Exclusive: Watch Travis take on an acoustic “Side,” 20 years after its release
The Scottish band is set to reissue its hit record The Invisible Band later this year
Music News Travis
Twenty years ago, Scottish rock group Travis was riding high on the success of its biggest release yet. The Invisible Band had just come out a few months prior and had spent a month at the top of the UK album charts. Singles like “Sing,” “Side,” and “Flowers In The Window” all marked what the band calls “pinnacle moments” in its career—and this is a group who rose to fame in the ’90s touring with Oasis.
A charming blend of earnest rock and earworm pop, The Invisible Band was set to break the band in the U.S., with dates set up at Radio City Music Hall in October 2001, only to have that tour thwarted by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Now, with the group, still together, set to perform the album on tour for the first time ever, Travis is set to release a 20th anniversary reissue of The Invisible Band. Remastered (and released on vinyl for the first time ever), the album is available to pre-order here.
The A.V. Club is pleased to present fans with an exclusive acoustic performance of one of the album’s biggest singles, “Side.” According to Travis frontman Fran Healy, the song was born out of a universal sense of humanity:
“Side’s lyric, this idea that while we might feel as though we are on a different side from another person, for whatever reason, in reality we all have far more in common with each other simply by being alive. We’re all standing on the same side of this one big circle. If we were willing to walk around a little bit, we would meet and probably laugh at how dumb we had been. We can’t wait to play this as part of The Invisible Band 20th anniversary tour. It’s always a big moment in the set so playing it as part of the bigger album will be great.”
Travis’ 2022 US tour dates:
04/05 Dallas, TX—Majestic
04/06 Austin, TX—ACL Live @ Moody Theatre
04/08 Anaheim, CA—House of Blues
04/09 Los Angeles, CA—The Orpheum Theatre
04/10 San Francisco, CA—The Masonic
04/12 Seattle, WA—Neptune
04/15 Minneapolis, MN—State Theatre
04/16 Chicago, IL—Park West
04/18 Toronto, ON—Massey Hall
04/20 Boston, MA—The Orpheum Theatre
04/21 New York City, NY—Terminal 5
04/22 Philadelphia, PA—Keswick
04/23 Washington, DC—Lincoln Theatre
04/25 Cleveland, OH—House of Blues
04/26 Indianapolis, IN—Old National Centre
5 Comments
It’s great, but it’s no ten minutes of claptrap about a relationship that broke after a whopping 90 days.
I always seem to forget how much I enjoy Travis. I guess maybe they just aren’t too showy, but just very consistently good. I saw them once as a band, and another time with just Fran Healy and the Guitarist Andy Dunlop. That second show was really memorable. Fran is a great storyteller and an affable guy. They met with everyone after the show, but I had to go. Even though Fran begged us to stay as he watched us head to the exits. I should’ve stayed.
One of the best Post-Britpop bands to ever emerge, to be honest. Britpop was already in it’s death-throes by the time Fran and the boys shimmied along.
This is a weird post. I went to see them in October 2001 (The Invisible Band tour) at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Fran even said some things about 9/11 to the audience. Great to see them still at it though!
No mention of Driftwood!? Arguably a bigger song than “Side” tbh