most successful
period and is also the opener to the new album. What followed was the
customary mix of new and old material with the most familiar of the
main set being Coming Around, Writing To Reach You, Driftwood, Sing,
Closer, All I Want To Do Is Rock and Turn. Newer songs such as Radio
Song, Paralysed, Animals and Idlewild are instantly accessible but
from a band like Travis you’d expect nothing less. Whilst the
Academy was under capacity on the night and the crowd were
(surprisingly for Birmingham) a tough nut to crack they couldn’t
resist lead singer Fran Healy’s infectious enthusiasm and were soon
completely onside with the band, especially when Healy waded into the
crowd during Where You Stand for a round of selfies. Sharing with
everyone that he was born 30 miles away in Stafford and has always
harboured an affection for the ladies of Birmingham also helped
soften them up. Healy is one of the most under rated frontmen in live
music. He plays guitar and sings as if every song is the best song
they’ve ever written and between songs he engages crowds in such a
way that it feels like he’s talking to his mates. Dougie Payne
(bass), Andy Dunlop (lead guitar) and Neil Primrose (drums) are happy
to let Healy lead the gig but it’s clear the enthusiasm and love
for performing live runs through the band.

After a main set of almost twenty songs the band left the stage but were soon to
return for a four song encore. Two off the new album, one being
Magnificent Time which was accompanied by Healy attempting to lead
the (now eating out of the palm of his hand) crowd in the
choreographed routine seen in the video. It’s understandable if you
read that last sentence with more than a hint of cynicism but since
the song is 2:50 of pure joy then they’re allowed to indulge and if
2500 pissed up Brummies are willing to go along with it then it can’t
be all bad. Flowers In The Window, co-written (uncredited) by Paul
McCartney and Why Does It Always Rain On Me were the “classics”
to round off the encore which sent everyone home with a grin on their
face and singing random Travis choruses at the traffic flying by on
Bristol Street.

You get the impression Travis are one huge song away from filling
arenas again and the fact they continue to produce the goods and can
boast more anthems than most of today’s arena and stadium bands is
testament to how good (and underappreciated) they are.

-Dave Bott

Words

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Live Review - Travis