AMAZING gig last night lads! what else can I say. I hope it sounded as good on the radio as it did inside the venue

Only got back home at 4am this morning (after getting to the gig from Bridlington (East Yorkshire) via London from a Keane video shoot & with only 45 minutes sleep and still managed to get into work today!

An absolutely once in a lifetime experience the gig last night, despite the crappy organisation from Radio 2 but I won't mention that again. Lots of sweat and energy, fabulous.

I was stood very front of the stage (which is only knee high anyway) in between Fran and Dougie, I've got some cracking photos (about 58 I think) which I'll upload at some point & hopefully get them on to here. Some ace ones in there.

Sounded like there was thousands of people in the Cavern Club last night but I reckon not much more than 200-250.

Special mentions to:-

- Support act - Katie Tunstall - very good indeed
- Fran not being able to down a pint of draft (not this bottled shite!) beer in one!
- Dougie - a LEGEND in the art of stage persona & charisma.
- Andy going off stage into the crowd to play & up on the stage near the roof during All I Wanna do is Rock
- Baby One More Time! yet again brilliant
- WDIAROM (swopped round band members version) - Neil on keyboards, Adam on Lead Guitar, Fran on tambourine (dancing around like Bez from Happy Mondays, very energetic), Andy on Bass, Mark Radcliffe on drums and Dougie lead vocals and acoustic guitar!! Brought the house down this one! Class

Thanks guys for a truly unforgettable show and as for me, roll on Sheffield Leadmill on Monday.
Keep it up lads, this is why we love you and your music, tremendous stuff indeed

louise x

This is a review I've done for my University magazine called Pluto...

Travis @ Cavern Club, Liverpool (Live on BBC Radio 2)

Tuesday 5th October 2004

Lightning strikes twice?

In the legendary Cavern Club, complete with low ceilings and a layout resembling a rabbit warren, Travis treated a select group of fans to a show that confirmed why they are still one of Britain?s leading bands.

Playing live for a Radio 2 session does not mean the band are going to give anything less than one hundred percent because no one can see you on radio. From the first chord of ?Sing? the band are in full flow, with Fran Healy returning to his lively best during an emotional rendition of ?Turn? and class ?Why Does It Always Rain on Me??

The crowd give as good as they get and the ?fans only show? tag is confirmed as older songs ?U16 Girls, More Than Us? and the anthemic ?Tied to the 90s? have some in hysteria.

Fran Healy is the front man tonight, chatting and joking with the crowd. He explains songs such as ?Side? and gives an insight into Travis? beautiful take on indie rock and his own style of song writing.

Tracks from last album ?12 Memories? are the only slight weaknesses in the set, except for the powerful ?The Beautiful Occupation? with Fran and the boys throwing everything behind a song that now holds such relevance in the run-up to the US Presidential election.
The middle of the set suffers slightly from the intervention of the newer tracks but ?Coming Around? and ?Driftwood? are top draw songs that renew the crowd?s enthusiasm.

The band are all clearly enjoying the return to smaller venues after the arena tours of the past three/four years. ?All I Want To Do Is Rock? is a snarling swipe at those who say musicians should ?find a proper job?, and it shows Travis at their best. Not the best we think they should be but the best they know they can be. It?s no secret that the band looks happiest when belting out tracks from ?Good Feeling? and ?The Man Who?.

The encore for the night is chosen by the Travis online fans through a special poll and Fran opens it solo with the rarity ?20?. It?s a simple song about the angst of being young and makes you realise why bands write most of their best work at a young age.

From teenage angst to teenage pop, ?No encore is complete without a cover? chirps Fran and Dougie walks on and the duo sing Britney Spear?s ?Hit Me Baby One More Time? to a rapturous response. The final song of the encore disproved the theory that lightning never strikes twice, a second version of ?Why Does It Always Rain On Me?? but with the band swapping instruments!

It left everyone with that happy uplifting feeling you get after a fantastic gig, and to quote a famous Scottish band??I?m so happy, ?cos you?re so happy?

What a night! This really did feel like a special gig indeed for both the band and the lucky select group that managed to get the tickets.

Mark Radcliffe (the radio 2 DJ) did a good job cracking some jokes about an hour before Travis were set to go onto the stage. He then introduced support act Katie Tunstall who did a very good job indeed, and the crowd was getting behind her too which was nice to see.

