Scottish melancholy masters haven’t lost their magic touch
Travis are back with a bang. After three years out, the Glasgow-born soft-rockers have unveiled a new single, announced the release of a new album, and put a bunch of UK tour dates on sale. Their new stuff is great, too – they’ve still got the huge choruses and atmospheric guitars that made them famous, but they
We wouldn’t have thought that we’d ever be seeing a band who’ve headlined Glastonbury playing in a pub in North London. This is why we were pleasantly surprised when Travis announced that they’d be playing two shows at London’s two-hundred-capacity The Lexington. Here are the highlights:
Writing To Reach You
As second-songs-in-setlists go, this one isn’t half bad. It’s an early highlight, and it’s still one of the band’s defining tracks – frontman Fran Healy’s vocals are allowed to take centre stage, as his gravelly tones guide the band through three-and-a-half minutes of indie-rock perfection:
Driftwood
What a song this is. That is all.
3 Miles High
This one’s the first single to be taken from their new album, and it’s an instant classic. A catchy-as-hell chorus and churning guitars combine to make a track that sounds as beautifully bittersweet as it does timeless. It somehow sounds even better live, too:
Blue Flashing Light
One of the bonus tracks on The Man Who, Blue Flashing Light is a thought-provoking little thunderbolt of an indie-rock song. It’s a real hidden gem, and one that allows Healy’s talents as a frontman to shine through. Comprised mainly of heavy guitars and thumping drums, it’s arguably one of their best songs, and it’s a real treat to hear them play it live:
Side
The band introduce this song as ‘a song about how everybody always wants what someone else has’, but we’re going to introduce it by saying that it’s really, really bloody good. A highlight of the gig, and a classic to boot:
Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
Why Does It Always Rain On Me? is Travis’s calling card for a reason. It’s a modern classic with real meaning, a fantastic pop song, and the undisputed highlight of the gig. ‘Nuff said:
