Despite this being a gig for "competition winners only", this gig was surprisingly good. I was expecting it to be filled with people who had won and just turned up with no real interest in Travis or the gig. Oh how wrong i was! The venue only holds around 300 or 400 people, so it was the most intimate surroundings in which I had seen Travis- and the atmosphere was just electric. I started queuing from around 5.30pm, witht the doors opening at 7pm. To my surprise, i turned up 3rd in the queue- which guaranteed me a spot at the barrier... again!

First up was fellow Travis boardie Amy Macdonald. She was living the dream. She was finally supporting her favourite band. And you could see that she was just chuffed to bits! Great performance as well, including a neat little cover of The Killer's 'Mr. Brightside'. She was just lovely!

Although slightly shorter than a "full" Travis set, the set list was still packed with hits. I had brought my best friend Sooz (it was competition winner +1) who likes Travis, but isn't a die-hard fan. We used to sing songs together on the bus to school, so it was lovely that they played all the songs we used to sing, including a quite brilliant rendition of Happy.

Mr. Andy Dunlop certainly isn't getting any wiser with age. During the AIWTDIR solo, he jumped down off the stage and strolled right into the middle of the crowd. I couldn't see him from the swarms of people, but when he did re-emerge, he had great difficulty getting back up onto the stage. Two security guys had to practically lift him back onto the stage. And during Happy, he decided to do his "more domesticated sheep than mountain goat" climb to the top of his Orange amp stack. He normally achieves this fine, but with only about 3 feet of head room (it is a small venue) above him, he was crouched over trying to play the solo. And if that wasn't enough, instead of just jumping down (which is usually more than enough for my nerves) he decided to grab onto the lighting rig and dangle for a few moments, before landing back onto the stage. Crazy man!

After the encore, Fran came out on his own and asked for the PA to be switched off. He rang out the chords for Flowers In The Window, stepped to the edge of the stage and busked the song to the audience. It was strange hearing 'just' his voice, although it was soon drowned out by seemingly drunk punters singing (or shouting) along. The very last song was probably the highlight. I had heard them do a certain cover before, but never seen it played live. And anyone who says Travis don't rock, let them play Back in Black for you- and then try and say the same! I can guarantee, that you wouldn't have an argument. It was truly awesome. Andy, being the AC/DC nut that he is, was loving it. At the end of the gig, he came to the edge of the stage. He was within reaching distance, so i threw my hand up to shake his. He smiled at me and handed me his plectrum. It was a nice wee moment, in a gig full of many. All through the set, Fran, Andy and Dougie had all spotted me and given me a wee wink and a nod- Dougie particularly. He was nearly in stitches at my Selfish Jean dance!

All in all, a fantastic gig. And a great surprise, given my expectations of the gig.

I disagree with most of what Paul_C says. I appreciate and respect his opinion and interpretation, but disagree with his general thoughts.
I also wonder, why on Earth were you waiting from 5:30? The doors never even really opened til nearer 8, and by the time we got there at 7 there were only about 10 people waiting outside...

hey fran, this is dave black, yer old drama teacher's son (just to really embarrass you again! haha)

anyhoo, first off, thanks for signing ma drumskin at the signing the day before the liquid rooms gig.

we queued for 4 hrs expecting a big early queue... and no-one turned up til 20mins before it haha!! (i was really annoed to cos passer's by kept asking the HMV security who was signing, and the security kept saying they didnt know! ud expect at least one of them to know wudnt ye??
i was happy i got ma foto in teh evening times tho (yaaass!!)

anyhoo, onto the gig..

me and ma mate decided to queue for a rediculously long time again, and again no-one showed up til like 30mins before teh gig.

the gig itself was probably the bestest gig iv eva been to in the whole widest world - i mean, ok the venue was a bit naff (played there a few times and just hated the sound!)
...but u guys are fine cos u have an awesome sound guy, so it was 'cooking'!

of course its always great to see u at big festivals and stuffs, but to see a band that uve followed since they started (since the glass onion days and earlier even) and a band of that stature to playno more than like 6ft away from u was just spectaular.

even from a drummer's point of view, at festivals, its hard enuf to see fran, doug and andy, but neil is always miles and miles away, so was kool to see him drum so close.

it was also great that wen i shouted stuff to fran from the front row, he actually responded. he said to the audience that his mum bought 2,000 copies of the new single, and i shouted "geez, thatll probably get u in the top 10!" and he looked at me and went "ayye, it probably will actually, whereas 10 years ago, ud have had to sell about 10 times that amount" and i was like "yer i know" ...haha! ...so that was awesome! i think fran actually remebered me from "somewhere" cos he looked at me like "i know u from somewhere" before he replied.

so yer, it was just the best nite eva, and the new songs sound absolutely amazing live (better than they do on the record in my humble opinion!)

anyhoo, probably bored u enough by now, so im off to listen to sum travis! cya soon with a bit of luck.

please play U16 GIRLS and All I Wanna Do Is Rock ...ohh and BLUE FLASHING LIGHT wen u play at ROCK AM RING. me and ma mate will prob be only scots there i imagine haha!

cheers!

dave black