Train jams at Stage AE as Pat Monahan enjoys home state welcome

Pat Monahan was over the moon to be back in Pennsylvania.

The Erie native — and last remaining original member of Grammy-winning pop rock band Train — made sure to let the crowd know about his local roots throughout Train’s Thursday night show at Stage AE.

“It’s so good to be back home, thank you so much for being here with us tonight,” Monahan said a few songs into the set.

For this stop on their Summer Road Trip tour, Train was supported by Yacht Rock Revue, a band that — naturally — absolutely slayed a set of yacht rock hits. For the uninitiated, “yacht rock” is a specific genre of soft rock music from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Standout examples from Thursday night’s show include “You Make My Dreams” by Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Peg” by Steely Dan and a rendition of “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty with saxophone that induced chills.

The headliners came onstage to the thunder of train sounds over the PA system and jumped right into the music with their 2003 hit “Calling All Angels.”

The band went into a series of jams like “If It’s Love” and “Get To Me” that were the perfect balance of a little chill and a little funky for the summer evening. During “Save Me, San Francisco,” a whole slew of balls were tossed into the crowd, where they bounced freely from audience members’ raised hands.

And Monahan found a quick camaraderie with the crowd that had them eating out of the palm of his hand. When he announced that one of his bandmates is from Cleveland, the crowd booed at top volume, and he responded, “Finally, you understand!”

During the recognizable opening notes of the Train’s breakout hit “Meet Virginia,” which reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000, Monahan asked, “Is anyone old enough to remember this one?” Considering the amount of people singing along, plenty were.

Next up they played their recently released single “Long Yellow Dress.” Monahan noted how many people in yellow dresses were in the crowd. The new song is catchy and fun, evoking images of twirling around on a sunny afternoon.

At the song’s end, the band played the opening chords to the multi-platinum song “Hey, Soul Sister,” getting a raucous reaction from the assembled fans, but Monahan quickly cut it off, saying, “I don’t think you’re ready for that one yet.”

So they played the “Heart and Soul”-sampling “Play That Song” instead, which, interestingly, got one of the night’s biggest reactions from fans.

Slowing things down a bit, Train leaned into their roots rock side some with “Parachute” and “Angel In Blue Jeans,” which they finished off with a snippet of Hozier’s hit single from this year, “Too Sweet.” It would’ve been great to hear that whole song; the tiny taste they played was, in fact, pretty sweet.

“Make sure to look up at the sky because the moon is incredible,” Monahan said. “I hope you’re sharing it with someone you really want to be with.”

He took the spotlight with an acoustic guitar to play the ballad “Marry Me,” where he got to show off the more mellow side of his voice and an impressive falsetto.

The band stayed acoustic for “Look To The Sky,” an emotional song that Monahan said he wrote in Pennsylvania.

During “Bruises,” he brought up a local young woman — in a long yellow dress! — for a lovely duet. Continuing in what would be a theme, that song started with a brief and beautifully harmonized snippet of “Seven Bridges Road” by Steve Young. Following “Bruises” was a cover of Teddy Swims’ No. 1 hit from this year, “Lose Control.” For Monahan vocally, that was the high point of the night — it would be amazing to hear him do a pure blues project, because he certainly has the pipes for it.

After that, it was a run of some of the band’s hits, with “50 Ways To Say Goodbye,” the previously teased “Hey, Soul Sister” (with another too-brief moment of Redbone’s “Come And Get Your Love” at the end) and “Drive By,” ending with a chorus of “na na na na”s from The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”

“In my earlier days, we would end the set there and go in the back and waste your time, but I got too old for that. … This is my favorite show in, like, the last 10 years, I love to come home to Pennsylvania and have people show up … so would you mind if we stayed a little bit longer?” Monahan asked.

The audience didn’t mind at all. (I have so much respect for this idea of staying onstage; every act should adopt it.)

They started the “encore” segment with the sincere “We Were Made For This” and then played another solid cover. While their iteration of the Eagles’ “Hotel California” wasn’t trying anything new, it was a fantastic rendition with blazing guitar solos. Monahan even took over the drums during the third verse, finishing out the rest of the song.

Closing out the set was “Drops of Jupiter.” It was one of those sparkling moments in live music where the stars (or, in this case, planets) align and the crowd and band really connect. A perfect closer for a special homecoming show for Train’s lead singer. As confetti rained down on the crowd, he closed out the night, saying, “It’s a beautiful place to be from.”