Travis were surprised on stage in LOS ANGELES when an unidentified woman bearing a striking resemblance to Britney Spears joined them as they performed their cover of her hit ‘BABY ONE MORE TIME’.
Dressed in a schoolgirl’s outfit and with her hair in pigtails, the woman ran out on stage to dance briefly and plant a kiss on frontman Fran Healy‘s cheek, turning him a bright shade of red.
Although pop queen Spears was performing on the same night (July 20) in Columbia, Maryland at the Merriweather Post Pavillion the evening in question, Healy seemed convinced it was indeed the teen songstress.
“Was that really who I thought it was? That’s her!” he said after performing the song with bassist Dougie Payne during an encore.
He added: “Apparently Britney‘s playing in town soon. I’d love to go and see her. I think anything that makes kids that happy is so cool.”
While the likelihood that it was indeed Spears is remote in the extreme – and drummer Neil Primrose said after the show that he believed the “mystery woman” to be opening act Leona Naess dressed up – Spears recently told nme.com she was a fan of the band’s version of her breakthrough hit.
“I was in the mall the other day and I heard this song come on and I was like ‘Oh my Lordy!’ It was so weird. I liked it though, I thought it was cool. It was a totally different vibe from what I did,” she said in June.
Travis completed the latest leg of their US tour to rapturous approval from a crowd that included Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz, and Party of Five heartthrob Scott Wolf. The band are now heading to Australia for a short stint of tour dates before returning to Britain to play V2000 in Chelmsford and Staffordshire on August 19, 20.
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Britney Spears‘ tour makes its way to Los Angeles on July 30, 31.
nme.com will bring you the first reviews on August 1.