Review of Travis: At The Palace

Introduction

This 90-minute plus concert DVD really has had the `big treatment`. The production value oozes from every pore, from the stylish animated menu through to the pristine sound and spectacularly covered footage, with maybe a dozen cameras and some fairly ambitious techno-crane moments too. Fans will be delighted. For the rest of though, all the production value in the world won`t compensate for what is a fairly low-key, lack-lustre affair. The band plays well. Almost too well as they carefully tread their way through a vast array of similar sounding songs, with similar dynamics, which individually assessed are all pleasantly competent. It`s just that 90 minutes is about 75 minutes too long with so little change in the presentation landscape.

They kick off with an acoustic number, `HAPPY TO BE AROUND`, a dreamy piece that owes more to Pink Floyd and Supertramp than it does to their immediate contemporaries. The sound is really quite excellent and there`s more than a sniff of post-dubbing in the air.

RE-OFFENDER and WRITING TO REACH YOU wash over inoffensively, and the 3 part harmonies are expertly handled. After this gentle three-song kick off, front man Fran Healy announces to the considerable crowd, "Welcome to our living room. We had a giant sofa for you all to sit on but it didn`t fit in", thereby confirming that this is a band best listened to with tea and a biscuit.

PIPE DREAMS and QUICKSAND cover no new ground and are pre-cursors to the first mega-hit of the evening, that irritating nursery rhyme of a song, `SING`. The audience seem to enjoy it though.

The introduction to `LOVE WILL COME THROUGH` is a toe-curling dedication to love … "Love that equals hope…the Love that conquers all." Ouch!

Next up is `THE FEAR` and for a moment or two I thought they`d started rocking. Certainly the flame affects across the stage suggest that the lighting team thought so too but alas, it`s a false alarm!

`THE BEAUTIFUL OCCUPATION` is the best yet, with a brooding building tension that separates it from the rest of the set. There`s a stirring guitar solo too that gives a glimpse into what this band might be capable of if they let their emotions fuel their song-writing a little more.
Nice!

The next moment worthy of note is DRIFTWOOD, a fine song with a clever refrain played here with vigour and passion.

ALL I WANT TO DO IS ROCK was a title that perfectly reflected my own thoughts at the time but was another false alarm. TURN is played with enthusiasm, and COMING AROUND is a near perfect Byrds impression.
The truly awful `PEACE THE F**K OUT` is preceded by a rant about war, and why we need peace. Laudable sentiments perhaps, but such trite and over-simplified political posturing should be left to experts with years of experience - like Sting for example.

The final track, `WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN ON ME?` is predictably anthemic and quite a crowd pleaser.

Video

Flawless digital recordings lavishly realised with a sizable OB unit and a whole host of moving cameras. If the band had moved occasionally too it would have been one hell of a show.

Audio

Really very impressive, with terrific separation and clarity. You can choose from Digital Dolby Stereo, Dolby 5.1, or DTS 5.1.

Features

There`s a `fly on the wall` documentary clumsily cobbled together for dedicated fans and friends and relatives of the band. You see them arrive, you see them setting up, you see them sound checking, you hear some of their merry banter. The usual fayre.

Conclusion

I first heard and enjoyed Travis with the wonderfully understated `Driftwood` with its clever hooks and observant lyrics. But this startling debut, alongside the anthemic `Why does it always rain on me?` proved to be highlights from a band who are otherwise merely a competent, but hardly incendiary outfit turning out a mild concoction of radio friendly AOR. And that`s really what you get here. Very pleasant, very well played, very nicely realised. But in my book, it just aint rock `n roll. But fans will lap this up and for them it will be a great value performance clocking in at just under 90 minutes.