Scottish indie-pop titans Travis today announced that their upcoming UK tour will be pushed back a year to May 2022 as a result of the pandemic. Existing ticket purchases for the tour – which had originally been due to take place in April and May this year – will remain valid for the ten rescheduled dates.
In a message to fans posted on the band’s Instagram account this afternoon, frontman Fran Healy wrote: “Hey Everyone. It’s a massive bummer to learn that we are off the road for another year. Even though it’s hard to take, it feels like the right thing to do. Feeling safe is the invisible ingredient of going to a gig and without it, the experience would never feel right. We cannot wait till this nightmare is over. We hope you are all doing well. Stay safe, Fran X”
Guitarist Andy Dunlop added: “I’m absolutely heartbroken that we have to reschedule, I’m sure like many of you it was my light at the end of the tunnel, but first and foremost we must make sure that the shows are safe and also, hopefully by that time free of any restrictions so we can have the biggest party ever!
Andy xx”
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak the Travis 2021 shows have been postponed. The rearranged dates will be in May 2022. Customers are advised to keep their tickets as they will be valid for the new dates, any queries please contact your ticket provider. pic.twitter.com/MRFz7vzcNx
— Travis (@TravisBand) February 5, 2021
Healy had previously expressed reservations on the likelihood of the tour taking place in 2021. In an interview with Scotland’s Sunday Post last October, he said: “I asked our managers if they were joking when they talked about booking a tour, but they said we had to just batter on with it. Hopefully, by then, things will be better, but who knows. If not, we go to Plan B, although I don’t know if there is a Plan B. I think everyone is on Plan L or M by now. It’s a funny old time. It’s made everybody stop taking things for granted as much.”
Travis’ return to the stage in 2022 will provide fans with a belated first opportunity to hear live renditions from the Caledonian soft rockers’ 2020 album 10 Songs. The group’s latest record – their ninth studio LP – reached number #5 in the Official UK Albums chart in October, and topped the charts in their native Scotland. Seven of the ten tracks on the album have been released as singles; most recently the string-infused ballad Nina’s Song.
Reviews for 10 Songs were broadly positive, with Louder Than War‘s Sean Hornby praising the band’s durability and consistency. Hornby wrote: “Many of their contemporaries have fallen by the wayside. Yet, even if they’ve not always been the flavour of the month Travis remain a constant. In 2020 they’ve released a career-high, pertinent, contemporary collection of songs that will rightly find their place within their audience’s psyche. Once again Travis have managed to retain their dignity by remaining true to their values and ethics.”
2021 marks the twentieth (twentieth!) anniversary of Travis’ chart-topping third album, The Invisible Band, a quadruple platinum-selling LP which maintained the group’s standing as one of Britain’s most influential contemporary bands two years on from the success of the seminal The Man Who. The Invisible Band also spawned three stellar folk-pop singles in Sing, Side and Flowers In The Window.
The rescheduled dates for Travis’ 2022 tour are as follows:
10/05/22 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
11/05 – O2 Academy – Leeds
12/05 – Forum – Bath
14/05 – Victoria Hall – Stoke
15/05 – Symphony Hall – Birmingham
17/05 – Albert Hall – Manchester
18/05 – O2 Academy – Bournemouth
20/05 – Roundhouse – London
21/05 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle-upon-Tyne
22/05 – Royal Concert Hall – Glasgow
