Pat Monahan of Train
“TRAIN ROLLS INTO CMAC”
CMAC 8/24/2012
By Scott Cordaro
The soft pop anthems were in full bloom on Friday night under the shell during Train & Mat Kearney concert. Train’s lead singer Pat Monahan proved he is still a great showman; flirting with the mostly-female crowd and engaging the audience as a whole.
Monahan made sure the crowd got a great show. He danced around the stage, flirted with girls in the crowd, and twice pulled women onto the stage to dance with him during songs. Early in the set, Monahan belted out the group’s first big hit, “Meet Virginia,” then proceeded to woo the females with his soft rendition of the ballad “Marry Me.”
The fun started to skyrocket during “Save Me, San Francisco,” as beach balls were flying around the arena. Then, after a brief drum solo by Scott Underwood, Jimmy Stafford walked on stage with his ukulele for a party-like version of “Hey Soul Sister.”
While Jimmy Stafford wailed on lead guitar, Monahan made sure to flirt with the women in the front row, as the show took a distinctly San Francisco turn. The 90 minute show came to a close with a 3 song encore which included “California 37” and the hit single “Drops of Jupiter”.
It was a genuine performance from a band that had been rock stars in the city of San Francisco long before they were stars anywhere else.
Opening the show was Mat Kearney performing songs off his 2011 album Young Love which included “Hey Mama,” “Ships in the Night,” and “Rochester.” But the highlight of his set was a great version of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.”
