REVIEW: True North headliners Travis mark album's 20th anniversary in impressive style
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Travis made a triumphant return to the north-east by headlining the True North music festival and celebrating 20 years of their third album The Invisible Band.
The Scottish band split their concert at Aberdeen's Music Hall on Saturday night into two parts with fans being treated to a full play through of the 2001 release and then the quartet played the songs that have helped define their career.
Coming on to stage in a pink suit and trademark hat, frontman Fran Healy was unmissable and launched into the album opener Sing.
It was played with great power and the band, which also includes guitarist Andy Dunlop, bassist Dougie Payne and drummer Neil Primrose, set the tone for the evening.
There was barely a chance to catch breath when the group went into the melodic Side, followed shortly by Flowers in the Window, which Healy revealed was written in France in the late 1990s.
Those songs helped propel the album to number one in the UK where it stayed for four weeks and is certified four-times Platinum.
Playing it all the way through also allowed other songs to come to the fore including Dear Diary, the poignant Safe and The Humpty Dumpty Love Song, which saw the band use something that is rarely seen nowadays – the ghetto blaster.
As the band went through the album, Healy spoke about experiencing the passage of time and recording the album two decades ago.
He touched on his family and how his mum, dad and grandparents provided the security and safety he needed, and how he is now raising his own children and introducing them to music and playing the guitar.
He spoke about how in this modern age of single tracks we rarely listen to albums all the way through any more. However, he was excited that the resurgence in vinyl records was changing this and introducing it to a new generation.
As the band played through the songs trees filling the background of the stage, which featured on the album's cover, were lit up and extended out to fill the whole Music Hall, which created an impressive spectacle.
The band went into their extensive back catalogue for the second part of the show.
This included Writing to Reach You, Driftwood, My Eyes and Closer.
Turn from The Man Who album was a particular highlight with Healy's powerful rendition adding further strength to an already epic song.
Before the band left the stage there was a tease that new material is on the way from the band in the near future.
This led into the final song and the one that propelled the band to huge heights in 1999. Why Does It Always Rain on Me? had the whole venue singing and jumping along and brought the night to a fitting close.
The band were supported beforehand by Ross Leighton, who is lead singer of Glasgow-based band Fatherson.
It was a solo slot from the frontman whose striking vocals and acoustic guitar got the crowd in the mood for what was to come.
The True North music festival saw a plethora of acts descend on the Granite City and entertain in its venues over the weekend.
This included Mica Paris who was joined by Emeli Sande, celebrated jazz singer Georgia Cecile and other special guests at the Music Hall on Sunday for a stunning celebration of the music of the legendary Aretha Franklin.
Internationally renowned composer Nitin Sawhney took to the Music Hall stage on Friday.
With more than 20 studio albums to his name, including solo albums, film soundtracks and compilations along with more than 50 film scores he has received a substantial wealth of major national and international awards for his work.
The line-up also included alt-rock favourites Django Django, latino outfit Los Bitchos and the exuberant African Groove Machine at the Lemon Tree, and on the Wonder House stage over the weekend were AiTee, Emma Pollock, Honeyblood’s Stina Marie Claire and Michael Timmons as well as interactive family shows from CBeebie’s favourite YolanDa’s Band Jam and Sprog Rock.
