Photos and review by Jenny Li
@jennyli.photos

On August 26, Train continued their “Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years in the Atmosphere” Tour at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It was a concert filled with nostalgic moments, partially because the songs performed were once played during formative moments for many kids and teens of the 2000s and 2010s, and partially because lead singer Pat Monahan has a special place in his heart for the San Francisco Bay Area.

The evening began with openers Matt Nathanson and Barenaked Ladies. Nathanson instills a balance of lightheartedness and poignancy in his songs that carries into his stage presence, taking concepts like wanting to be friends with Bill Murray and using them as a backdrop to convey his thoughts on loving someone through difficult times. He closed his set with his most well-known song, “Come on, Get Higher,” as the sun started its descent in the sky.

Barenaked Ladies brought a fun, wacky energy, performing signature songs from their discography, including “The History of Everything” (the Big Bang Theory theme song) and “One Week,” a fast-paced song whose tongue-twisting, nonsensical lyrics were displayed on the screen for fans to sing along with—if they could keep up! They also performed a fair share of covers in the second half of their set that showcased their diversity in sound and genre, including a Chappell Roan mashup, “This Ain’t Texas,” “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound of Music, and “Highway to Hell.”

As Train’s team prepared for their entrance, a giant sheet of fabric with the stylized version of the band’s logo covered the entire stage, making the crowd even more eager to finally get a peek behind the literal and figurative curtain. The sheet was whisked away by multiple stagehands as Train entered the stage to sing their first song, “She’s on Fire,” with Pat Monahan grinning as he belted out the lyrics. Monahan drew in the crowd with every song, not just with his performance but also with his rapport with the audience.

During “If It’s Love,” he encouraged fans in the front row to throw their phones to him, catching each one deftly and taking a selfie before tossing it back. Despite the vastness of the venue, it seemed as if Monahan maintained a connection with everyone at the amphitheatre. During “Meet Virginia,” he threw T-shirts with “Virginia” emblazoned in large letters on the front into the crowd, including one signed by all the band members onstage during the song. At one point, he even sang to the security guard at the front of the stage, and you could see, even after more than three decades, just how much he genuinely enjoys performing and entertaining.

Monahan’s musical abilities have clearly also been passed on to his son, Rock, whom he brought onstage to perform for the last third of his set. The 14-year-old sang his heart out during a cover of Journey’s “Stone in Love” and shredded on the guitar, both solo and alongside Train guitarist Butch Walker.

There were many moments of brotherly love during the night, with Monahan playfully hugging his bandmates, doing physical comedy bits with them during performances, and bringing singers from the opening acts back onto the stage. Nathanson entered in a full hot dog suit to sing a cover of “Jack & Diane” with Pat, and the longtime friends bantered throughout their performance. The two singers met in Mill Valley around 30 years ago, when they both first moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and spent many years performing together in the city. They have an upcoming album together called Mad Dog in the Fog, whose title song is an homage to the bar in San Francisco they used to frequent when they were younger. Together, Monahan and Nathanson crooned, “And we will all be remembered / The way we tell the story here inside / At Mad Dog in the Fog we live forever / ’Cause legends never die,” as they reminisced about all the moments and people of their past. It was an incredibly fitting song for a performance at Shoreline, sharing their love and nostalgia for the Bay Area with the people who live here now.

Just as being back in this community reminded Pat of his former life in San Francisco, the audience was brought back to their past through Train’s performance that night. During their most popular songs, “Hey Soul Sister” and “Drops of Jupiter,” you could hear the voices of hundreds of people resonating throughout the amphitheater as they sang along. When the concert ended with Pat singing “I Will Always Love You” as a tribute to Dolly Parton, whose legacy and impact on the music industry and beyond is undeniable, it was a fitting conclusion to a night all about how the legacy of music will continue to live on.