You were perfect tonight. I still cant get your performance for flowers in the window out of my head, it was lovely. :) Today I was not sure about if i could come see you, because of the place and the time of the show; but hallelujah! I was there. :) Thank you so much for coming, you made me smile all night and I saw one of the greatest shows in my life. Dont forget to come here again, we wouldnt say no to an another Travis concert. :) Thank you -again- so much, with all the love from Istanbul. Elif.

P.S.: Sorry for the mistakes in my grammar, if theres any I mean. If not, whoa I'm good. :p Take care!

Dear Travis,
I have been waiting to see you in İstanbul for a long time. Thanks a lot, your performance was perfect! I hope you enjoyed as much as I did and you will come again:) (please come again). Ayda

Dear Istanbul, you were the perfect way to begin our tour. Thanks for coming, for singing, for cheering. Glad you liked the new songs too. We had a sublime time. Y'all rock.
See you soon
xfx

Whoa, what was that! Mind-blowing! You guys had me screaming at the top of my lungs the whole show! And Dougie...you stud muffin haha:)I hope it doesn't take another 10 years for you guys to get here--and please take a plane this time(But I would love to give you a foot rub,Fran.) Anyway, there's so much more I can say but it's unnecessary after a show like that. Much love, Eren.

It was great to have you here in Istanbul. I am so "tied to last night's concert" I keep listening to your songs today. I know "it is all in my head", but were oh so happy to sing out with you like the rest of the audience there.
I felt like a free soul at the concert enjoying your performance. Your lyrics always had a crash on me, but seeing you playing alive was even more awesome. The acustic "Side" was oh so nice. Thanks for playing your upcoming songs to us for the first time in the world. We would like to see you perform and blow our minds again soon, cannot wait for another decade. You must come back:)

Love you all,
Ozlem

simply wow!!

i have been waiting for this one and it heals me literally!!

thanks for everything and i thank you especially for singing "slide show" and hidden track "blue flashing light"! it is one of my favourites!

come back again with a larger venue and some new materials which are no doubt will be awesome!!

If i make a list of 100 things to do before i die, being in this concert will be in top ten. So i’m very proud to be in there with you. Thank for those great moments. We can’t forget that night ever. That was awesome, a masterpiece. i know you pleased with your performance like us and you said “ see you soon “ we’ll be waiting for all of you Fran, Andy, Dougie and Neil..

One night can make everyting alright..(please play one night next time)
Burakhan

Hey there :),
It was wonderful last night,it was a night from heaven.It was like a cold beer in hot night,like a friendly smile with love, like a foot massage ;).I hope you guys liked Turkey,hope u loved us cos we loved you.

much LOVE,Ozan

So, you guys have been walking from there that it took you ten years to come to Turkey :) well, that's a good explanation but we dont want to wait for another 10 year to enjoy a show like that! It was amazing, your songs are the best! everything was great, thanks for coming, we love you..
Gizem

THANKS, THANKS, THANKS for everything..

For making me smile all the night.. Watching you, singing aloud with you, everything meant happiness for me.. :) I love you all, want to see you again as soon as you can :) and i hope you also enjoyed your time with us.. Lots of love..

Şebnem

jeez...
where to start??
it was so great, i can't put the words in a sentence form :)
uhm...
the songs were great and fran was funny.
it was a day i'll never forget.
i just have one more wish and that is to see travis once more in istanbul.
please don't forget that you have fans here too.
and ps: i tried to get to the backstage for the foot massage but couldn't find the way :((
ps#2: i guess it was some kind of a roadie, he was packing stuff on the stage and i yelled "sir, you see a pick there sir?? can you please throw it over here sir??" with my lame british accent and he did!! i knew calling people sir and using the brit accent would work one day! :)

You were amazing!!! You rock!!! This was the best performance I've ever seen in Istanbul, Turkey!!! But I want to say I'm a LittLe disappointed, because you did not pLay "re-offerder". :) Thank you for the beautifuL night.

