OH WOW, what a crazy day this was! if ever i were a stalker, i guess this was the qualifying day. before the show a bunch of fans (you know who you are!) and i hung out around the radio station where travis was set to do an interview. i just wanted a cd signed, i swear! but instead, the boys let us come up into the recording studio! we sheepishly lined up against the wall and embarassedly smiled as the radio announcer declared all of our names on the air - we were outed! and then of course, travis performed a great little acoustic set and did a mini-interview. what great guys! and what a great prep for the night's show, which was awesome. but honestly, did we expect anything else? didn't think so ;)

This day was one of my proudest... and also one of my most shameful Travis moments.
It started off with a trip to the WLIR studios in Long Island, NY where Alex had discovered a few days ago that Travis would be interviewed for a live show.

Something like 10 of us got there - on a blisteringly hot summer day - in the mid afternoon. We didn't know when they were supposed to be on, or if they were already inside, or anything. While we were milling around in the parking lot trying to decide what to do, a tourbus pulled up. The band got off, looking like they just rolled out of bed. Andy stayed outside finishing his cigarette as we ambled around him awkwardly, not quite sure what to say or do. Before Neil went in, we asked if it would be alright if we could go into the radio station, just to be able to hear the session. Neil said he would ask the dj.

A few minutes later, we decided to go inside the building, in case we couldn't be part of the session then we could at least hear it on the radio in the station. The elevator opened to the floor of the studio, but none of us had the real courage to get out. Finally, I hopped out, and someone from the station saw us and told us to come in to the studio. The band had asked, and the dj agreed, to invite us to listen in on the interview. We told someone from the station that a few of us were still downstairs, and he said we should go into studio now and he would go and bring the others up. A small group of us, myself and Alex included, went inside the studio. The dj and the band were seated. The skeleton crew of the band's equipment - Jonny, Giles maybe, and Pete were there. I don't remember what happened in there, but I do remember the band was passing around a small white balloon. Dougie started drawing on it with a marker. The station was playing a Carlos Santana song, and someone (Dougie maybe) joked that he was more like Carlos Satana.

The band ended up playing a few songs acoustically on air, followed by a short interview with the dj. This was preceded by the dj saying that it was so hot outside that they had to let in a few fans waiting outside for the band, and announced all of our names on air. Embarrassing.

Once the dj was done with his own questions, he asked us if we had anything to ask the band. We had no idea what to say, so the 10 of us mumbled. The dj told us not to be shy, and Dougie looked at us and said "Oh, they're not shy. We know them."

After the interview, we went back outside, and the band followed shortly. We giggled and stood around and talked and took silly pictures with them. Dougie was holding the small white balloon. He had drawn an pupil on it, so it looked like he was holding an eyeball.

They got on the bus to soundcheck at the venue. We didn't have anything to do either, except head over to the venue for the show. So we followed the bus. Even though it was driving through local streets and a VERY SLOW speed.

We listened to a part of the soundcheck in the parking lot. Fran soundchecked the intro to Weezer's Hashpipe.

The show itself was great. Emiliana Torrini opened for them, and Andy came out and played guitar during one of her songs. The Dido audience seemed to like Travis a lot (what's not to like) although they remained seated during the set. Turn was particularly good. I remember before Slideshow, Fran talked about his analogy of songs to fireworks in the sky (the gunpowder is the publicity, and the record company, the actual fireworks is the band, and the spark that lights up the sky after the fireworks have exploded is the song) and I thought it was so pretty - because the venue was outdoors, and the sky was dark and the stars were out. I remembered looking at the sky during Slideshow and thinking about Wonderwall and Devil's Haircut and Design For Life as each of the little stars.