Travis live in London - Tiscali Music News

2001-12-28

Aah, the lovely Travis, the band you could take home to meet your parents. Dontcha just love 'em?

Well actually, not everyone does. The backlash began a while back when critics started accusing them of being too safe and boring to be considered rock'n'roll. Their habit of singing drippy love songs and writing lyrics that only contain one word, along with the plain and simple fact that they're more likely to make a cup of tea after a gig than go on a debaucherous drugs-induced frenzy has done nothing to endear them to the music press. But hey, they sell by the bucket-load so who cares what a journalist thinks?

Despite a large, if predictable, crowd - vast numbers of students, young couples who spend the whole gig holding hands and swaying, 40-somethings trying to be down with the kidz, women old enough to know better cooing over Fran - the atmosphere is virtually non-existent.

No fault of the audience or the band, it's just that the Hammersmith Apollo, with its tiers of velvet seats, seems better suited to a family pantomime than even the politest rock'n'roll. People standing in neat rows, singing and clapping, without a hint of smoke or alcohol ... Hmmm, what does that remind us of? Oh yes - church! Well, maybe it's that bad, but it's exactly rocking either.

Crap choice of venue aside, Travis are excellent. The show opens with a montage of video clips of punters singing their songs karaoke style, showing the boys know they've got a 'nice' image and aren't afraid to laugh at themselves for it. The movie ends with bassist Dougie Payne singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas, bless him, so opening with Sing seems rather apt.

Fran Healy, looking lithe and wearing a black vest (has he been taking tips from Geri?) knows how to work a crowd. But then again, they have been touring, like, forever. In between regaling the audience with Christmas anecdotes and advising them to avoid fighting over Harry Potter toys at Hamley’s, he slips us their best work.

Fear is accompanied by fiery visuals and looks pretty impressive; Flowers In The Window is dedicated to the band's girlfriends and 'anyone trying for a baby' - um, thanks Fran, anything you'd like to share with us? The hits keep rolling: Driftwood, Coming Around, Turn, Side and Why Does It Always Rain On Me? are delivered to an enthusiastic crowd. Dougie even gets the chance to sing his song, Ring Out The Bell.

And seeing how it's the festive season, Fran treats the crowd to a unplugged Celtic number, which is marred only by a couple of people shouting: "Play Wonderwall!" But, Fran being Fran, he tells them to shut up and then thanks the audience for being so polite when he's finished.

They close with Happy, and when the band finally leave the stage, that's just what the crowd are.