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Review: Travis, Bristol Beacon – ‘More than three decades of anthems’
Sunday evening was drawing to a close when Fran Healy told the crowd at the Bristol Beacon that his band’s “national anthem”, namely Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, was up next.
It was the night’s last number, one that finally got the crowd in the balconies to their feet and just one of a number of songs in the set taken from Travis’ 1999 album, The Man Who.
This wasn’t a mild-mannered jaunt down memory lane, however, with an angry Fran Healy going on several expletive-laden rants about “greedy fuckers” and even imploring his fans to donate to food banks via Bankuet rather than buying any Travis merchandise.
is needed now More than ever
The band left the stage to the Cheers theme tune, Where Everybody Knows Your Name by Gary Portnoy, which they had earlier come on to following support acts Juanita Stein and Hamish Hawk.
A red circle above Healy for their first song Bus from Travis’ most recent album LA Times almost matched the dyed hair of the Scottish singer who told the crowd that Bristol was his second favourite city in the UK after his home town of Glasgow.
“Good people, good hearts, good souls, all that kind of shit,” was how Healy described it.
Travis bassist Dougie_Payne joined the band when they were still known as Glass Onion
There was a transatlantic feel to proceedings, with Raze The Bar written about a favourite New York drinking den and Naked in New York City accompanied by a video of a balloon floating serenely across the skyline of the Big Apple.
For Turn, the circle behind the band turned into a spinning glitterball; and for Driftwood, there was some flowing water.
Healy was on fine form and was the star of the show for most of the proceedings, with the crowd helping him hit some of the higher notes on Closer.
But he shared the limelight for Flowers in the Window with his bandmates, which saw drummer Neil Primrose on the tambourine, and guitarists Dougie Payne and Andy Dunlop showing off their party trick of both playing Healy’s guitar, one strumming and the other chord shaping.
They may have saved their national anthem until last but this was an evening packed with more than three decades of anthems for Travis’ fans; who left the Beacon to light drizzle on them.
All photos: @darrencphotography
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