Concert Guy

Okay, okay…so while I wasn’t sure about this one, a show is a show so I figured it was worth checking out. I enjoyed it. Let me explain.

Train rolled into (see what I did there?) the Mohegan Sun Arena in CT on 8/23/25 with Edwin McCain as their opener. When I told people I was going to this show, I had a handful of people say, “who?” or “never heard of them” or “I don’t know them.” To which I replied, “Yes you do. If you’ve ever spent anytime in a grocery store or elevator, you’ve heard them.” This will be proven shortly.

So, Edwin McCain opened the show with a full band which was cool. I was thinking perhaps he’d be a one-man performer with an acoustic guitar, but no. A southern bluesy sound is how I’d describe most of his non-radio songs. Solid band, good harmonies, and he has a good voice himself. He’s a bit on the mellow side (especially his hits) so I can see how this would be a snooze-fest for some people. But it was still good musicianship so I’m ok with it.

I believe on the third song, he starts to tell a story. Not an exact quote, but something like this, “If you’ve ever spent more than 10 minutes inside of a Walgreens…or a Home Depot…you’re probably going to know this next one.” See?! My description was spot on. He continued on, “Whenever I hear this song playing in Home Depot, I just stop and listen.” (He looks up and smiles as if listening to music). “Kids! Kids. Get over here! Listen! Listen! This song is going to put one of you through community college one day.” Crowd laughs and he goes into I Could Not Ask for More. After this one, he talks about how he has 2 sons that are 7 months apart…due to adoption. He is apparently adopted himself so he really bonds with his adopted son at family reunions knowing that neither of them will turn out like the crazy uncle since they’re not related. He also has a 16-year daughter, tells us she’s his favorite, and states “I spent $11,000 last week at Ulta.” He then plays a super snoozer he wrote for her when born that I believe was called Handed You to Me.

Of course, he had to play his other big hit I’ll Be which he did at the end (another good song but total snoozer) but you can’t end a show like that. He finished up with a two-song medley of Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes and Crazy by Seal. Solid ending! He was funny throughout the night, telling stories, great energy, and just kind of a goof ball. Entertaining for sure.

Train was our headliner, and I had heard mixed feedback about their live shows, but I have to say I was pleased. I ended up knowing/recognizing many more songs than I realized because these dudes put out their first album in 1998. Then during the early and mid-2000s, when they released a bunch of singles. During this same time, in addition to having my own Metal Show radio with my buddy Dan, I was also working (for free…I guess being ‘mentored?’) at an adult contemporary radio station out of Providence, RI. Train was a staple for adult contemporary stations everywhere, and apparently these songs were implanted into my brain.

I didn’t know the first song, but believe it may have been Brokenhearted but the next one was Calling All Angels and I was like “oh yeah. I remember this one.” Same thing happened with Meet Virginia which they mashed up with their cover of the Steve Miller Band’s The Joker. After this one, they rolled into Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out which was a fine cover. The next few I hadn’t heard before, but they were good tunes.

What I found funny was that during the second song I believe, people started throwing their cell phones up to the stage. Singer, Pat Monahan, would pick up the phone, take some selfies, and toss it back…all without ever missing a lyric or note. He did this probably a dozen times, maybe more. Now, even if you’re in the front row, there’s a rail, then a gap for security to walk through, some equipment, then the stage. It’s a good 6-foot toss from the front row. Some of these phones were coming from several rows back, hitting the stage with some force. He would pick it up, take some selfies, and them back in the general direction he believed they came from. Hopefully they all found their way back to their proper owners and unbroken. If so, pretty cool pics to have, but otherwise…eh! What’s the worst that could happen?

According to the interwebs, Pat is the only original member of Train at this point. But the band now in place was solid, and all seemed to be having fun and getting along. They all add to vocals as well, making for some great harmonies when needed. The current guitarist is a dude name Taylor Locke (or so I believe). When given the chance, the dude could shred. “Shredding” certainly is not a term that is synonymous with Train, but he did it. He had a couple bad ass guitar solos where he just went into total 80s rocker mode…but I did not capture any of them on video. Sorry about that! But I did capture their full cover of the Eagles’ Hotel California which was a frickn’ awesome cover, and Edwin McCain came out to join them on that one. You’ll see some of Taylor’s skills in that video, and he has some pretty solid rock vocals.

That was probably the highlight of their set for me, though it took me a long time to like the Eagles again. I’ll explain quickly…

One summer we had to drive from Rhode Island to Oklahoma to visit family. This was before mp3s existed, I did not have a disc-man yet, and my walk-man had limited battery life. My parents played the Eagles Greatest Hits on cassette over and over…and over…and over…for 1800 miles. And over…and over…to the point where I wanted to jump out of the car on the highway just to make it stop. I think at one point I got them to take a break and we listened to Weird Al’s “Alapalooza” and Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell II”…once. Then it was back to the damn Eagles! Anyway, 20 years later, I finally got over it. But I digress…

Other notable ‘hit’ songs they played included: Marry Me (totally wussy but probably played at a million weddings the year it came out), 50 Ways to Say Goodbye, Play That Song (also pretty wussy), Hey Soul Sister, Drive By (with a Hey Jude mash up), and of course Drops of Jupiter as their closer. Pull up any of them on your favorite streaming service, I can almost guarantee they’ll all be familiar to you. Honestly, they all sounded great with the exception of Soul Sister. That’s the only one where his voice seemed to struggle. But it has a lot of high notes and pitch changes to begin with. He did a decent job, but it wasn’t as close to the album version as many of the songs surprisingly were.

I didn’t have the highest of expectations going into the night, but I enjoyed both acts. You just never know I guess. This is why I try not to say no to live music opportunities. There have been many bands over the years that I didn’t necessarily care to see but left very happy or even became a fan. My point is…get out there! See some shows. Quit leaving those seats empty.