A beautiful Saturday afternoon. Sun is shining gloriously processing into one's bones. I am lying down here on this couch feeling the breeze flowing in from the window - trying to rest my feet-legs on a linen cushion. Can't help asking to myself, was it real what happened last night? Is it possible that a dream came true? A dream I have been growing in my heart for nearly 10 years...

Then I check this funny crack in my voice, sweet pain on my legs, signed ticket on my desk and the photographs ornamenting dear mac. It was real! Following almost a 10 year await, Travis were there, in Istanbulland, right one meter before me playing by their hearts, singing, smiling, galvanizing, rocking!... Giving me and hundreds more fans a day of miracles.

It was 5 PM when I arrived to the venue to see the almost never-ending queue trying to enter with an enthusiastic patience. I was truly baffled with this image as I have never seen such a big queue in a festival in stanbul before. I remember awfully crowded shows, festivals but at 5 PM meters long of a queue - now that was totally new to me. It took nearly 45 minutes for me to get in and once I was in I saw the whole font row was already taken. Yes, Istanbullers love Travis and anyone could tell there was a years of thirst to their heart-melting music, a deep hunger to their 'live' existence so that hundreds of people were there waiting under the burning sun for hours. Just joined to the crowd sitting on the ground until live music starts. In the mean time, I had to take some disturbing music running through the place. Don't mean to throw any crap to anyone as music itself is precious all the way but what is the point of playing hard-rock almost metal tunes before TRAVIS?!?! Well, life is all about experiencing, right?

Anyway, it was the longest 4 hours and a half of my life. Time was just not passing. Under normal conditions, I would be enjoying the moment, drinking, eating, singing along, finding friends around...etc but it was different this time. I and Travis 'we all were under the same sky' and I had to wait cemented to where I was to see them as close as I could. And very luckily once the first supporter came to stage, I found myself standing on the front row by people standing up and making room for the ones waiting backwards. Two supporter bands and a long sound check later, the time would have come. I was counting down the minutes, even seconds and it seemed like forever. My excitement ran to top the moment I see the guy from the Travis team (apologies, I don't know his name) with a fancy 'Ode to J. Smith' t-shirt. My oh my! They were there. Right behind the black curtain while the soundcheck team was placing Andy's banjo right in front of me. I see, the banjo was telling me that there would be some 'Singing' going on.

One last effort to keep patience and right on time, 9.30 PM, with a steaming up noise The Magnificent Five arrived on the stage shining through a fancy mist covering the stage: Istanbul was welcoming (in order of appearance): Claes Björklund, Dougie Payne, Fran Healy, Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose.

Because the whole event was skinning me off in the dreamiest way and I was constantly having short-term 'is it happening?' spasms with my heart beating at its fastest I can not remember the exact order of the setlist. But I remember all of the songs (I think) in no particular order. As far as I can recall, they opened with this brand new Dougie song "Something Anything" from the upcoming album "Ode to J. Smith". Later in the night, they did three more new songs back to back. J. Smith (Fran), Long Way Down (Dougie) and Song to Self (Fran). All of them sounded good to me keeping my expectations even higher on the new album. I already knew J. Smith by heart and it was incredible hearing this brilliant tune live and sing along. One of the best songs Travis have ever written up to date! I was curious about how they would gonna make the chorus section or whether they would skip it. Thankfully they didn't. With a little sample back up, it was - like Fran defines- a 3 minute rock opera! Excellent! He also told the brief story behind the J. Smith guy: as it is the most random name in English language, how many J. Smith you could find only with one shot in the phonebook. He told these all in the blogs before, yes but still it was super awesome hearing it once again from the man himself.