Of course the main event Travis came on the stage at about eleven. Fran said how the first three songs were going to be on the radio and they picked some good ones to get the crowd going. "Sing" was an excellent start to the show, followed by the classics "Turn" and "WDIAROM". The crowd were extremely loud for such a small group, everyone was pumped up and it felt like at least the majority of the crowd was big Travis fans indeed!

It was nice to hear some of their earlier material from "The Good Feeling" appear throughout the set. "Tied To The 90s" and "All I Want To Do Is Rock" were excellent!

I was so happy to hear two of my favourite songs after each other, "Writing To Reach You" and "Re-Offender". The new single "Walking in the Sun" came across very well in a live environment.

Fran was expecially good with the crowd, talking and interacting a lot. Such as wiping the front row with a towel! Plus the moment where he was wanting a pint (and turning down a bottle), and then tried downing it in one was hilarious. It was very funny when he started saying about losing his hair and how time flies - saying how the one pint was having an effect on him already! He is such a down to earth front man, and his interaction with the audience is brilliant!

Other key band moments being when Andy jumped into the crowd and started jumping around with the fans, plus Dougie generally having his own unique stage presence.

The Cavern was hot! And both the fans and band were sweating a lot but everyone was having a good time. Fran explained the meaning behind "Side", and then the band did a cracking performance of it. Classics such as "Driftwood" and "Coming Around" got a good reaction, both done excellently! "Flowers in the Window" and "Happy" was a great way to end the main set.

The encore was next and like throughout the rest of the show, the band seemed to be having a really good time up there. It was nice to see WDIAROM repeated, and done with the switch overs - something which you wouldn't always get to see.

I seriously was only expecting about 10 songs with this been a free gig, plus on radio 2. So I was really happy to see they did a full on gig. They played all their hits from their upcoming Singles album! Plus I managed to get Fran's plec, which was a really good way to finish the gig :-) Being a guitarist myself, it mean't a lot!

This was a really memorable night, made even better by the fact that it was obviously a special night for the band to play in such a historic building! Also with it being such a small venue, it was great to get so near to the band. I'm glad to have the souvenir of a few songs played on the radio from the gig, plus am looking forward to seeing the photos added to here soon. Great gig guys, can't wait till next time!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the venue with the menu with the mostest, the cave with the rave, the stage from another age. LIverpool's legendary Cavern Club!

Built on 50 per cent of the site of the original cavern, with about half the bricks reclaimed from the original club this venue still oozes history.
We have an interview with Mark Radcliffe to do, which takes place on the original cavern stage where the Beatles, along with hundreds of other bands, would have performed.

The stage is tiny. 12 feet across and about 8 feet deep, at the back of which is a multi coloured brick wall graffitied with the names of some of the the bands who played there. Allegedly when Ringo payed a visit for the reopening he signed the wall, but the cleaning woman washed off his signature before it had dried. Very clean.

Mark is on great form and i think as excited as us to be on the premises. Interview is good fun, and we manage to persuade Mark to come up on stage with us for a song, and get him to pick the first three songs in the set as they are the ones to be broadcast live on radio 2.

We head through to the venue proper to catch a little of KT Tunstall, the support for the evening. She is great. Makes loops on a pedal using her voice and acoustic guitar and then plays her songs over the top of them, really clever stuff, great voice too.

The stage where we are playing is a little larger than the other one, but is still a fairly tight squeeze, apparently when Macca played here he opted for this stage as it was closer in location to where the original cavern one was.

The little back stage area is roasting and the venue is rammed so we prepare ourselves for another hot one after last night's poaching at the barras.

At about 11 o clock, Mark goes on and introduces us to the 400 people in the venue and the rest of the country on the radio. He picked Sing, Turn and W.D.I.A.R.O.M. as the opening hat trick, so its all guns blazing from the outset.

The heat makes your eyes steam up, and there is a definite danger of Franny exploding during Turn, but the atmosphere is unbelievable. Due to the size of the stage I have our keyboard tech Roger pretty much in my lap for the whole show, and some of the crowd draped over the front of the stage, meanwhile me and Franny can't seem to help banging into each other.

It is fucking brilliant fun. We decide to do the usual set after the opening three, so all the singles are played and seem to get the LIverpool cave dwellers up for it. With U16, A.I.W.T.D.I.R, and Side going down especially well.

We had thought that any show after The Barras was going to be a let down but this was the perfect follow up.

