Train: I Know, It’s Been A Long Time Coming Tour 28/04/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

O2 Academy Glasgow Rating: ★★★★★

Where I stayed: Ibis Budget Glasgow (again)

SETLIST:

1.  AM Gold
2.  Calling All Angels
3.  Get To Me
4.  Save Me, San Francisco
5.  Meet Virginia / The Joker
6.  If It’s Love
7.  Bruises (with Ilsey)
8.  Marry Me
9.  When I Look To The Sky
10.  Lose Control (Teddy Swims cover)
11.  Angel In Blue Jeans
12.  Ordinary
13.  Play That Song
14.  Long Yellow Dress 
15.  50 Ways To Say Goodbye
16.  Hey, Soul Sister / Come And Get Your Love
17.  Drive By / Hey Jude
18.  Parachute
19.  Hotel California (Eagles cover)
20.  Drops Of Jupiter 

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I have been a fan of Train since I heard ‘Drops Of Jupiter’, from their album of the same name, released in 2001. I wouldn’t have known about it until a few years later, when I probably came across it on YouTube. I used to keep up with recent releases and learn all about the classics from videos the site recommended to me. My favourite songs of theirs are ‘Whipping Boy’ and ‘She’s On Fire’, also from ‘Drops Of Jupiter’. Neither featured in this setlist but that is understandable, since they have over twenty years of great songs to choose from and a brand-new one, ‘Long Yellow Dress’, which could still blow up in popularity, especially after being featured on ‘This Morning’ yesterday. If I was less lazy and more creative I would have painted my nails yellow, in honour of it. I also regretted not wearing my California t-shirt, as there were countless references to the band’s home State throughout the evening. Their music style has changed dramatically since the early years but I can still detect hints of Country in their songs. Their later hits, ‘Hey, Soul Sister’, ‘Drive By’ and ‘Play That Song’ lean more towards the Pop side of things. I think ‘Drive By’ is one of the catchiest songs ever written and am not ashamed to admit Paul caught me rocking out to it one day when I had no idea he was there. I’m sure he cringes whenever that memory resurfaces, however. ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ was unavoidable when it hit the radio stations and also featured on ‘Glee’ when I was obsessed with the show, which re-sparked my interest in the band. Pat Monahan, lead singer, pretended to perform it too early in the night and laughed, saying we weren’t ready for it yet, which emphasised its significance. I made sure to listen to all the songs from their Manchester set a couple of nights prior but I didn’t realise the band mix things up each night, to keep things fresh. The only song I ended up not already being familiar with was ‘Ordinary’, which I found out is on the ‘Spider-Man 2’ movie soundtrack. That was one of my favourite movies back in the early 2000s but that song totally escaped me, somehow. I used my mum’s O2 Priority account to rush and buy a ticket during the pre-sale and could hardly wait for this long-anticipated gig.

There are always two queues at The O2 Academy, for regular general admission people and those with O2 Priority. It seemed like both queues were let in at the same time, which kind of defeated the purpose. We moved through the doors so quickly when it hit 7pm that I forgot to take a better picture of the venue, once I got closer to it. I always like seeing the band’s name in massive lettering above the doors and I think every venue should do this. I’m sure the show was sold-out and it’s hardly surprising if it was, since it had been a whopping seven years since Train had last been in Glasgow aka their “favourite place” in the world. I easily secured a spot at the barrier, after queueing for just over an hour. I’m starting to feel like a pro at this. They blasted ‘Low’ by Flo Rida over the speakers, as well as songs of a similar style I never listen to. It was interesting to hear something other than the cliché rock music you get at most other events and I noticed all of the songs fit Train’s vibe surprisingly well. Ilsey came on at 8pm, after an hour of messaging Paul and trying to convince him to tell me a joke to keep me entertained. She did ‘No California’ early on, which she explained is the first single off her new album, ‘From The Valley’, released in October last year. Her voice is incredibly soothing and her song lyrics have a lot of beauty and wisdom to them. It’s obvious she is a talented song-writer, having written for many big names in the music industry. She treated us to a gorgeous cover of ‘Nothing Breaks Like A Heart’, which she co-wrote with Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson. She downplayed her talent but there was absolutely no need to as I really enjoyed her soulful version of the song. She also performed ‘Heart Of Gold’, originally by Neil Young, which she had recorded with Justin Vernon from Bon Iver for her new album. I thought she said the musician accompanying her on stage was also called Justin. I didn’t catch his last name unfortunately but they sounded fantastic together. She seemed very happy to be accompanying Train on tour and I got the impression she and PM are good friends and truly respect each other. I wondered if they had ever written songs together but they didn’t say. 

