Travis – Live at Glastonbury ’99 //Craft Recordings// (Released 21st June)

Description

£26.99 – Standard 2xLP 

1999 marked a momentous year for Scottish rock band Travis. Singer/songwriter Fran Healy, guitarist Andy Dunlop, drummer Neil Primrose, and bassist Dougie Payne had been together since the beginning of the decade, and were gearing up for the release of their sophomore album, The Man Who, following the release of their 1997 debut, Good Feeling. Though the album found moderate success in the UK and set the band up for extensive touring – opening for the likes of Oasis – Travis were still reasonably unknown internationally. All of that was about to change.

With The Man Who having only been in the record shops for a month, Travis played the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. It had been glorious weather, but, as they played their soon-to-be-released single “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” the heavens opened. The soggy crowd went wild, and the performance went down as one of the all-time great shows in the festival’s 50-year history. By the time “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” was released as a single five weeks later, Travis and The Man Who were on the precipice of international stardom, and would go on to headline Glastonbury a year later.

Craft Recordings is pleased to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Travis’ breakthrough year with two exciting releases: Live at Glastonbury ’99, plus an expanded edition of The Man Who. Available for the very first time, Live at Glastonbury ’99 has been a long-sought-after recording by fans of Travis. The 16-song set includes such favourites as the band’s first UK Top-20 single, “More Than Us”, “Driftwood”, “Happy” and “Turn”.

Reflecting on their now-legendary Glastonbury performance, Healy muses, “We all thought it was a really below-par performance and a literal washout. When I got home that night, I switched the TV on and the presenters on the Glastonbury highlights were hailing us as the performance of the festival. I watched it years later on YouTube. It was a great performance. A band teetering on the pivot and then tipping all in one gig”.

To date, the four members of Travis are still very active as a band. The last two years have seen the group release their eighth album – the refreshingly punchy Everything At Once (2016); undertake another hefty world tour, and make a documentary film – the candidly titled, Almost Fashionable. Healy, now based in Los Angeles, sums it up: “We’re like a couple who celebrate their 60th anniversary and they’re still in love. It’s all about the relationship. This is the marriage of four men – and it’s hard enough to keep two people interested, never mind four”.

Tracklisting:

A1. Blue Flashing Light

A2. The Fear

A3. Writing To Reach You

A4. Good Feeling

B1. U16 Girls

B2. As You Are

B3. Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

B4. Coming Around

C1. All I Want To Do Is Rock

C2. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

C3. Good Day To Die

C4. More Than Us

D1. Driftwood

D2. Slide Show

D3. Turn

D4. Happy