THEY came from far and wide to worship at the altar of Travis on Saturday night.

The Brit Award-winning band chose Blackburn to play their first live gig for nearly a year in front of a capacity crowd.

The date served as a warm up for the band before they headed out on a summer tour of Europe playing some of the major music festivals and it had fans from all over Britain clamouring for a ticket - all 2,100 of them selling out in a matter of hours.

Not since Robbie Williams came to Blackburn more than four years ago has the town hosted such a prestigious gig - and King George's Hall didn't let the area down.

On a hot sultry night, the fans simply lapped it up as lead singer Fran Healy led them through 90 minutes of hit singles and album favourites with a handful of new songs thrown in for good measure.

More than 2,000 voices sang in unison as the singles Driftwood, Turn and Sing were given an airing. The final encore of Why Does It Always Rain On Me? had them dancing in the balcony.

Travis have had a break from touring partly to write new material for their fourth album and partly enforced on them following an accident involving drummer Neil Primrose.

Now with Primrose back to full fitness, Travis proved they are raring to go.

The large trucks parked outside King George's Hall hinted at the extra large PA system and full light show which the band served up.

Travis may be used to playing larger venues, but they hadn't short changed anyone who turned up on Saturday.

Considering they've not played live for so long, a few sound glitches apart, it looked as though they'd never been away, with guitarist Dougie Payne on fine form.

Three new songs, Re-offender, Definition of Wrong and How Many Hearts, were warmly received but the audience - two of whom had made the trip from Argentina especially for the gig - really wanted to hear a few more of the older songs.

I've got to confess I've never been a huge Travis fan.

True they offer heartfelt lyrics and some pleasant tunes, but I often feel there's a sameness about their work - and having seen them live I stick by that.

As a rock band you suspect that rather than trash a hotel room Travis would prefer to tidy up after themselves to save the cleaners extra work. But what do I know?

"It's great to be back," said Healy to the crowd at one point. And the fans roared in delight as if to agree wholeheartedly.

What Saturday night did prove was that as well as Travis's popularity showing no signs of waning, it once again proved that in King George's Hall, Blackburn has a venue which deserves to host many more big names.