It was the last song of Train's concert at Casino del Sol's AVA Sunday night and suddenly the rather large 'tween and teen contingent, their pitchy high voices in perfect harmonies, made themselves heard above the roar of the adults.
They shouted out they lyrics: "Hey soul sister / Ain't that Mister Mister / On the radio,stereo / The way you move ain't fair, you know! / Hey soul sister / I don't wanna miss / A single thing you do / Tonight / Hey, hey, hey."
For those kids, and there were a good number of them among the 4,000 at the show, "Hey, Soul Sister" is their sole reference to the 17-year-old San Francisco band. The song, a regular spin on Radio Disney and pop radio, is engrained in that place of a kid's brain where ditties play on a constant loop.
Classic Train songs like the 1998 hit "Meet Virginia," "Calling All Angels" and "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," and more recent cuts off their 2009 reunion album "Save Me, San Francisco" like the campy ballad "Marry Me" were lost on the kiddos. But as the night wore on, you looked around the crowd that nearly filled every seat in the reserved section and most of the grass in the lawn area and you could see quite a few converts.
As their parents wailed away to "Meet Virginia," the kids bopped along, piping in at about the third chorus. They also delighted in screaming "oh, hell no" with the adults on "Save Me San Francisco." Train frontman Pat Monahan said he realized the phrase might be offensive to some of the kids and their parents, but, he said with a wink-wink, "it's part of the lyrics so we have to say it."
Train's music is catchy — clever hooks, solid lyrics — and their live shows have enough energy to power the bank of brilliant lights flooding the stage and shooting out into dark night.
Among the highlights of Sunday's show:
• Monahan had as many costume changes as Cher. OK, I exaggerate, but in the course of the 75-minute show he changed shirts and vests four times, ending the night in a black t-shirt.
• Monahan donned a cowboy hat and countrified the tempo and delivery of "She's On Fire." As if to seal his country bonafides, he slid the hat low on his brow, tossed in a couple yee-haws for good measure, then slung the hat into the audience when the song was done.
• In the middle of "She's On Fire," a group of Tucson women, very young and not-so-old, got a chance to jump on stage and dance along. Monahan urged them to get their dance on "and if you feel like throwing a little sexy in it, please do."
• During "Marry Me," the band's latest radio hit, Monahan took to the ground to serenade the audience, weaving in and out of the crowd followed by security and a cameraman working the jumbo screens. You half expected him to stop in front of some guy and stop while the guy drop on his knee and popped the question. It didn't happen, which frankly was a little disappointing and a little of a relief. That would have ranked high on the hokey scale.
When Train's concert was initially announced last spring, they were double-billed with Maroon 5, with whom they have been on the road for months. But Maroon 5 is a part of the Sound Strike movement boycotting Arizona over its anti-immigration law SB 1070, so they never really committed to Tucson.
Train did, though, bring along one aspect of that tour — opening act Matt Nathanson, who put on a fun-spirited and entertaining 45-minute show that included his self-penned "Princess," an unapologetic rip off Rick Springfield's class "Jessie's Girl." Nathanson admitted he stole from that song. In case anyone doubted him, he sang "Jessie's Girl" in the middle. It was classic.
