Travis
24 Dec 1999
The lights went
down and the support band came on stage - The Clint Boon Experience. After every
song the lead singer kept mentioning that Travis were the best f@#king band in
Britain at the moment and the crowd agreed!! They played quite a long set with a
familiar song, 'White No Sugar', which the crowd helped sing along. 'Climbing
Back Inside The Dream' and 'Not Enough Purple, Too Much Grey' went down a treat
with the crowd, and they finished with an interesting song titled 'Now I Wanna
Be Your Dog'. This is definitely a band to watch out for in the future and I was
very lucky to get their album signed, a setlist and meet the drummer at the end
of the gig!!
Travis came on stage with a roar of the crowd and Fran said "It's Christmas
eve!!" - the screams could be heard for miles!! 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock',
'u16 girls', 'Driftwood', 'Writing To Reach You', 'Blue Flashing Light', 'Turn'
and the new single 'Coming Around' (which sounds better every time I hear it!)
were the crowd pleasers. Fran sang a solo Joni Mitchell favourite, 'River',
which really showed his vocal range, but surprisingly the people around me
didn't know any of the words to the song, even though I made up for them by
singing really loudly. Fran even turned round and smiled at me!!
Unfortunately, the lowpoint of the gig was a guy who threw a pint over the stage
and hit the microphone. Fran shouted, "Stop the music!! Put the lights on
over the crowd. Who threw that?? Was it you??", he pointed to the right of
the stage. "It's people like you that spoil it for everyone else, stupid
Bastard!! I dedicate this song to everyone else in the room that doesn't throw
pints!!" Fran has some temper but the crowd cheered and applauded with
agreement at him saying that.
A
special screen went over the stage where we could see the silhouettes of Fran,
Dougie, and Andy (with his dodgy dancing!!); and they showed slides of last year
- there were pictures of pumpkins that Fran and Dougie had made, pictures of
fans they had met all around the world and of concerts they had played. The
screen went down, Fran changed his guitar to an acoustic and asked the crowd
"Has anyone here fallen in love?? This next song is a beautiful love
song." 'Luv' was played to perfection and as another little, special extra,
Fran and Dougie, for the last time ever, played their cover of 'Hit Me One More
Time' - an excellent gift to give to their fans at Christmas, something everyone
at the gig will remember forever!! Before they went off stage, Andy had a bottle
of water he had drank out of and personally handed it to my friend Karleen who
had been screaming at him all the way through the concert!! He threw his towel
at me but three other girls had a catfight over it and it was ripped to shreds.
He then climbed on to the speakers and didn't have a clue how to get down!!!
Fran couldn't stop laughing at him; he jumped down and it looked as if he had
hurt himself, but everyone cheered anyway!
They ended on a high note, 'Happy', and wished everyone "A f@#king
excellent Christmas and New Year!"
That gig certainly was the best Christmas yet. I've discovered another band I
like and the new year will bring another superb album to own by Travis.
Claire Cairnduff
This Review was Originally Featured at BBC Scotland Online
at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/inside_r1/session_scotland/
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