Venue: Grand Theater @ Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Date: 17th June 2012
Promoter: LAMC Productions
Review by: Melissa L.
Special Thanks: Andre and the LAMC Productions team
Photos by Cliff Y.
There’s a reason why so many people thought Pat Monahan, the frontman and singer of Train, was lip-synching during the band’s live performance of Drops of Jupiter at the 2002 Grammy Awards. He sounded THAT good and boy, he did not disappoint last Sunday night, at the Marina Bay Sands Grand Theatre.
From the first mariachi-sounding guitar strum of 50 Ways To Say Goodbye to the last note of Sing Together, Train’s concert was all about having fun. I had so much fun in fact, that I didn’t notice the seconds slipping away and by the end of the concert, I was left begging for more.
For a band that has been together for 15 years and has produced such monster hits like Drops of Jupiter and Hey Soul Sister, I was expecting some airs but there were none at all. In fact, what struck me first when I entered the Grand Theatre was how intimate the setting was and it really suited the extremely down to earth band that is Train. Pat Monahan actually gave out t-shirts (he even autographed a few of them), threw guitar picks, and at one point, he even took some photos of the audience to tweet about. He was the perfect frontman; teasing the audience, telling jokes, and even getting all of us to sing along to the chorus of Save Me, San Francisco and Drive By. The massive sing along session continued with Marry Me, which was played acoustically.
My favourite part of the concert was when Pat introduced the song You Can Finally Meet My Mom as the sequel to Drops Of Jupiter. Watching him explainin the story behind it made me feel like I was watching a VH1 Storytellers performance featuring Train.
As much as I wished the band would have played more of their older songs like Free, Hopeless, When I Look To The Sky or even For Me, It’s You, the fans did go nuts when the band played Meet Virginia, Ordinary, and Calling All Angels, so you can only imagine how they reacted when the first note of Drops of Jupiter was played on the keyboards. At one point in the concert, a trumpeter came from backstage and played a solo, along with Pat on the saxophone, which garnered a standing ovation from the crowd.
About halfway into the concert, the band decided to play a cover of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and even invited an 11 year old girl on stage to sing along and damn, that girl could sing! She almost upstaged Pat, to which he joked by saying “You’re not supposed to be better than me!” and then exclaimed how she should get a recording contract at the end of the song.
When it was time for Bruises, a duet that featured the vocals on Ashley Monroe on the record, Pat sang both the female and male parts but got a lady to join him on stage for some serenading. She was extremely sporting, dancing with him and mouthing the lyrics to the song, and she was rewarded with a t-shirt, which she immediately wore over her dress.
Music wise, Jimmy Stafford looked like he was having so much fun, playing on the guitar and ukulele, as well as singing backup vocals and even whistling the intro to You Can Finally Meet My Mum. Drummer Scott Underwood didn’t miss a single beat and even got to rock out during his drum solo.
As they say, all good things must come to an end. The band saved Sing Together for their final song, which was very apt because it was like a thank-you-for the-good times tune that captured the bittersweet moment perfectly and that, my friends, was how Train left the station.