Ben Folds Five, Travis & Old Pike

On November 28, Ben Folds Five headlined their day-after-Thanksgiving gig at the Fillmore. That is all that will be mentioned of the headlining band for we have come to see the opening act, Travis.

Travis first caught the ears and eyes of the media and public in Britain with their first single "All I Want To Do Is Rock" late last year. With the success since, they finally ventured out on their first US tour and by the looks of it they are more then happy to have come. Before the show, members of the Glasgow, Scotland band wandered freely amongst the crowd going completely unnoticed. Even front man Fran Healy was pretty much anonymous wearing a cowboy hat while walking around the venue with his mother. Yes, a cowboy hat. Now before you jump to conclusions, mind you, there is something to be said about a man in a cowboy hat. Very, very few men can actually get away with it and look good. The two that come to mind are Fran Healy, and of, course Beck. On that, note lets get on to the show...

Travis finally came on the stage after the audience endured a mediocre set by the guitar based foursome Old Pike. Travis was electric from the moment they set foot on the stage. The difference in character between bands is incredible to witness live. You could tell before they played a single note that the evening would be worth while. To start, Healy — along with Douglas Payne on bass, Neil Primrose on drums and Andy Dunlop on guitar — jumped in to his own rendition of "California Girls" by the Beach Boys before making the transition into their actual set. Any expectations that anyone might have had of the band were surely met and exceeded by far. Healy has complete control over the most powerful vocals one could imagine. It’s almost painful the amount of time he can hold a note. They played for forty-five fantastic minutes and included almost every song on their debut album, Good Feeling. Speaking of the album, the title pretty much says it all about Travis. Good feelings are not the half of it; they are certainly a positive band and because of that charisma they lit up the room. With songs like "All I Want To Do Is Rock," "U16 Girls," "Tied To The 90's" and the title track, they displayed youthfulness and charm which complimented the set even more. Even the pauses in between songs were made eventful by Healy’s humorous witticisms and cute remarks. The crowd that had no knowledge of Travis before the fact seemed to enjoy every minute of the new talent and applauded at the numerous cracks by Healy. One in particular had Healy dedicating a song to "All the new ravers and angst rock and rollers," and then went on to emphasize that the song was titled "Good Day To Die."

The highlights of the show were two songs by far. The first was "I Love You Anyways" an acoustic love song with heavy sighs that seemed to take on a life of it’s own and strike a chord with everyone. Then the second was the closing number, dedicated to Healy’s Mother who traveled from Scotland, entitled in the most simple terms "Happy." Happy was by far the most energetic of the set and Healy’s powerful vocals held up strong till the very end. To sum up the night, Travis sounded simplistic at first but in a matter of moments the crowd was literally blown away by beautiful stage presents and a refined wall of sound. Now who was it everyone came to see that night?? We were only into the opening act and the night was already complete.

-Sarah Watson

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