Last night I went to see Travis Morrison open for the Panoply Academy Legionnaires at the Ottobar, kind of on a whim. I didn't even realize he was playing there until the day before the show, and decided to go out and kill a couple hours and avoid studying for midterms. I'd seen Travis twice in the past 6 months and wasn't in a rush to see him again, figuring it'd be pretty much the same show I already saw. But it wasn't at all. His new backing band is a 4-piece that, aside from the drummer, is a completely different lineup from 5-piece he had back in November. And where the old band was guitarless and comprised of nothing but keyboards and percussion, now Travis is back on guitar. And aside from "Song For The Orca" (probably my favorite song on Travistan), their set was pretty much entirely new songs, probably about 8 or 9, none of which I recognized from previous shows. I didn't catch any song titles except for the one he introduced as "I Do". And wow are these new songs good. I liked Travistan more than most, but this stuff is way better and more rocking, and could probably win back some disaffected Dismemberment Plan fans. The new band already sounds pretty tight and the songs sound complete, hopefully it won't take them long to record them and put out a new record. If he puts out an album of those songs the way they sounded last night by the end of 2005 it'll be a lock for at least my top 5 of the year. I stuck around for Panoply Academy Legionnaires, but they were pretty boring so I left after a few songs.

Labels: concerts, Travis Morrison

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at 12:33 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.