By Mike McKenney, Rock At Night New England

Live review: Train and Patrick Monahan–Foxwoods Premier Theater, Mashantucket, Connecticut-August 20, 2021

Train rolled into Foxwoods rebranded Premier Theater and delivered a full night of their hits. Front man Pat Monahan’s unique vocals sounded great as he danced around the stage with a beaming smile. When he mentioned how happy he was to be back onstage in front of a live audience, the crowd roared in return.

Starting promptly and without an opener, Train played a full 21 song set that sampled songs from most of their albums, as well as some incredible covers.

Opening with “She’s On Fire”, Train quickly dipped into Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova”, then back into their own “Meet Virginia”.

Monahan quickly broke out the T-shirts, flinging them out into the crowd. He removed the one he was wearing and had every member of the band sign it before handing it over to an appreciative fan.

While Monahan’s instantly recognizable vocals draw the most attention, backing him is a killer band that features Taylor Locke (lead guitar), Hector Maldonado (bass), Jerry Becker (keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Matt Musty (drums), and the perfectly complimentary backing vocals of Nikita Houston and Sakai Smith that round out the Train identity.

The summertime fun continued with beach balls flying everywhere as Train continued playing favorites “Mai Tais”, “Save Me, San Francisco“, and “Bruises”.

A wide variety of cover songs are somewhat of a trademark of a Train concert. In addition to Oasis, Train blended in a little Stephen Stills “Love The One Your With”, a fantastic version of The Band’s “The Weight” (on which all the members of Train sang a part), and even a sampling of Argents “Hold Your Head Up” from 1972. However it was when Pat Monahan reached back into his Led Zeppelin bag of tricks and pulled out the showstopper, “Going To California” cover, that he brought the house down.

The ever personable Monahan drew on the crowd for “Calling All Angels”, the certified six times platinum “Hey Soul Sister”, “Play That Song”, and “Drive By”.

Ending the night with an encore of “Free” and lastly a 20 year celebration of the Grammy Award winning “Drops Of Jupiter” put the final touch on a fun night of great live music.

PHOTO GALLERY

Set List:

She’s on Fire

Champagne Supernova
(Oasis cover)

Meet Virginia

Get to Me

If It’s Love

Mai Tais

50 Ways to Say Goodbye

Angel in Blue Jeans

Mississippi

Save Me, San Francisco

Bruises / Love the One You’re With

Calling All Angels

Going to California
(Led Zeppelin cover)

Marry Me

Play That Song

Hey, Soul Sister

Vacation

The Weight
(The Band cover)

Drive By

Encore:

Free

Drops of Jupiter

Author
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Mike McKenney

Senior Journalist/Photographer

Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.

With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.

"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”