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London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Description: Fran Healy and his Scottish indie-rockers play tracks from their new album, Ode To J Smith.
Phone: 0207434 9592
Website: http://www.festivalrepublic.com/venues/#Astoria
Trains: Tube: Tottenham Court Road 
Extra info: Pub
Hat trick: Travis's Fran Healy with his black trilby
Travis’s debut single, released 12 years ago with the help of £600 from Fran Healy’s mother, was called All I Want To Do Is Rock. Six albums and more than a decade of earnest folk ditties later, the Glaswegian group are finally making good on their promise.
There’s the album, Ode To J. Smith, a ballsy, back-to-basics effort. Then there’s the live show, with as many rocking anthems as hushed lullabies.
It was from the former pile that Travis started their Astoria set. Chinese Blues had the kind of groove that Mick Jagger would have felt comfortable strutting to, while the grungy single Something Anything had Travis sounding like Nirvana’s cheerier siblings.
None were cheerier than guitarist Andy Dunlop. An ACDC fan confined to playing acoustic guitars and banjos, he revelled in his new role as wailing six-string slinger on the prog-rock of J. Smith.
Healy was also in buoyant mode, leaping from the top of a bass drum on Side, the folky hit from Travis’s 2001 album The Invisible Band. He went one better on Falling Down, singing all the ballad from deep within the crowd.
“Don’t touch the hat,” remarked Healy, when a rebel hand attempted to dislodge his black trilby during the first verse. Whether the 35-year-old was eager to maintain his dapper new look or merely worried about unveiling the balding head beneath is up for debate.
Healy assumed banjo duty for Last Words, the catchiest song Travis have written since 2001’s Sing. Gong duty was reserved for the group’s burly roadie during Before You Were Young.
As an encore, Healy and Dunlop covered Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl. Healy has a penchant for this kind of thing, having previously covered Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time. Last night, though, these born-again rockers had enough great songs of their own.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
