Train in Concert (Or, In Which I Gush Like A Fangirl)

Train first caught my attention when they came out with “Meet Virginia” back around 1998. Yeah, that long ago. When they released “Drops of Jupiter” in 2001, I was completely, totally in love. That was about the time that I was falling completely, totally in love with my hubby, so I think all of that is bound up together in my head. Anyway, “Drops of Jupiter” has been my favorite song ever since. Yup, I’ve been faithful for about nine years!

I was lucky enough to see them in concert a few years ago at a pretty big local street/music festival.  They put on a good show, it was a beautiful summer night, and it’s a great memory.

I initially decided to skip this concert because of work, but when it turned out I needed the night off for something I had to do the next day, I called my sister up, offered to drive there and back and let her spend the night at my house if she’d be my date, and off we went.

I’m so glad I got to go!  The opening act was Butch Walker and the Black Widows*, whom I honestly had never heard of.  They had a great sound, but I couldn’t understand the words to any of the songs.  =/  Leave it to my sister, the more scientific one, to ask, “Why are they called The Black Widows?  They’re all boys.”  Good question, Rach!

Train came out after about an hour and performed to a sold-out house. Granted, this was a concert hall and not a stadium, but I think we gave them a nice welcome!  I believe they opened with “Get To Me,” which is a great song.  They did “Meet Virginia” pretty early on, which got everybody singing.

If you ever get to go to one of their shows, try to get up close. Patrick Monahan loves to pull people out of the audience and up on stage. Three or four little girls got to go up and be “Trainettes” and help him sing “She’s On Fire.” Different women got to go up and dance with him as he sang–Mississippi? I’m reasonably sure that was the one.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when he put the mic down and just sang to us. The acoustics in this place are pretty good, and Monahan has the chops to do this. He sang the first verse of “When I Look To The Sky” off mic, the music came in, and then he went off mic again. It was amazing. I had goose bumps!

They got us livened back up when they sang their newest song, “Hey, Soul Sister.” That one got lots of people singing too. I’ll admit here that this song has one of my new favorite lines, “My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest.” Yup, throw a little quirky-but-ordinary into a song and I love it! They also did a cover of the Led Zeppelin song, Ramble On. I don’t know much LZ, but I think they do a great job with this song!

Of course they left the stage without singing “Drops of Jupiter.” And of course it was their encore. Man, I love that song. I don’t think that we even needed Monahan to sing. We were so loud, I couldn’t even hear him! But, hey, it was a good time, right? They closed with “If It’s Love.” This is on their new CD, Save Me, San Francisco, which my sister hadn’t really heard. She listened and started cracking up! She started screaming in my ear, “I can’t believe this isn’t your new favorite! It describes you perfectly!” And it does, what can I say?  😉  “When everybody else is getting out of bed, I’m usually getting in it” and “Took a loan on a house I own, can’t be a queen bee without a bee throne.” Yup, that’s me. And it is a great song. 

If they ever come close to you, go see them! They’re a lot of fun, they seem to genuinely enjoying performing, and I love their music.