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| Fran Healy of Travis @ the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Scottish indie-rockers, Travis, finally made their way back to the States this past weekend with a show at The Fillmore to mark the start of a short (only 5-city) US tour. Originally planned as a larger outing this past March to celebrate the 20th anniversary and re-issuing of The Invisible Band album, that tour was cancelled and delayed not due to any Covid concerns, outbreaks or contagions, but due to a hand injury lead vocalist, Fran Healy, sustained while rescuing a dog from a multi-car accident that occurred outside his home. Healy commented at the time "in an attempt to save a dog, my finger was mashed up and so we had to cancel the April 2022 US tour." But now healed, Fran and the band were in high spirits as they hit the stage at the Fillmore on Friday night promptly at 9pm.
Talking of how they were going to play through the entire The Invisible Band album, Healy said, "if you just put the needle on the record and your living room door opens up and we sort of walk in... It's like a time machine, all of these songs mean so much to me and the band. And I'm sure these songs mean a lot to all of you, and so it's... for me, especially being here, it's quite an emotional thing. So enjoy the show! The second half of the show we'll come back out and play some hits, but let's enjoy The Invisible Band... I'm slightly nervous! I think I'm just excited!"
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| Travis @ the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
With that, the band launched into the opening song from the album "Sing" and for the next hour, played through the entire album in order. Fran stopped before just about every song with short stories that inspired each of the songs.
For "The Cage", Fran spoke of how he'd recently been heartbroken after being dumped by a girl. He spoke with his mom who made the analogy to a bird who flew away. If the bird returned, it was meant to be. And if not, so be it. In front of "Safe", Fran took a step into US politics and asked 'what the fuck is going on, for God's sake?' And then spoke about the upcoming mid-term elections where politicians are preying on fear -- and when we all don't feel 'Safe.'
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| Fran Healy of Travis @ the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
"Follow the Light" Fran admitted that the song was the closest song (in rhythm) the band's ever written to what's known in Scotland as a 'highland jig.' Joking, 'something like Riverdance before it got commercial.' There wasn't so much of a story before "Last Train", but the organ on stage didn't want to cooperate, and a roadie couldn't get it fixed, so the band went ahead of the song without the additional accompaniment.
"Indefinitely" as Fran described, is about a couple of things, but one is about a moment that you don't want to stop, something that you can just pause so it'll to last forever. But it's also about not wanting to die. Even more poignantly, Fran dedicated the very last song from the album, "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" to his best friend who passed away last year. The director of "Coming Around", the egg video. And for the longest time, he wasn't sure what the song was about. He wrote the song the day they filmed the video, but never really figured out what it was about until he lost him. So he asked everyone in the room to think about someone you love, have them in your mind during this song.
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| Fran Healy of Travis @ the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
One of the funniest moments of the night was a story about how Fran stole the chords to "Writing to Reach You" from Oasis' "Wonderwall". Back before they had a record deal, he stole the chord, but made a subtle change just in case he would ever meet Noel Gallagher at some point in the future. Plus, Noel himself would often talk about how he would steel chords from famous songs during his songwriting. Fast forward two years and Travis was out on tour with Oasis. And every night, Noel would stand at the side of the stage and watch the band, until one night as Fran was walking off stage, Noel said to him "nice fucking chords mate." It's no wonder considering the line in the song, "what's a wonderwall anyway?"
"Writing to Reach You" was probably one of the biggest highlights of the night -- outside of the full performance of The Invisible Band -- the band typically performs a short breakdown of "Wonderwall" during the song, but tonight, the crowd was singing along so loud, that the band seemed to extend the song further than normal. Fran was checking with the band during the song and said 'let's go for it!' at the point where they would normally segue back into "Writing..." The sheer emotional power within the Fillmore room at that point was simply amazing and easily the high point of the night if I had to pick just one segment of time.
Speaking of the Fillmore, Fran and the band absolutely loved the venue. Fran mentioned how he asked himself how many prior superstar musicians had touched the same railing he'd touched earlier after descending from the dressing room -- and the number of ghosts still within the venue.
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| Dougie Payne of Travis @ the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
"Turn" was another hit with the crowd and may have been the only song performed that gave bassist, Dougie Payne, a shot at lead vocals during the first verse. Known for backing-up Fran on vocals, he sounded great on lead and was nice to give him a bit more of the spotlight. I've neglected to mention much of the remainder of the band, but Fran was definitely the 'front' man, with the remainder solid musicians in their own right. Andy Dunlop stayed on the right of the stage and rotated between guitar, banjo and organ (if it was working!), and Neil Primrose was solid on drums that were dead center in the rear of the stage.
Before closing the main set with "Why Does it Always Rain on Me?" Fran joked who the band has a pet name for San Francisco... Fran's Man Disco... It went over my head, and most of the crowd, as Fran quickly pivoted with 'Anyway..." and thanked the crowd for coming and holding out for such a long time since they last toured.
The band took a quick break to return with their first single the band ever released, "U16 Girls" before closing the night with a cover of AC/DC's "Back in Black." Although the crowd loved U16, "Back in Black" seemed fairly lost on the crowd with Fran shifting from his silky smooth Scottish sing-along voice to a rock scream. There were a handful of guys in the audience who seemed to try and rock out, but the rest of the audience was kinda wondering what was going on. Was this the number the band would close the night with? It was. Considering the energy of how the evening was closing with "Closer", "Turn", and "Writing", I was surprised to hear the band end on AC/DC, but c'est la vie. Other than that closing number, the band sounded fantastic, the energy was palpable, and it was fantastic to hear the whole Invisible Band album played through. Let's hope they're able to get back to the States soon and if you're reading this from NYC, Philly, or DC, you've still got a chance to see them this week!
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