This past Saturday, August 14, after the Tampa Bay Rays' sweet victory over the Baltimore Orioles, Train came 'a rollin’ through the Trop and staged a performance as part of the post-Rays Concert Series. The pop rock trio that enjoyed their heyday in the late '90s and early '00s and recently strick gold again with their 2009 hit “Hey, Soul Sister,” drew the biggest crowd I’d seen so far following a game, people remaining behind to flood the field and snag better seats in the stands. [Photo of band courtesy of their Myspace page.]
Train made it worth their while. After a corny locomotive audio intro complete with steam engine and train whistle sounds, the band took the stage, frontman Pat Monahan commanding the attention of fans in a shiny blue tee and bright white, supertight pants. If that’s not pop music, I don’t know what is.
They opened with “Parachute” off of 2009’s Save Me San Francisco. “Let’s fill this place with love,” Monahan said as he launched into some hippie-dippie dance moves, then hit a crazy high note that carried throughout the arena.
When they busted out their 1998 hit, “Meet Virginia,” complete with a rockin’ guitar solo, the show had really taken off. For “She’s On Fire,” Monahan pulled out a guitar and stopped halfway into the song, announcing that “Hey, Soul Sister” was now being played on the country music channel and donning a cowboy hat. “Yes, it greatly confused us as well,” Monahan joked, “but it increases our chances of becoming the greatest country music band, ever.” Train then played another verse of “She’s On Fire” in country music fashion and style. Then they decided to have even more fun and brought a group of youths who sported homemade “Trainette” t-shirts to sing the rest of the song with them. At the end of the whole fun "She’s On Fire" production, Monahan took a bow with his Trainettes and sent them back into the crowd.
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.