Hot off the back of the band’s The Invisible Band 20th Anniversary tour, this Assai gig rolled into Dundee two years behind schedule.
Originally planned as a launch gig for the 2020 10 Songs album, the event was billed as a stripped back Travis unplugged night. Yet the band had a triumphant evening in the Glasgow Concert Hall the night before. The eager Dundee audience were ready for anything. In the end, the band served up a rollicking run through their greatest hits with two of the strongest tracks from 10 Songs thrown in. This Dundee crowd were delighted.
Travis kicked the night off with a song, described by Fran as a new. With the crowd joining in from the first line, Sing set the tone for the night. It was quickly followed by the honkytonk piano into to Ghost from 10 Songs. It stood up well alongside the best of the Travis songbook.
The jangling 12-string chords of Driftwood had the crowd in full voice again and it looked like the band were having a great time, feeding off the crowd’s energy.
It was time for another track from 10 songs, Nina’s Song, introduced by Fran who told the audience that this was the first time the band had played the song live. This again stood up well. Opened by Andy Dunlop on the keys, this song had a strong Beetles vibe with a strong Travis flavour. Fran shared a touching story about the writing of the song which made him reflect on the lack of a dad in his life and how pleased he was to provide that support to his own son.
From then on the crowd basked in hit after hit from the Travis canon. Side was a crowd pleaser. It was quickly followed by Flowers in the Window. The crowd was word perfect and threw itself into the music. Next up was Last Train, one of the less known tracks from the band.
We were on the last lap and the band seemed determined to serve up a spectacular finish. Fran was apologetic that we weren’t getting the full experience the tour audiences has but this Dundee audience was enjoying every moment. Closer was a crowd favourite and was followed by the anthemic Turn. And then it was time for the last song and the energy was turned up once again, the lyrics of Why Does it Always Rain on Me? were belted out by both band and crowd, each dancing along with the music. Fran challenged the crowd to pogo along to the last verse and the whole room jumped up and down with the music.
And then it was over. A concentrated hour, 10 songs and a great gig. Now pushing into their 50s the band brought great energy and fun and left this crowd with more great memories.
The band seemed to have great fun. Hopefully they will come back to play in Dundee soon.
Words and pictures: Graeme White @head_in_the_bass_bin