I couldn't take my eyes off stage even for a second. Neil in cool shadies looking smashing good behind the drums, Andy smiling, winking and rocking as usual (and a special wink came to me once I opened the Scottish flag autographed by Travis -the one came to all the way from Japan thanks to lovely Hiromi!) , Dougie doing his special figures, shaking, smiling at everyone and making everyone smile in the mean time. I thought, if he could get any cuter than that!! Each time he caught my eyes looking at him with a wide open mouth, he was smiling at me with an even wider open mouth! Legend! And Fran; as always as bright as the sunshine, running from one side to another singing by his heart, smiling and ruling the night...

After playing the first four songs in the set, Fran said a huge hello to Istanbul making the sweetest excuse on earth when saying 'it took us 10 years to walk all to way to Istanbul - anyone good at foot massage?'

The crowd was amazing with one word. Almost everyone was singing along as loudest as they can. Holding umbrellas, 'all we want to do is rock tonight' pancartes... Absolute hits such as Sing, SIde, Love Will Come Through, Selfish Jean, Closer seemed to be the true fuelers triggering the audience to shout and singing like they mean it! And I was happy with these songs as well. Yet, I was wondering if there would be any b-sides, Turn, Blue Flashing Light, Slide Show, The Fear, Afterglow, Last Train, She's So Strange, Happy to Hang Around, Midsummer Nights Dreamin', Re-Offender,..... and the mighty All I Wan To Do Is Rock moment where Andy does the original amp climbing. Having said that, I know it is impossible for them to play all these in such a limited time. They would be in need of 5-6 hours at least. So fair enough, if they didn't play some of those most anticipated ones. Next time hopefully. :-)

Anyway, before long there was Turn: one of my most favorite Travis songs also one of my all time favorites. Fran going 'Tuuurn tuuurn tuurn', reminiscing me how encouraging, touching this song has been to me ever since the first time. If I could set myself free, I am afraid I could even cry. This very special piece becoming even more special with Dougie's doing the vocals in the second part. Yes my life was about to be complete. Following this meaningful moment, that long-awaited Andy moment was on the way. AIWTDIR - aka the legendary stage/amp climbing moment where Andy screeching his solo with high distortion. It is like life stops and the only thing alive is Andy with the guitar. For the first time ever I could experience this precious moment live! Everybody should have some Travis in their life. I am telling you...

A fulfilling set was coming to an end and they were saying goodbye only to come back for a breathtaking encore in short. Fran with the acoustic guitar, the whole Magnificent Five are arm in arm around him singing along Flowers In The Window. Then they make this warmest music cooperation: Fran singing and holding the guitar, Dougie beating the strings of the same guitar, Andy hitting the chords, Neil and Claes playing tambourine. Picture of perfection, 'they are one in a million'! You could just die happily that moment. Right after FITW, there was a big surprise for me... well big two surprises actually. Slide Show and its equiry Blue Flashing Light distilling in the air to stroke my madly happy ears. Just shouting the loudest as I can and enjoying the moment, thanking Travis TONS in my mind for this moment! As every good thing has to end at some point, this had to finish too. Closing track was none other than our beloved 'WDIAROM?' that made me think if it would going to start to rain but come on it was one of the hottest nights of the summer. Gotta be more realistic, right?

That was it. But the night from out of this world was still kicking and alive. Right after they left the stage -thanks to SIna's tips-I headed to the stage room with my friend. There was a huge crowd trying to meet the band and quite a quarrel was going on there. But I was patient, cause Sina told me to be so. :-) After about an hour I saw Fran walking and just gave him a shout and he recognized me. It was so surreal to me that I asked him if I can pinch him and then myself to see if it is happening? It was great. The nicest guy and the band on the planet. Here I say! Even though we were with Fran the guards were still acting nervecracking but hey we were in thank to Fran the GREATEST. I had a lovely conversation with him on the concert, new album, J. Smith, Istanbul, Fran's SWEET boy- Clay, the Flag from Hiromi and more. He even told me that 'I played Slide Show for you'. What a treat?! I was pinching myself even harder to make sure I was not dreaming! :-D Pictures were taken and autographs were given. Then he took me to the rest of the gang: Andy, Dougie and Neil. It was incredible when Fran introduced me to them and Dougie went like ' Oh Champagneeee' with Andy and Neil following him. :-) Neil even noticed y 12 Memories badge and there I was again proudly praising that top record. he hee Very very very lovely and superb and nice and great and fantastic and magnificent people; once again made me realize why I LOVE Travis THIS much!!! The fairy tale ended by Fran walking us to door (probably to protect from the annoying guards tee hee) and saying goodbye. Thank you Fran and thank you TRAVIS for everything you have contributed in my life. I will see you all again soon!

