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Live Review
by Asno J. Helden
22-12-2001
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| A customised common-man |
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Live: Travis
Hammersmith Apollo, London
Friday, December 21, 2001
Scottish pop giants Travis strike a Xmas note with everybody but this reviewer
The Travis’ tour to promote their album ‘The Invisible Band’ reaches London for the third time (in six months) and the place is under siege, again. ‘Spare ticket?’ is the chant of desperation lining up from the tube station to the venue but there are no takers. The good ol’ faves are in town and tickets are more prized than a night with Alicia Keys. (Not for me, geek - ed.) But, why is this decent but insipid and neutral music triggering so many sonic orgasms?
Travis might have been in the forefront of the contemporary lo-fi school of guitar bands, responsible for the acceptance of supporting Doves (as much as Coldplay, Elbow, Starsailor et al) but they’ve long turned into mid-fi territory. It’s very pleasant pop-rock music that certainly touches hearts but it lacks originality, ingenuity or spirit. What these Glaswegians do have in abundance is self-belief and a humility that endears them to mass public. To hear these thousands sing along to ‘Writing To Reach You’ would freak out Siggy Freud – there’s a fanatical willingness at play to get sucked into this ordinary music.
It could well be that the world has become less demanding and easier to please. Travis play selection from the current album and people listen carefully, with ‘Sing’ already feeling like having been a soundtrack to an affair, but these fans are dying for that ‘Rain’ song. Fran Healy has grown as a performer and his level of confidence has been markedly upped. (Success, backed by surrounding yes-people, does that to anyone.)
Travis are like the British third political party, Lib-Dems: sugar-coating an illusion of choice. They sound, to these discerning ears, like music parents like and that’s what is annoying, it has become such commodity that it is acceptable to like mediocrity. Fran goes for a no-mike solo performance of the acousto-ballad ‘20’ but manages to reassure a photographer “It’s OK, I can concentrate enough for you to take pictures.”
The band reappears for a rendition of Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ and fans pile out for their sweaty-happy-faces to be slapped by frosty night but they do not vacate the Travis-induced dreamland. The journo ponders on a referendum about rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall and keeping this crass pop as ‘inaudible band’.
(More) Tour dates:
25 February - Arena, Nottingham
26, 27 February - Pavillions, Plymouth
01 March - NIA, Birmingham
04 March - Arena, Sheffield
05 March - Arena, Newcastle
07, 18 March - Exhibition Centre, Aberdeen
08, 09, 19, 20 March - SECC, Glasgow
11 March - International Arena, Cardiff
12, 13 March - Wembley Arena, London
15 March - Evening News Arena, Manchester
16 March - Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Asno J. Helden
22-12-2001
‘The Invisible Band’ by Travis was released 11 June 2001 on Independiente/SINE
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