“It’s cold outside, but it’s warm in here…” Raze the Bar
There’s something about the seemingly innate positivity of the Scottish band, Travis, that’s hard to resist. Sure, it’s partly the infectious Beatlesque hooks of songs like “Sing” and “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” — but recently listening to singer Fran Healy talking to the crowd at the 9:30 Club, I think that good nature goes beyond those hooky tunes.
Travis has been a band since 1990, and they’ve release 10 full-length albums. As Healy put it, “we’re an old band.”
“If you’re here tonight it means you’re really special. It does!,” Healy said at 9:30 Club on Feb. 19. “I think songs are the closest thing to magic in the world. I think we were singing before we were speaking, and that’s why it touches a part of us that nothing else can get to. And therefore it doesn’t matter what sort of song [it is], when songs come out if it’s real and it’s honest and it’s truthful and not just written for the charts then that’s why you should do it.”
And I, not only as a fan but as an appreciator of a great song, I have to agree that Travis constantly churn out great music. That is more than evident on their tenth record, LA Times released last year.
Since last year Travis has been touring extensively, opening for The Killers before embarking on their own headlining tour which, with the 9:30 Club show, wraps up this leg of their North American leg. But that tour hasn’t been without it’s fair share of minor bumps and hiccups.
Referencing a fire that put the kibosh on their show in Philly, Fran Healy told the crowd that it had been two years since Travis had played the 9:30 Club. One difference, he noted, from that performance and this one was that he was wearing a boot after spraining his right leg after he turned to leave the stage in Seattle. “It was horrible… the band was stepping over me to get to the dressing room,” he said, jokingly.
Kicking off (pun not totally intended) the evening, Travis — Healy on guitar/vocals, Dougie Payne on bass, Andy Dunlop on guitar/banjo, and Neil Primose on drums — went right into the new single from LA Times, “Bus,” before bringing out an older tune, “Driftwood” from The Man Who, their sophomore album.
Watch the official muisc video for “Bus” by Travis on YouTube:
One of the key things about great songs, for me at least, is the storytelling of the thing. It’s communicating a feeling. Hearing not only the songs but Healy telling the crowd stories about how one song came about or where a certain feeling led to writing a line endeared the audience to how the song was made. I also think that’s a big difference in hearing something live and something recorded. You are there and communing with the artist. You become part of the musical conversation.
As Fran and Dougie chatted back and forth about the impetus of the song, “Good Feeling,” Fran noted that “there are loads of different types of songs… These are called ‘fuck you’ songs and they’re the most enjoyable songs to sing. They always meet their target.”
After touching on a bit of almost everything in their catalog, from hits like “Sing” from The Invisible Band and “Writing to Reach You” from The Man Who to the e-bowed intro of “Closer” from The Boy With No Name, the band returned to the stage to encore several songs wrapping up with possibly their biggest hits, “Flowers In The Window” as all four members gathered around the microphone as Healy strummed his acoustic guitar, before they ended the night with “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”
It’s hard to leave a show like this without a smile on your face, which just goes to show that great music has the power to create a haven — even if it’s only for a short time. Travis wrap up their tour in the UK, but here’s hoping they come back to these parts soon.
The setlist included:
Bus
Driftwood
Pipe Dreams
Alive
Good Feeling
Writing to Reach You
Re-Offender
A Ghost
Side
Closer
Sing
Selfish Jean
Raze the Bar
Gaslight
Naked in New York City
Turn
Encore:
Falling Down
The Beautiful Occupation
As You Are
Flowers in the Window
Why Does it Always Rain on Me?
Here are more photos of Travis performing at the 9:30 Club on Feb. 19, 2025. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
And here are photos of Akira Galaxy opening for Travis at the 9:30 Club.
