Review – Travis, Bristol Beacon, December 15th

Glaswegian indie-rock legends, Travis, have had a busy 2024. The band released their 10th studio album, “L.A. Times”, which became their highest charting album in 23 years when it reached Number 2 in the Summer. They played a string of festival dates and supported The Killers on their UK arena tour. Now, they play a sold-out show at Bristol Beacon as part of their own headline tour.

The foyer is unusually busy before the main doors open. Travis had sold VIP tickets which gave access to the soundcheck and a Q&A earlier in the day resulting in a lot of fans arriving earlier than usual. There’s lots of confusion about who should be queueing where and a delay to the doors opening due to the first support act suddenly pulling out. It feels like most of the audience have arrived early which demonstrates the following the band still have.

In doing so, they get to see Scottish singer-songwriter, Hamish Hawk, warm up the crowd. He does a great job. His theatrical chamber pop fills the room perfectly with his impressive baritone vocals winning everyone over instantly. Unsurprisingly, there is a significant queue for his merch during the interval.

Travis arrive on stage shortly after 9pm with one of their newer tracks, “Bus”. It’s the first of five songs from their latest album which are scattered throughout their set tonight. These songs are some of their most immediately accessible material in years; “Alive” is the sort of festival-sized anthem that the band became well-known for in the 90s, “Gaslight” has an equally catchy chorus which is given a boost by showing the lyrics on the screens and “Raze the Bar” has even members of the audience previously unfamiliar with the track singing along by the end.

Whilst the new material adds welcome variation to the set, ticket holders are always going to want to hear the hits and Travis deliver plenty of them. “Driftwood” and “Writing to Reach You” are both played early on and their ubiquity has not diminished their power. “Love Will Come Through” and “Re-Offender” from their at-the-time-maligned album “12 Memories” are now recognised as classic singles. “Side” and “Sing” help to remind everyone why this was a band that once headlined Glastonbury.

Frontman, Fran Healy, does allude to the decline of their stock. He tells us that their 9 x platinum album, “The Man Who”, should have been “career suicide” but became “the biggest album ever”. He explains that he has never been able to write to formula or re-create what is popular at the time and just delivers what comes to him.

30 minutes or so into the set and it become clear that Fran is really struggling vocally. Even his speaking voice is cracking. When he reaches the chorus of “Closer” – a song which now stands out as one of their best – his voice gives up completely. He tells the crowd “I always hit my notes” and “that is the first time I haven’t” before explaining that he has been unwell.

For the next few songs, his voice continues to deteriorate and he knows it but keeps playing regardless. He talks about Mariah Carey suffering with a similar illness and having to cancel her recent Christmas shows which he says he would never do. Arguably, Mariah is held to a much higher vocal standard than most other artists and the virality of her recent struggles just would not happen to a band like Travis and so it’s probably an unfair comparison.

However, Fran’s tenacity to keep pushing and deliver what the audience has paid for is admirable. He remains high-spirited and so it never becomes awkward. The crowd duly oblige in helping him out with the still brilliant “Turn” at the end of the main set. The band could be forgiven for not returning for an encore given the vocal issues but they come back and complete the set with vigour.

“Flowers in the Window” is played acoustic with the band huddled around each other at the edge of the stage. There is jubilation from Fran as he exclaims “I hit the note”. He asks the seated audience to stand up and pogo along to their signature song, “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” When you have hits like that under your belt, any vocal setbacks are quickly forgotten.

Fran Healy tells the full Beacon that Bristol is his second favourite city after Glasgow and they love visiting here. It is very apparent from the rapturous applause that Bristol equally loves Travis.