My 2nd concert, in Berlin this time, only a two-hour-drive from home from me but we arrived early anyway. My friend Ela was still impressed by the show in Hamburg, so she happily joined me this time again :) We arrived at the venue "Columbiahalle" about five in the afternoon. There weren?t anybody yet, except for two girls - Julia and Monique from Berlin (...who will join me to another 2 and 3 Travis gigs later ;)) Little by little the people added in front of the venue and it was f**king cold. I was standing aback leaned at the door and kicked unknowingly my foot against the door during chatting and suddenly the door opened and one of the security guys snapped me up to stop that and if I?m cold I should dress warmer or piss off!...smashed the door. Probably he thought we were some stupid groupies or whatever. I felt like a complete idiot, I could had sink into the ground, I tell yous. :s That was a bad sign for this night...at the admission the same security guy took my drinks and food out of my bag and threw it into the dustbin without asking me...fortunately I hided my camera under my clothes ? don?t even want to think about what he?d done with IT. He was that "nice" to everyone of the fans. At that point I just though "Ok, HE is the idiot ? not me!" Ela couldn?t deny herself to tell him "Let me guess..at home your wife is the boss and everywhere else you?re a nobody too, right?" haha, that cheered me up a lot. Oh damn...I?m digressing off the topic again ? the concert !
So...Ela, Julia, Monique and I made it in the front row and this time I looked forward to Turin Brakes too, I got their album meanwhile and liked it very much. After their show I impatiently looked forward to see Travis again and just as Sex Pistols? "God save the Queen" was played, the sound went off, the lights turned off and everyone was cheering and screaming and the Intro music started, which sounded like a guitar lesson, haha. Travis came on and the crowd went crazy. Fran came in front of the stage, took the Banner of Julia and showed it to the audience. It said "Tonight Travis are visible!"...he hang it over one speaker and they started with "Sing" - a good song to begin with :), then "Writing to reach you" followed by "Pipe Dreams". I was so happy, the album was out already at that point and I recognized every song from the first tune. It was Dougie?s special day ? his 29th birthday. After "Pipe Dreams" Fran said (in German) "Danke!...wie geht?s?"
(Thanks, how are you?) and somebody shouted Happy Birthday, Dougie! And Fran : "Oh yeah, ladies and gentleman, before this continues we?ve got to know embarrassed the Mr. Payne here. It?s his 29th birthday so...can we all sing Happy Birthday for him?"
...and the entire crowd including the rest of the band sang it to him and made Dougie blush like a wee boy, it was so sweet. :) Fran said "Ok, let?s get back to business!" hehe and then came "As you are" followed by the wonderful "Driftwood". Afterwards Fran said "This next song is dedicated to anyone who has a dream, dreams are so important, all creativity, all art is usually based on a mad dream..." and he told how important it is to have a believe in something. The crowd was cheering and Fran added "..so I take it we have a room full of dreamers, yeah? So it?s dedicated to YOU then, this is called Turn" :)...woooohoo. This song always rocks the hall. After this song Ela told me "Turn" alone is it worth already to attend a Travis show! ..nice one, right she is! :) "Last Train" was next and this time I knew this song already and I loved it...brilliant! Then came "Indefinitely" and in the middle of this song one of the crew went over to Fran and wiped away the sweat from his face with a towel *lol*...made the crowd cheering again ;) The next song ? "The Cage" ? Fran dedicated to all the girls, all the women and he told that the band had a discussion in the bus about...why is it that men always chase power, there are men-bands, there are male presidents and they reckoned it?s because they don?t have the ultimate power which women have got...wow, I was so impressed to here that by a man himself and the female part of the crowd seemed to agree too...there was a LOUD cheering of female voices *lol*. "Follow the light" was next...wow, what a fantastic live-song, can't say it often enough. Travis should play it on every show. Fran told that they went to New York after this bad thing happened and New York was completely different this time, quieter...and he said that it?s always the minority who gets fucked..he was so damn right with it, it always hits the wrong ppl! The next line was a perfect change over to the next song "We are all standing on the same side"..."Side" Ela was so happy about this song, because that?s one of her favourites from the first concert in may. The next song Fran dedicated to his future-mother-in-law, who was there that night, too. Truly cool. Ela joked around by saying something like "Oh oh, he must especially exert tonight then, to leave a good mark on her!" ..hehehe. Next one was "Safe"..aaah, no need to say anything about it..it?s just so wonderful! "Humpty Dumpty Love song" followed and Dougie and Fran had to laugh about eachother, because they acted funny with their hands in the beginning tunes of that song (...damn, some things I just can?t explain properly in English, grrrr..)
Suddenly Fran squatted down (...and nearly overbalanced to the back, hehe) Nobody knew what?s coming now and than he hold his guitar like a cello and pretended to play the cello-tunes in the beginning of "WDIAROM?"... this song is just a MUST on every Travis gig. The next one was "Slideshow"...oh my God, how much I love this song!! Fran sang the first verse but there was someone in the back who was whistling non-stop during this calm song, that was petty annoying. Suddenly Fran said "Right, shut up! Who?s whistling?..cause everyone?s listing and you?re whistling. I?ll start again. If you?re standing next to the person who?s whistling just look at him and go Shut up! Excuse my french but?Wichser!" (...means Wanker in German)..the crowd was celebrating, I tell yous, haha! And Fran chuckled "I learned that by my girlfriend...I?m only kidding, Rene?" (I suppose it?s Nora?s mum :)) He started again and this guy whistled again and Fran just whispered another, "ey, fuck you!" *lol* and finally the whistling stopped ? perhaps someone next to him knocked him out or something ;-D
"Blue Flashing Light" was next and I remember I was nearly fainting at that song but I managed to pull myself together. At that moment I hated this security guy for taking me my drinks, aargh! So I was pretty glad about the encore break afterwards. Gave me the chance to take a deep breath...man,
I wouldn?t forgive myself if I would faint during a Travis gig. I watched it at other ones. People who fainted never come back!!! So I would miss the complete rest of the show 8-|...Fran came back on the stage alone and I though yessss!! He?s gonna sing "20", wooohoo!!!! He dedicated the song to everyone under the age of 20 and said "I?m not under the age of 20, I know I look like 12, whenever I want to buy cigarettes or a drink the guy?s say "can I see any ID?...I?m twenty eeeeeight!" *lol*...amazing this song. Just a guitar and a voice ? indescribable, really!! Neil, Dougie and Andy joined the stage again and the next song they dedicated to a journalist from the Rolling Stone magazine ? Wolfgang D?beling..."All I want to do is rock" !! WOW, I was so happy to hear it live finally, I just love to watch Andy during this song. He just rules!! Afterwards Dougie did his "All The Young Dudes" again, this song is so catchy and brilliant! Fran kept his promise from Hamburg and bandied about his social experiment again :) and the last song was "Happy" , this song is the perfect..."Rausschmeisser" (I don?t know a translation for it and the translation in my dictionary wouldn?t fit I think)...it just means this song is best to be the last one...it?s so cool to leave a Travis gig with this song in your head. I wasn?t even sad when it ended, because I knew we?re heading to the next gig the day after already ? to Bremen...I couldn?t wait it.

the entire Setlist again:
01.Sing
02.Writing to reach you
03.Pipe dreams
04.As you are
05.Driftwood
06.Turn
07.Last train
08.Indefinitely
09.The cage
10.Follow the light
11.Side
12.Flowers in the window
13.Safe
14.Humpty dumpty love song
15.Why does it always rain on me
16.Slideshow
17.Blue flashing light
18.20
19.All I want to do is rock
20.All the young dudes
21.Happy