-Champers x

yesterday was a day to remember. you were all fascinating. frankly, it was more than that. you and your songs are still in my mind, still singing it watching videos again and again.
i know it was a big surprise for you; you'd never known that we love you that much and we'd sing your songs all by heart. i'll be waiting for you to come before another 10 years.
thank you so much for that unremarkable night. i love you, i love y'all!!

ps. new songs are great!!
eheh. and andy, your plectrum that you threw is great too!
:)

I'll never ever forget that night. Oh please, please, the next time you decide to come here just let me know so that i can run like hell and fetch you right here safely. Fran, I love your Scotch voice. Dougie, you know very well how to blow a girl's mind, you playful thing! Andy and Neil and every other names I missed, I've already fixed that acoustic flowers in the window moment on my mind. Thanks folks. Really, it was beyond my wildest dreams. And please visit us here again on ode to j smith's tour. Please don't let it be a pipe dream :) With love.

It was such a great thing to be there after a long wait.Hope to see you back in Istanbul ,just like you said (and that was a promise!:))...

Great night it was. I will be happier for the rest of my life, until travis come again. please Turn and Sing.

I loved your performance that was in İstanbul.You re perfecttt!!!
Maybe it is private reason but I wanna write it.This year I had two surgicals and health problems,I was upset.And at hospital I'd listened "Why does it always rain on me?" all the time.And I promised myself as "If Travis comes to Turkey I'll go there absolutely." I came to home from hospital and after 3 days on the net I saw the concert announcement.I was excited,surprised,shocked,I thought that my destiny sometimes goes well,life is ironizing with me. :))And I came to concert from Ankara(capital city of Turkey).
You have to come again and again!!We love you so much,your style,music, lovable mimics effect us.Your performance was amazing.I remember the whole details.When you were playing first songs,I couldn't react,I couldn't believe that I was listening Travis alive,they were 5-6 metres far away from me,Oh My God!! :))))
I'm not sure that they're interested in that site but Dougie I think that you noticed me,I am the boy in front of the platform,that is tall and laughed all time during the concert,and you laughed at me too,I am exactly sure about it,you looked at me few times cause I was bouncing,shouting and smiling :))
Please Come Again!!We love u!!!!

Definitely was worth ten years of waiting.
Since the first day I've heard about the gig, I was counting down the days. As some of us had to work that day, we left our homes a bit late but managed to sneak in about half an hour ago before Travis, being the last car that was allowed to park inside. Well, that was lucky and a wee sign of a great nite!
And Travis.. right on time, right in front of us. They started with a new song, which I learned later was 'Something Anything'.. And it's great, like J. Smith and the others. During J. Smith I had some popular moments in the crowd surrounding me as I've known it very well, ahem =)Till the third song maybe I sensed some anxiety (if thats the right word)on stage. Since they had no idea what to expect, its understandable. But with amazing response from the audience, it all disappeared..
Me, my ten yrs younger and seven yrs older sisters, and a friend of us at a distance to see all the guys perfectly.. Three generations in our small group and all enjoying it a lot. That explains itself.
As for the setlist.. I liked it a lot. So did the audience I thought. Btw, what a great crowd it was! One of the best I've ever witnessed. I liked the umbrellas during WDIAROM:). The encore was brilliant. Hearing 'Slide Show + Blue Flashing Light' was the greatest moment for me. Just wanted it last longer but they had limited time since its a festival. We'll have plenty of time when they are next here with their own gig, no?:)
Thank you guys for a great nite and for being such a great band.
Travis > 'The Incredible Band' , for all generations!
See you real soon xo