For the encore Franny did 20 on his own, then me and him did baby one more time, and then for the last song things got a little messy. We decided for the second time ever to swap instruments for another bash through W.D.I.A.R.O.M. Neily took Adam's seat at the keyboards, Adam grabbed Andy's axe, Franny got off lightly with a tambourine, Mark Radcliffe came on and bashed away on Neil's pride and joy, and then played some drums, and I played acoustic and sang.

And so it was that for one night the band formerly known as Crevis became Dougz Ferdinand. After we came offstage we went outside and watched the Travis brick being laid into the Cavern wall (just below Jimi Hendrix) then had to say goodbye to the good people of Liverpool.

Huge thanks to everyone at the Cavern for an amazing night, and loads of love to Mark and everyone from his show. And most of all to the 400 cave people. yeah! yeah! yeah! yeah!

me, my sister claire and my friend lisa thought the show was absolutely brilliant. it was my 18th birthday and going to see travis made it that much better. all thanx to the amazing drummer NIEL PRIMROSE who put us on the guest list and got us in. lisa and i went round to travis'tour bus and being just a little bit cheeky knocked on the window. out came NIEL who was very nice and down to earth. so we'd just like to say a big THANKYOU to NIEL PRIMROSE for making it possible for us to be part of the fantastic show, the atmosphere was brilliant and by playing my favourite song of all time, flowers in the window, travis made my 18th birthday 1 to remember. can't wait to come and see you again if you come back to liverpool. (thanks again neil, the best drummer on earth!!!!)

This was the first concert of this tour I actually got tickets for. I'm never lucky at getting tickets and was surprised when I got straight through to Radio 2 when I phoned them. I came up the day before as I had also been to the Newcastle concert. I had swaped my spare Liverpool ticket for a Newcastle one with Steph, who had won them off Virgin radio.
I met up with Steph early that day and we were at the front of the queue and first in. Wow what a small room and no barriers in front of the stage. We were actually sitting on the stage, it was more like being down the pub or at a party, the atmosphere was fantastic.
We met some nice people in the queue and we had a few drinks and a laugh down there at the front before the show started.

I was really immpressed with the support act Katie Tunstall, she has a lovely voice and a different approach to her accoustic set. She has a cd out, well worth a listen.

Travis came out on stage at 11pm after introductions from Mark radcliffe. The show was being recorded for radio 2 and I thought we would only be getting a couple of songs. We had a whole show, nearly 2 hours, full set list. The first 3 songs were chosen by Mark Radcliffe and aired live on radio 2. Then we were treated to the rest of the set. Wow, it was fantastic, it was so hot in there though. I must have looked really hot, Fran gave me his bottle of mineral water, thanks Fran, I really needed that.
Fran decided to have a pint of beer instead!

The crowd were really up for this show and so were Travis, lots of chatting and laughter between songs. Phil or Simmo I think he calls himself grabbed the mic for a bit of singing on Why Does it always Rain On Me which was broadcasted live to the nation on Radio 2, nice one Phil.
The amps were too small for Andy to climb so he jumped down into the crowd instead!

Of course time flys when you're having fun and the encore arrives all too fast. The highlight being when they all swaped instruments to play WDIAROM for the second time. Dougie took the lead vocals on this, Mark Radcliffe on drums, Fran was let off lightly with just a tambourine.
It was a fantastic night, finished just before 1am I think, I didn't want it to end. I walked away at the end of the show with Neils drumstick and Dougies plectrum lots of photos and fantastic memories. Met the guys after the show and watched them put the Travis brick in the wall opposite the cavern. So anyone walking past there, don't forget to have a look.
What a night, seeing Travis at the legenday Cavern, a night I will never forget.
Thanks everyone.

A truly amazing show, thanks lads both my boyfriend Carlo and I had a fantastic night. We were right at the front of the stage so the sound was fantastic. Met some great people at the Cavern (Sarah, Steph, Tony, Martin and Phil who finally managed to get in thanks to a very nice bouncer)your fans are a real reflection of all of your cracking personalities really down to earth and loads of fun.

Thanks to Fran for taking time out to talk to all of us at the front of the stage, we had queued for hours so it really made our night special.

Unfortunately I never managed to record the gig on radio 2 so my daughter never got to hear Fran answer her question but she was delighted anyway. Thanks again Travis for such a truly memorable night and also to the fans who once again made the atmosphere magical, Ria and Carlo xxx