Travis - More Than Us: Live in Glasgow

Forming in Glasgow in the early ‘90s, Travis released their first EP U16 Girls in 1997 and received instant chart success in the UK. International chart success has also been achieved through songs such as Sing and Why Does It Always Rain On Me? and they look like they will only get stronger. Their debut album Good Feeling was followed by the chart topping The Man Who and they then consolidated themselves with The Invisible Band.

They have always been classed as the poor cousin to bad boys Oasis, but that seems to be changing rapidly and Oasis will no doubt soon be looking up to Travis. Lead singer and songwriter Fran Healy (he’s the one with the white mohawk), bassist Douglas Payne, guitarist Andy Dunlop and drummer Neil Primrose are obviously very close friends and this not only comes through in their music but also in their live performances.

Playing to packed audiences throughout Britain and Europe, Travis – More Than Us: Live In Glasgow captures them live where it all began. They play to an audience of diehard fans at the Glasgow Green Festival, topping the bill over artists such as Eminem, Marilyn Manson, The Strokes and Green Day.

"We’re here in Glasgow and it’s not raining, what’s with that?"

This release is billed as three shows in one weekend, covering the Reading Festival, Leeds and ultimately the Glasgow Green show. The documentary part of the DVD does cover this trip, but the actual concert is just the Glasgow show. The documentary part of this release is filmed backstage and on the band’s bus and is at times very amusing, giving a good insight into life behind the scenes of a touring band.

From the opening Sing, the band is in fine form and put on a terrific show. The audience seem to love every minute and this really adds to the atmosphere.

Track listing:

The band is on a break at the time of writing this review due to drummer Neil Primrose having an accident while diving into a swimming pool. He mistakenly dived into the shallow end and caused himself some major back problems, having to have two vertebrae removed. He is expected to make a full recovery, but is not allowed to do any drumming for eight weeks. The band were scheduled to perform at several festivals but have cancelled performing until Neil can play again, another sign of their loyalty and friendship.

Overall this is a great show from a band at their peak. The audience adds greatly to the experience so I would recommend this release highly. The direction and editing are well done and the songs chosen are a good showcase for this band.

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, this does look very good. Picture is sharp at all times and colours are generally true. Detail is also very good and only suffers in the usual places associated with live performances. Aliasing is also found in the usual places such as guitar strings but there's nothing too major. There are a couple of blemishes in the form of white screens and some prime examples are at 8:30, 41:04, 50:11 and 51:47. These are quite distracting, but are only brief, so try to blink when they happen and they shouldn’t intrude too much. The layer change occurs at 54:13 and is not too invasive.

Footage used in the documentary is not as good as the concert, but is generally OK considering it was filmed with a mobile camera. Subtitles supplied are in English for the whole feature and English, French and Spanish for the documentary. The English subtitles are very good and it is refreshing to see song lyrics in a concert release.

Audio supplied is Dolby Digital 2.0 and DD 5.1. Both are good, but the preferred option is definitely the DD 5.1. Sound is clear at all times with good usage of the surrounds for the audience noise and general concert feel. The subwoofer gets a little use for the heavier songs and synch is spot on throughout.

A good selection of extras is available with this release.

Concert
Yes, I know the concert isn't an extra, but I have included it here because of the ability to watch the full concert including the documentary or to watch the concert alone without the intrusion of the documentary. Granted this is not really an extra, but I think it is worthy of mention here and something that would be a good option on a lot of music releases.

Discography
Covering all their albums and singles released up until 2001 in an easy to navigate format.

Documentary
Running for 25:08, this feature contains all the documentary footage that is used in the main feature as a separate option. A choice is available to select each part or to play it in full.

Cam Chooser
For the songs Sing, Side and Why Does It Always Rain On Me? there is the option to select which camera angle you prefer. This is not the standard multiple angle feature where you select a different angle to just get more of the same edited footage, this actually goes to a different camera angle. A very nice extra.

Playlist Selector
They have thought of everything on this release. Here we have a nice feature which allows you to select songs from the concert in segments based on which album they are from. There is also a montage of the highlights from the show available.

Travisonline.com
Simply a link to the Travis web site.

For fans of Travis this is a must have DVD. For those with a passing interest in the band it is definitely worth a look. The concert is great, the documentary feature is good, the multiple angle option is also good and the extras are a great bonus. There is little to find fault with in the video or audio, so take the time to check out this fine band in a great performance on this well presented DVD.