Travis

This past Sunday, Ann and I were lucky enough to catch Travis at the Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta. The Scottish quartet is touring in support of their new album, The Boy With No Name.

Ann and I reckoned that it had been six years since we'd seen Travis in concert (back in 2001, we were luck enough to see them twice in as many days, once as the opening act for Dido at Lakewood Amphitheater, once at a 99x LiveX performance for about a hundred people). But despite the passage of time, Ann made it readily apparent that her crush on Fran Healy is as healthy as ever. In fact, it was only tempered by her sudden interested in bassist Dougie Payne.

It was a fantastic show – a fact which we regularly communicated by text and picture message to our fellow Travis fan Will who, by a curse of timing and geography, was stuck in Virginia working. The show opened strong, with the band running in through the crowd while the Rocky theme thundered through the Tabernacle. Ann and I were close to the stage, in the sweaty press of people who both got to high-five the bad as they entered and then turn around and enjoy the show from a scant 10 feet away.

The show made me realize that Travis really needs a live album. Andy Dunlop's raging guitar is rarely heard on the band's polished studio albums. One has to turn to a Travis DVD to really get a good idea of how energetic the band is in person.

The show's highlights were easily their surprise covers of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and "Back In Black." Fran Healy really channeled AC/DC raspy vocals on the latter. We were a little disappointed that "Blue Flashing Light" didn't make it into the encore, but the such is a monir criticism of an otherwise great performance.

The Sunday, July 29 show at the Tabernacle in Atlanta featured the following setlist:
Selfish Jean
Eyes Wide Open
Writing To Reach You
Love Will Come Through
As You Are
My Eyes
Pipe Dreams
Big Chair
Side
Driftwood
Good Feeling
Closer
Sing
Battleships
All I Want To Do Is Rock
Turn

Encore:
Baby One More Time (acoustic Britney Spear's Cover)
Flowers In The Window (acoustic)
The Humpty Dumpty Love Song
Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
Back In Black (AC/DC Cover)

More pictures from the show can be found at TravisOnline.com.