At 9pm, the lights dimmed and train sound effects echoed around the academy, which I thought was a nice touch. They opened with a bouncy performance of ‘AM Gold’ from their 2022 album, before PM apologised for waiting so long to come back to Glasgow, claiming he has been watching Scottish TV shows and movies to fill the hole in his heart. There were so many antics on stage, it reminded me of seeing Simple Plan in the same venue back in February. There were beach balls flying all over the place during ‘Save Me, San Francisco’, which at least tripled the excitement in the room. The balls disappeared one by one throughout the song, so I’m betting eager fans grabbed ahold of some to take home as souvenirs. I let fate decide whether I would end up with one and I didn’t. I wouldn’t know what to do with one anyway, especially the gigantic white ones the staff members were struggling to deflate long after the song finished. All of the craziest moments happened in a row, with free t-shirts (including one freshly signed one) tossed to fans during ‘Meet Virginia’ and PM encouraging us to throw our phones up on stage during ‘If It’s Love’, so he could snap selfies and chuck them back to their respective owners, somehow. It was funny during ‘Meet Virginia’ when he asked us to pretend it was as big of a hit over here as it was in the US. I didn’t participate in the phone flinging exercise in case it smashed, hit someone, got stolen, missed the stage entirely or fell into one of the cups of water lining the barrier… I admired PM’s multitasking abilities and he didn’t even flinch as phones were being hurled at him from further back in the crowd. I was surprised people were so respectful and only gave him one phone to play with at a time. To do all this and sing perfectly in tune takes a special kind of talent. Before ‘Marry Me’, he warned anybody planning to pop the question that this was the time for them to get stressed out. That got a few nervous laughs from the crowd but I didn’t witness any proposals. A major highlight for me was ‘When I Look To The Sky’, into ‘Lose Control’, as PM’s powerhouse vocals were out of this world. He said ‘Lose Control’ didn’t go as well as he had planned on one of the nights but I can’t see how he would have performed it badly. Placing ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ and ‘Drive By’ back to back on the setlist was a genius move, as the songs are equally upbeat. Ending the show on ‘Hotel California’ (with PM on drums) and the famous ‘Drops Of Jupiter’ was fantastic too, as the songs work so well together.

I caught a guitar pick PM threw right at the end of the night, which I was excited to add to the jar I’m keeping especially for them. It now has six guitar picks in it (two from McFly, two from Callum Beattie, one from Kaiser Chiefs and this one), so it will probably take another fifty years to fill up. More were comically dumped on top of a group of people in the centre and everyone dropped to the ground to try and collect them. All of the fans I came across were very pleasant and I saw them kindly dividing out the scooped-up guitar picks between themselves. Mine was from Taylor Locke’s side and it says ‘Train’ on it, with his name on the reverse. The band now has five members and consists of Pat Monahan (the only original member), Taylor Locke (guitar), Hector Maldonado (bass), Matt Musty (drums) and Jerry Becker (keyboard). All of the band members were seriously impressive and looked like they were having a blast the whole time, which was nice to see. I made sure to visit the merch stall before I left and eventually decided on their blue tour t-shirt, since ninety percent of my band t-shirts are black and this one has a bright splash of colour for a change. The setlist included an excellent mix of their old and new songs and was packed full of crowd pleasers. The only one I really felt the absence of was ‘Mississippi’, which I imagine would sound magnificent live. I have no clue why most of the songs from ‘Drops Of Jupiter’ got the shaft but that seemed very odd to me. They only did the title song from it, leaving it for last because it is their most well-known track. Maybe they got tired of doing those songs, once the album was a global success. Or maybe they do perform them often but just not on this occasion. I’ve been enjoying more of their albums since seeing them live and have found even more gems I didn’t know before. They have eleven studio albums and I haven’t heard all of the songs from them yet, so I have a lot more listening to do in the coming weeks if I want to become a more dedicated fan. I’m so glad I made the effort to travel down and see them, as they managed to exceed my already high expectations. Please don’t hesitate to catch them in concert, if you can.

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GALLERY

The venue and queue when I got there. The rain held off

Ilsey

Wider shot

Pat Monahan

Beach balls for ‘Save Me, San Francisco’

A delighted crowd

The freshly signed ‘Meet Virginia’ t-shirt

Taking a video or selfie with a crowd member’s phone during ‘If It’s Love’

Ilsey returning for ‘Bruises’

Pose

Pose #2

Holding the microphone out to the crowd (and security)

Close-up of the band (Matt Musty, Taylor Locke, Jerry Becker, Hector Maldonado and Pat Monahan on drums)

Flying during ‘Drops Of Jupiter’

The end

My guitar pick

The tour t-shirt