EVER pleasant singer Fran Healy readily admits his band have never really been in vogue.
Yet somehow they have shifted 10m records to keep their mission alive.
That has led to mixed fortunes for an outfit who have rocked, wooed, romanced, stirred and sometimes baffled critics and audiences.
Perhaps with their biggest commercial mome
nts behind them Travis have traded back down from arenas to the close-knit intimacy of a club setting without a hint of the resentment that some bands relegated from the premier league might display.
Instead we get a vintage musical gang firing on all cylinders, free of the creative tethers of a major label playing with contagious enjoyment. Ode To J Smith is maybe their bravest album yet, but its contents fit snugly with Travis staples such as Sing, Good Feeling and Turn, reliable anthemic and inspirational moments to get the masses excited - except Travis fans seem to not so much punch the air as waft it.
Last time Travis were on Leadmill Road they were showcasing their hits album, playing each single back to back. Tonight celebrated what else could be, Fran risking his new hat by going into the crowd to sing, later gathering the band around his acoustic guitar for an encore singalong of Flowers In The Window.
Humour has long been favoured over ego and no more so than in Fran's choice of off piste covers; an acoustic-driven version of Katy Perry's cheeky hit I Kissed A Girl replacing Britney's Hit Me Baby One More Time as the 'party piece', a jape equalled only by the band encouraging fans to pogo the chorus of set closer Why Does It Always Rain On Me? Who said Travis were dull.
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