3 pm
I was already there and waiting those men to open the door..
It was warm but I had my friends with me and they were playing with
I was thinking how it's going to be, will I be in front of the stage? Could Fran, Doug, Andy and Neil see my banner? Could I talk to them, get a sig. or just hug?
I knew all of these were possible but indefinetly :)

5 pm
We were finnally in and walking fast to the stage, and made sure that we're right in front of the stage. We sat and started talking and listen to the music.. I was still wondering where my Travis were and will I ever get a chance to talk to them? I looked up and searched for the clouds and wished for rain...

After the group Sakin (I heard them for the first time there, not bad but not good) Mor ve Otesi (One of my favorites)
finnally it was time.
Some man came to the stage and started bringing our lovely bands beautiful guitars. I was looking to the corner of stage where everybody came out cause I thought, maybe I could see them. It didn't happen but I needed to try :)
After a long soundcheck...
TRAVIS WAS ON STAGE!
they've finnally came to Turkey and I couldn't believe that the day I was waiting was today!
They started playing and Fran started singin. It was a new song I thought.
I opened my banner: "HEAVEN SEEMED SO VERY FAR FROM HERE BUT NOW IT'S IN FRONT OF ME"...
So true..
I never thought any of this would happen but it was definetly Heaven!..
While the first song continue I had a eye-contact with Dougie and he smiled at me and I thought OMG :)
Second song... I don't know if they've decided to it at that moment or it was already decided.. But they started to play Pipe Dreams, which I used it's lyrics for my banner. I couldn't believe that either.. People around me said they're playing it for you but I wasn't sure, (were you guys?? :) ) and it didn't really matter cause they were playing right in front of me...
And oh, while they were playing I saw Andy smiling at me and when I smiled him back he gave me a wink :) OMfG :)
Song after song, my throat was hurting but I didn't mind I kept singing every song at the top of my voice!
Like they knew me, they've played Side, Love will come through and Closer serialy and that was amazing.
They've played some new songs from the new album and started with J. Smith which I knew and I started singing too. That felt amazing!
They were gone for few minutes but the croud didn't stop shouting and clapping til they come back and they played few songs more and the lovely ending with Flowers In The Window...
Arm in arm.. Andy pressing and Dougie playing, Franny singing..
It was great..
But the show was over.. Fran said right before he goes "See you soon!"
Please Travis, don't make this another 1o years.
we need you!!

3 am
I was finnaly at home..
I couldn't meet with them. I didn't get a signature.
But they've seen how much I love them...
My legs and throat was hurting but it only gave me the feeling that this was all true..
I had the best time of my life..
I sang and shout and clapped for TRAVIS.

Thank you once again for coming to Turkey
Please come again and let us sing for you...
I just love you too much...
Cemre

Thank you Travis!
See you soon!

Waaooww!!!! I was waiting for that night for a long long time.Now I put a one tick to my ''10 things I have to do before I die'' list:)You made me to forget all the bad stuffs at my country like:politics,stupid government,secularism,religion,economy..even the tragic match which Turkey played better than Germany but lost,at Euro 2008!

That Night:

After performance of Turkish band Mor ve Ötesi,time just couldn't past!I was close to die because of heart attack.. Sound check was very very long.That half hour was equal to 10 years of my life..but at the exact time-21:30,Travis appeared..God!!my heart was trying to get out of from my body,jump to the stage and sing with Travis:)...It was a magical night!I'm suprised that almost everyone knows the lyrics and sang at every song,I guess Travis werent expecting this too:)..What is amazing about Andy,Francis,Dougie and Neil is:they are natural!Their behaviours,movements,actions and mimics are just same like on their videos,on the TV etc..That quality makes Travis different than the other rock bands..Thanks for being you!Thanks for being yourself!

