TRAVIS

My dream has come true. All Travis five albums have been sitting on my CD racks for several years. DVDs of their shows have been also a great comfort. I, finally, have a chance to see their live performance at Irving Plaza.

Waiting for me at Union Square Park, I rushed to meet my new concert-buddy. The time was 6:30. I thought it would be a good idea to check and see if there was a long line to get in. On our way to Irving Plaza, unbelievably we saw Dougie, the bassist, on his matching golden suit and sunglasses. Undoubtedly, I said hi to him. He was walking with another guy whom I think was the guard. Dougie also said hi back to us with a little bit of the feminine voice and gesture. We were like “Oh wow, this is amazing.”

We got in around 7:15 and waited until 8:00 pm when the opening band, John Paul White, started. There were two guys in this band. One song they played was from the TV show OC which I’ve never seen. However, they sounded great. They finished around 8:30. We waited again. This girl next to us was getting drunk, started dancing for no reason and making a scene. Inconsiderate fan was everywhere. We kind of hoped that she would behave when the show began.

Around 9 o’clock more or less, the light in the hall went dark, couple spotlights went on and also the theme songs were played. Audiences’ eyes followed the spotlights to see what was going on, how the band members would enter the stage. We looked around the standing area and here they were. They were walking toward where my friend and I stood. We were speechless. However, we were crazily screaming. Walking slowly, I had a chance to shake Fran’s and Dougie’s hand and touched Andy’s and Neil’s shoulder. They all were walking pass our face. I thought I was going to faint with the overwhelming feeling. It was just too much in one night. Click to see the clip. If you carefully look at this clip, you could see us.

According to the song list I got, here are the songs played in sequence:

Selfish Jean
Eyes Wide Open
Writing to Reach You
Love Will Com Thru
As You Are
My Eyes
Big Chair
Side
Driftwood
Good Feeling
Closer
Sing
Battleships
All I Want to Do is Rock
Turn

We were standing not too far from the stage. Our eyes met Dougie’s eyes periodically. We smiles back and forth. My friend seemed to like him and his dancing moves very much. Three were two grandmothers upstairs wearing Travis t-shirt and singing along almost every song. Right next to them, we saw Zach Braff and his girlfriend also having a good time. Fran introduced the new touring pianist, Claus Bjorklund, who was solo on the track “Good Feeling.”


After “Turn” was played and the band went to backstage, we wholeheartedly shouted wanting them to come back. Fran came out with his acoustic guitar and stated that everybody would sing “Flowers” in an unplugged version. Of course, it was lovely and fantastic. They cover this song very well. The next songs were “Indefinitely” and “Selfish Jean.” They intentionally played Selfish Jean twice; however, on the second time they had this guy from YouTube’s clip performed some dancing as Fran sang the song. It was my first time watching this and it was quite creatively funny. The party was almost over. “Rain” was played lastly. Fran said that he would like everybody in the hall sing this song together. We were jumping and singing, “why does it always rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen…” it was amazing seeing everyone jumped and sang this well-known song.

I might not need great sex for a while after experiences this astounding and overwhelming performance they put on the stage.