I know, this words could as well apply for many other gigs of the guys, hence the challenge to review it.
Mexico has been in love with Travis ever since their first visit to our country. I've loved the band ever since that memorable August 2th, 2007 at Palacio de Los Deportes. But then, last year I thought of attending the concert at Teatro Diana. It was joyous, sure. It never crossed my mind they would come back in less than a year to that very city, Guadalajara, to end their comeback album world tour.
Yesterday, the Diana surrendered to the guys with passion, we sang out loud and danced and jumped and enjoyed every bit of the gig. We were blessed with a wonderful setlist, with all the well known songs of the tour (Mother, Selfish Jean, Sing, Closer, and so on), and four songs we hadn't had a chance to hear in a long time: Happy, The Beautiful Occupation, More Than Us and a Mexican crowd's fav, The Humpty Dumpty Love Song. It was a real treat, and then, they granted us one memory I'll cherish forever: Them singing Flowers in the Window, a capella, totally unplugged, while the Diana was mute, mesmerized by the subtle-as-crystal performance of their voices made one, the very soul of the band presented to us, perhaps a once in a lifetime for many of us.
Fran then told the story behind their love for us, a meeting with a guy in NYC back in 1999, who (wisely) urged him to come to Mexico, because we loved their music. Sure, it took them 4 years to pay the first visit, but ever since, the love has bloomed as fate would have it.
WHERE YOU STAND tour is over now. The guys will go to the studio, and we'll have all these memories to cherish and a wonderful album to revisit until album 8 is ready to see the light. On behalf of many, I say: Gracias, chicos. Los amamos. Thanks guys, we love you. See you in 2015.
As always, whenever these guys perform there's pure happiness flowing. I was glad to see people who saw them last year for the fist time coming back this time. And people who saw them for the first time on Wednesday were just amazed, even the ones that only knew a couple of songs.
A perfectly ordered setlist (with Happy as the third song, which was very interesting), an amazing totally unplugged version of Flowers in the window (who would have thought it was possible to keep more than 2,000 Mexicans quiet for a few minutes), a stage invader, Fran's beard best imitation, and Andy playing from a balcony were some of the things we enjoyed Wednesday night.
I think the effort they make to communicate and connect with the audience and playing from the heart is what makes them so great, at least that's what happened to me back in 2007 when Travis shifted from "a band I like" to "the best band in the world"