THE FEELS! I’m still jittering from the excitement of 11.12.13’s Fashionably Late Tour stop in NYC!
Matching with the Texas, flannel-loving boy with a smooth strong voice and real feel like a true fan should! #blackandflannel
You may remember Travis Garland from NLT (Not Like Them) [Listen: That Girl] whose run lasted from 2006-2009 when they separated and focused on individual projects. They never released an album, but their small “bandamonium” run spawned two great additions to the entertainment world: Kevin Hale (Glee) and Travis Garland.
NLT may not have made Garland a pop sensation, but he has all the charm and charisma of a great one – plus a voice that is so smooth, raspy, and powerful that you just don’t know what to do with yourself when you hear it! His music, a blend of r&b, pop, rock presences had people from all over going crazy. The frostbite induced by a terribly long wait to get into the venue (caused by a special VIP acoustic performance and Meet & Greet running late) was dispelled as he and opener O’Donis took the stage.
O’Donis started out with a medley of songs he did when he was big back in 2008 with his own single What You Got and features in Lady Gaga’s Just Dance and Akon’s Beautiful. The New York City native, dressed like he was prepared for a night out in the sleepless city, hyped up the crowd covering Drake and giving us a glimpse of what he has in store for the future. I loved O’Donis’ smooth voice back in 2008, but I was honestly surprised how smooth and dynamic it was on stage. With ease he sang while engaging the crowd, including dancing with a girl he picked from the crowd. His new stuff sounds great, so keep an eye out for his release in 2014!
When Travis came out, the crowd went WILD! He jumped right in with his first single, Where To Land and followed by playing music off his Fashionably Late EPs, his full length studio album Travis Garland, and collaboration favorite Paint that he did with JoJo. I was blown away by his vocal performance! It was surreal to see him performing live and sounding just like he did in the recordings, if not better. He is so comfortable being on stage that it felt very intimate. Goodness he has a beautiful voice! I’m telling you, it’s going to take me awhile to stop this concert high I’m on!
One of my favorite moments was his performance of AllSheWannaDo. It was so much FUN! Garland kicks it back a bit with a bass solo, adds drums, then jumps (literally) into an air guitar riff mirroring guitarist, Kenji Chen. At 2:02 he flips around and everything stops until it all starts going again, totally giving us a thrill!
Although there was a good presence of female fans (NLT and later on) screaming their heads off as he took the stage, Travis Garland pulls a lot of fanbase from the dance world as well. You might’ve heard a male voice going crazy before a bunch of the songs in my videos. He and another guy near me are dancers that bonded over their love for dance and Travis Garland’s music as inspiration during the concert. I’m not a dancer myself (I wish!), but I have several friends into it. Through my sporadic YouTube marathons watching choreo, I’ve seen the influence of Travis’ music, especially in Brian Puspos. Puspos, another Texas native, creates vivid emotional pieces that I absolutely love. In particular, he has covered From Adam (see it here), one of my favorites of Travis Garland. When he performed it I went craaazy! So smooth and with so much emotion.
If you have a great genuine performer, you have to have a great support team and Travis Garland has just that. After the show his band (many of whom double as his producers) came out to talk with us. I got the chance to talk to his bassist Ray in particular who was so nice and ever so graciously took a photo of Travis and me when my phone died! (If you’re reading this Ray, thank you again!)
Travis Garland isn’t starting off safe with the music he releases, but at the same time he isn’t forcing his music to be spread without a dedicated fan base. With the independent release of his album and an incredible North American tour under his belt, there is so much opportunity out there for him! Look out world, Travis Garland is stating his ground and he won’t be leaving for a very long while. (And hey, Travis! Will we get to see some dance moves like back in your boy band days?!)
See all of my videos in the Playlist below. ENJOY! 😀