Live Review: Train

Manchester Apollo

The 19th of October.

As a child, Train played for a solid 87 per cent of all of my family car journeys, so it was a natural knee-jerk reaction and instinct to yelp at the chance of seeing them play on Thursday the 19th of October at the 02 Apollo. Skipping and delighted with glee I proceeded to tell all of my friends who looked up and said “Who”? HELLO! TRAIN! DROPS OF JUPITER! HELLO!?

Formed in 1993 and headed by Pat Monahan, the band to this date have sold over 10 million albums and an astounding 30 million tracks worldwide.

I will be the first to throw up my hands and say I was not expecting to enter the gig knowing all the lyrics to their latest record A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat, released earlier this year.

I can, however, tell you that the lady standing next to me did and was clearly such a die-hard fan, feet firmly planted in the same position throughout the performance and consistently thrust her card into her husband’s hands for more Jäger-bombs. Jägerbombs to Train, can you imagine.

The band’s performance was beyond my wildest expectations. They filled the venue with an eclectic track list comprised from their various studio albums, including past hits such as ‘Calling All Angels’, ‘Save Me San Fransisco’, and, of course, the Grammy Award-winning ‘Drops of Jupiter’.

Highlights throughout the evening were not bound to hit renditions such as these and the more recent ‘Hey Soul Sister’ or ‘Drive By’. Pat and his team of musicians created moments of magic throughout the evening.

As well as covering Queen’s ‘Under Pressure’, he incorporated Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ into a medley. Proving he has the voice to boot, Pat and the angelic voices of his backup singers sang a harmony of ‘Midnight” leaving the audience stunned.

It’s not often singers have the confidence to go it alone with no backup, so I applaud him for this. Train’s rendition of ‘Marry Me’ taken from their 2009 record was met with a stunned audience, for more reasons than simply the music as someone was proposed to mid-performance! We swooned.

The atmosphere was palpable for all those who attended, spirits were high, the music was phenomenal, and it was fabulous to see such a diverse age range united by a single band that we have all clearly loved for decades, and will love for decades to come.

7/10