PS:only sad thing was that you didnt play 're-offender'.I'm sure you will come to here again at next summer and will play it:)

It was great! Guys you are the best!
Hope you loved us cause you know we already have been love you and your songs..
We waited many years for this concert. So, Fran please don't walk all the way again, we can't wait for another 10 years :)
And this song is coming for you:
"It (was) such a lovely day
And I'm glad you feel the same
Cause to stand up, out in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so Travis.."
Please come again and play "My Eyes" next time.
See you soon, right?

all of this time i thought that i was born in 1989, but that friday night, i understood that i'm getting exist.it was definitely a new born for me and i think for every Travisioners.it was just a dream, so great for living and remembering. and i hope that dream will come for many times here. it was really a wonderful experience to watch you alive:) and i know that you(Fran!) liked us very much, it was obvious. so you're gonna suffer if you don't come here again:D. Cheers to you!

I really dont know how to start.
I wish I could see you guys again.
It was wonderful to be there on 27th.
I will find a time machine and go back to that day again&again!
I feel like crying...
Love you a lot.

<3

xxxx

i dont know how to start.but guys you were amazing.Andy i really wanna thank you.’coz you trew your pick to me when i wanted =) you were playing ‘’why does it always rain on me’’ =) you smiled at me =) i’ll never ever gonna forget about that night =) and i’ll save your pick forever and ever =) please come back again =)
i'm still listening your songs.and i think i wont forget about that night.when i close my eyes i still see you...you are really speacial for me....

have a nice tour.dont forget about us =)

My dear dear Travis, you boys rocked Istanbul so hard that night. It was priceless to see you lads live at last. Do come visit again for we will miss you a lot if you wait another 10 years.

And Dougie, love, you should be the sweetest guy alive in this very world. It was a pleasure receiving a smile from you during the gig. I myself was quite lifted up when the show was over. Front rows were too lucky to see you boys that close.

Cheers

It was one of the best 1.5 hours of my life. I was on the front line, on Dougie's side. The setlist was probably perfect for me because they played lots of songs from the man who, and all the classic ones from the other albums, including new ones. (four of them, I think) I took lots of photos with a professional film camera, and I'll post them here once I process and print them, which may take 2 months because I don't have access to a darkroom. (The disadvantage of shooting on film, but I think it will be worth it)

I sang along all the songs (except for the new ones :D ) and I got a sore throat as a result of that. In the midst of WDIAROM, I looked at the sky to see if there were any clouds, but it didn't rain. Doesn't matter because if it did rain, most people had their precautions :D There were at least 10 umbrellas held by people in the crowd.

After the rockier Travis songs (All I wanna do is rock, blue flashing light...) the show ended, that left me wondering, "was that real?" The truth is, I still can't believe it was real.

After the show, we were joking each other with my friends about running to the backstage and all. Then, as we walked along, we saw like 10 little girls, begging the security guard to let them in. He was saying no, but then he folded, so we ran inside. But of course, there were other people guarding the area. So we ran around the building, came across a window, looked inside, and saw the band. I, quite instinctively waved, and Dougie saw me and waved back.

It was an awesome show, and I hope the "soon" in "see you soon" is really soon, at least not more than 2 years or so from now. :D

like the other fans i still cant believe this happened too..at the concert morning me and my sister were too exciting..we went to concert area earlier than we sat in front of the stage..i was at the Andy's side..
We sang all the song loudly =)
Your new songs are really amazing after the concert i opened your myspace and listened J. Smith from there again (:
And i wanna say thanks for the night at Istanbul i'll never forget it..i watch the concert records over and over again..When i close my eyes i remember Andy's smiley (:
end of the concert i tried to get in backstage but i couldn't reach you =\ ..Hope we see you again in Turkey soo =)

please come again. we want to see you in istanbul again again and again. (=