Travis

“All I wanna do is rock” belts out Travis frontman Fran Healey before performing a cover of a song from one of the grittiest heavy metal rock bands of the last century: The Bee Gees and ‘Staying Alive’.

Incongruity is alive and well with Travis, and right about now they were playing the only UK festival where they could secure a second place slot and manage to pull in a half decent crowd.

The band come on stage 15 minutes late to an extended version of the introduction of their number three hit ‘Sing’. The irritating ringing sound turned into a perpetual warble and I can’t express my relief when Mr. Healy strummed the first few notes of the opener.

“I think we’ve proved this is the greatest British festival” says Healy, to hoards of cheers from the audience. “And next year it’s going to be even bigger!” More cheers. “Because there’s no Glastonbury!” Even more cheers. I thought about grumbling to the bloke next to me but for some reason arguing with a pissed, well built giant of a Scotsman didn’t seem like an activity I wanted to engage in.

From then on the set list was predictable, ‘Writing to reach you’, ‘Beautiful occupation’ and ‘Driftwood’ were all included in the set. The other musicians moved to the side of the stage to allow Healy to play an acoustic of ‘Flowers in the window’ which evoked a mass sing a long from the crowd.

“It’s been such a weird week, with all the highs and the lows” spoke Healy, referring to the turbulent affairs of The G8 Summit, Live 8 and of course the atrocities in London. “Live 8 was amazing, and when people come together like this it’s amazing.”

The band couldn’t stop grinning as the audience carried on singing the songs long after the band had finished playing. The set was closed with ‘Why does it always rain on me’, and in the case of TITP you expect the showers to follow. However, today the weather was magnificent and the mood of the festival couldn’t have been more uplifting.

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