fantastic gig! great to see travis again (and so close!)
new songs went down well, especially the start and end of the set. was strange to see fran and dougie quiet!
old songs went down very well - with free-for-all requests at the end (some better than other, no offence to 'falling down' or 'last train')
can't wait until the new album!
xx
set list (from dougie and my bad memory:)
intro / chinese blues / j. smith / something naything / long way down / broken mirror / friends / get up / last word / quite free / song to self / before you were here
sing / eyes wide open / last laugh / love will come through / sailing away / side / the fear / WTRY / falling down / lola / selfish gene
last train / AIWTDIR / falling down / reoffender / flowers in the window / blue flashing light

Absolutely awsome.

Great show last night.

Guy's please come back to Portsmouth again. :)

The guy's seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Some great songs played. We certainly got our moneys worth as well! Over 2 hours of Travis alltogether. 45 Mins of new stuff and then some of their more familiar stuff with requests thrown in for good measure at the end.

Palace Fires seemed alright. Reminded me a bit of David Gray in their sound.

I liked some of the new Travis stuff. 'Friends' was good, 'Before you were young' stood out and also one or two at the start were were also very good.

There was one song at the start it was either 'Something Anything' or 'Long way Down' which I really liked. I think it may have been 'Long way Down' which had some words in which went something like 'people with their head in the sand trying to understand thinks they dont understand...' something like that anyway. It sounded really good.

Overall the new stuff sounds good, a bit more rocky and funky than TBWNN.

Cant wait to see the guys again some time and also to hear the new album when it comes out. According to Fran recording starts in about 2 weeks and will be recorded live. After hearing what I heard last night it should be very good. :)

I don't normally go to great lengths to see my favourite artists. I'm not one of those fans who takes two months off work to follow someone around Europe. However, I'd definitely had enough of watching electrifying YouTube clips of Travis in concert and typing "Why the hell wasn't I there???!!" And so in a carpe diem moment I plotted my trip to the South of England. Was it worth it?? God yes!!!
The initial part of the set consisted of songs from their soon to be recorded album. Even without knowing the lyrics, we were completely swept away. I know it's a cliché but bloody hell, these guys rock! No explanations, no introductions they ran through the new songs at breakneck speed.It was fun to recognise the song "Friends" which had been posted on the MySpace blog. Another song "Get Up" immediately appealed. No I don't want to get up either. The last of the new songs "Before you were Young" saw Neil hitting a giant gong and clearly enjoying it.From what we glimpsed lyrically, there will be touching moments on the new album...reflections in a shattered mirror..some poor soul "cursing the moon for his shadow." And musically, the songs are as infectious as ever.
On their return to the stage, Fran finally addressed the crowd. We were treated to absolutely everything you could wish for. I couldn't have enjoyed it more if I had handed them the set list myself.Sing, Side, Eyes Wide Open, Selfish Jean, Laughter, the Fear, Falling Down, Writing to Reach You...even the hidden track on The Boy with No Name. What's it called? Down by the River?? Bloody brilliant. At this point I must say that Dougie has got to be one of the most cheerful people on the planet.It's so motivating to see someone who clearly loves what he does for a living.I was right in front of the poor guy and I almost fainted anytime he smiled in my general direction.
One of the major highlights for me was when they broke into their rousing rendition The Kinks' Lola. I'd been humming "Waterloo Sunset" to myself all day long (London always puts that song in my head).Whereas cover versions by Girls Aloud et al. have the effect of nails on a chalkboard, it's so bloody exciting when Travis do one. It's quite endearing to see that they're as much music fans as we are. For the encore, out they came and crowd members were able to nominate songs they wanted to hear. All I wanna do is rock; Andy injured himself when playing this the night before. It didn't result in any less of an exciting performance tonight though. They played Last Train, Flowers in the Window... Fran was in schoolteacher mode and a show of hands was taken to decide between Reoffender and The Beautiful Occupation. Reoffender won and then as if by thought association someone asked for Blue Flashing Light. Fantastic!
They absolutely blew us away from start to finish. I'm on a high now which should take me well into April or May.