Travisonline

BohEmiA Posted: 09-12-08 12:34

So, here we go again, me and Travis... Just as I walked out from Rockefeller last night I realized that I now have seen Travis 7 times in 6 different venues. It must be only in Norway and in UK that you can have done that. As I am sure all of you have realized by now, the story of Helene and Travis go back quite far. I am not sure if they know that I exist and to be quite honest, I kind of like that. Well, I always tend to be out of the heap of people that jump around and instead jump around at the side like a freak among people standing still, so maybe... hehe.. During Turn last night I did a quite psycho "bend-back-and-the-throw-my-arms-forward" and I am quite mr Dunlup saw that one..

Anyways,.. I got to Rockefeller around 8.30 and my friend was waiting outside and said they just passed her. For me and her it was just so great to be back at Rockefeller together and to see a band that we also have such good memories of seeing together. The highlight so far was when it started raining during "Why does it always rain on me" at the Quart festival. That was an amazing moment for anyone I think. But Rockefeller is Rockefeller. It's a quite small venue and quite intimate, so the concerts there are NEVER bad. I just love the place. Such great memories and such a great atmosphere.

To our slight surprise, the place was not full. We knew that the concert wasn't sold out and we spent some time there thinking "why, people must be crazy to don't see this". We took our places at the right side, the Andy-side. This time it was quite randomly, but as a guitarist I love to see what he does and also there is a chance that great things might happen during "All I wanna do is rock", like stage diving, climbing and whatever he feels like.

The concert started up with lots of new songs from the new album and they were just amazing live... And as I listen to them now, they of course sound even better having seen them live. I haven't seen the boys so filled with energy for years... Everything was just flowing and there were extreme amounts of jumping, running, hugging during songs and smiling up there. I ended up at about the 5th row so really really close and me and my friend kept laughing about Dougie. He just stands there beaming at the audience and it kind of feels like he sees you every time... hehe.

During "Love will come through" it really started to get crazy. Fran ordered everyone to be a metronome with swinging their hands back and forth, before he song and we kept it going. I think he was a bit surprised, because in the middle of the song he said something like it must be hurting our arms and said we could just move from side to side instead. So we did, but of course raised our hands again a little later. We can take that pain for such a great band.

Around this time Fran told a very cute story about his son Clay. Last time he was in Norway he had brought back a bottle of Norwegian bottled water. Clay was somehow totally crazy for this water and called it Norway water. So when his father had asked him earlier that day what he wanted from Norway, the answer was "NORWAY WATER". It turned out that the backstage had a whole fridge of Imsdal Norwegian Water, so you can imagine Clays reaction to a whole fridge of Norway water. Apparently he almost lost his marbles.. hehe

"Sing" and "Side" was great as always and "Side" even had an extra long and rocky solo amazing. Then came "Falling Down" and Fran jumped into the audience and song the whole song from there. That basically meant that he was gone in the middle of the crowd during the whole song as there is no way he can be taller than Norwegians. But a beautiful stunt and gave the whole song a lot of extra feeling. (see photo above, thanks to "stormy" on the Travis homepage, he was closer than me.:)

Then there was time for the legendary U16 girls, and I jumped around like a crazy person and you could see who had been Travis fans for a long time and not;)

At the end of the set it was time for "All I wanna do is rock" and it was amazing as always. Andy did the climb this time and I can not understand how he don't break bones or fall down. Great showmanship... hehehe. (he climbes on to of his amps and plays the solo from there) "Before you where young" was amazing.. It was something really passionate about it that really got to me.. And Turn (one of my favorites, and maybe the lyrics that has meant to much to me) I was basically going totally crazy.

After that it was time for a little break. I was getting tiered and I can only imagine how the boys felt. Especially Dougie in a very very cool-looking, but must be very hot coat.
Fran and Andy emerged back on stage and did the dumbfoundingly good cover of Kate Perrys, "I kissed a girl" where they even shared a mic just to make fun of the lyrics. That guitar riff makes the song so so much better. I have to sit down and learn that. I have done great success with Hit me baby for a few years now ;)

The concert ended in familiar fashion. All the boys lined up with the arms around each other at the front of the stage and did "Flowers in the window" and it's always quite cute. I realized that Neil had really big problems hitting the tambourine at the right places.. hmm.. ;)

The whole thing ended, not surprisingly with "Why does it always rain on me?". And we even did the "jump to the whole last chorus-thing" with Fran ordering everyone to stand up... Very good, as I can't believe how people can sit on a concert like that.

I went home beaming, bought a bottle of Norway water on the way and was really happy with a heart filled with THANK YOU.

It's hard to describe.. I can write words as amazing, good feeling, very electric performance, but it's one of those events that your really had to be there, so make sure you are next time won't you. To me, it seams that they are just getting better and better.. They seam more and more sure of themselves, and as for me, I hope for more rock albums and that they keep going a lot longer.

And oh, I have from a reliable source that Neils timing was due to severe drunkenness and that he wasn't the only one.. hehe... Well, that kind of just makes it better in a way.. I mean.. All I wanna do is rock ;)