Arts & Culture

Train at The Pantages Theater Performed from New CD Bulletproof Picasso

Cash for your car
Written by Susie Salva

train Pat MonahanGrammy award winning rock band Train performed at the Pantages Theater on September 17th, 2014, to a sold-out crowd. The energy in the room was palpable as the band took the stage. Everybody rose to their feet as Train started off their first three songs from their new CD Bulletproof Picasso.

Cadillac Cadillac, Bulletproof Picasso and Angle in Blue Jeans were all played in sync and well-liked by the audience. Pat Monahan the quintessential performer expressed several times in the night that you could feel the love in the room. He also said that traffic was terrible as the audience groaned along.

Monahan introduced the next song by letting everyone know that the Los Angeles Angels have used their song Calling All Angeles when playing in the outfield.

In all they performed twenty two songs spanning the last decade with memorable songs that the whole audience were singing along to.

50 Ways to Say Goodbye and Meet Virginia were up next as Monahan let the crowd sing-along, without him singing along. It appears that the band doesn’t mind singing these songs that they have written over the past decade. In fact, they relish in it.

Monahan explained to the audience that the Pantages Theater was made for singing without a microphone so he asked if he could try it out. He stepped center stage without his mic and belted out When I Look To The Sky a-cappella as the theater went silent to hear his natural voice which was absolute amazing. Then the band joined him to round out the song.

I Will Remember was up next. Throughout the performance Monahan took Selfies giving them to his clamoring fans. It was so sweet and bode well with his adoring audience.

As usual, Train likes to cover one or two songs in their set and this time was no different. The song they chose to sing was Feeling Alright written by Traffic/Three Dog Night/Joe Cocker as Monahan played the bongos.

They then switched gears and performed their home namesake Save Me, San Francisco. After that interlude they sang Hopeless and Free and then he did something else very cute by stepping off the stage to be in the audience and sing Bruises off of the California 37 album with a young girl who knew all the words to the song.

They then performed two new songs off of Bulletproof Picasso — Don’t Grow Up So Fast and then on their encore he sang Just a Memory.

Nudged in there was the sentimental Marry Me. Monahan possesses soul in his delivery of Wonder What You’re Doing for the Rest of Your Life with his back-up singers chiming in.

At one point in the show Monahan threw out Train T-Shirts and then he signed one and had the rest of the band sign it also as he hurled it into the audience.

On one song Jimmy Stafford delivered a searing guitar solo. Ukulele heavy Hey, Soul Sister was a fan favorite and prior to Drive By which ended the show before their encore.

The encore included Just A Memory from the new album and then they sang Give It All and the notorious and obligatory Drops of Jupiter.

It was a stellar evening as Train never seems to disappoint as they always stay fresh; even playing songs ten years old.

They performed the next night and will be part of the iHeart Radio Concert in Las Vegas.

Alex and Sierra were the opening act but they were less than stellar and had banter that was just plain silly.

About the author

Susie Salva