Train with Butch Walker and The Black Widows
March 4, 2010
Revolution Live, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Written By Kate Dingle
Last Thursday night, Train kicked off their Save Me, San Francisco Tour in a big way. Playing to a sold out crowd at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, the trio of Patrick Monahan, Jimmy Stafford, and Scott Underwood proved that after a three-year hiatus, they’re back and stronger than ever.
Kicking off the night (and the tour) was Georgia native Butch Walker appearing with his band The Black Widows. For the entirety of his forty-five minute set, Walker played like he was the headliner. Dressed to kill in tight Levi’s and a black leather jacket, every female in the building seemed mesmerized by his every move, and the guys all seemed to want to be him. It was apparent from the get-go that many in the crowd had shown up solely for his hybrid version of poppy-punky-rock. Walker seemed to revel in the SoFla attention and loved the fact that he had about twelve-hundred backing vocalists on most of his songs. Butch Walker and The Black Widows capped off their performance with an edgy and revived rendition of the Hall and Oates classic “Rich Girl”.
When the house lights finally went down, the anticipation from the crowd was subtle, but nearly suffocating. In keeping with the San Francisco theme for the tour, the Train trio emerged from the backstage area while “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” played overhead. Once everyone was in place, concert goers were quickly woken up with the tune “Parachute” off of their latest full-length release for which the tour is named after. Monahan and Co. followed up with hits spanning their entire career including: “Meet Virginia”, “Get To Me”, “She’s On Fire”, and “Ordinary” (from Spiderman 2). Each time lead guitarist Jimmy Stafford showcased his rockin’ chops, the crowd erupted and it became harder to imagine that this was a group that hadn’t made music together in years. Other set highlights included their smash hits “Calling On Angels”, “Drops Of Jupiter”, and current Billboard resident “Hey, Soul Sister”.
There’s no doubt that it was a night of great music. Butch Walker and The Black Widows warmed things up and Train took that energy and ran with it. Every musician that stepped onstage flexed their musical muscles and delivered flawless performances. It’s too bad that the majority of the crowd didn’t seem to appreciate it. I felt like I was in a room with the most entitled group of folks I had ever been around. Music wasn’t the priority to these people. The priority seemed to be a pissing contest to see who could drop the most cash. Now, I’m not saying that every person in attendance was that way, but it was a healthy majority. There was a lack of regard for others and all concert etiquette was thrown out the window. It was a bit of an older crowd than we’re used to seeing, so maybe that was the issue. I’m sure it’s hard to get out of the house when you have kids and a family, so I understand how one might not know how to act when stepping into a concert setting. But it was pretty amazing that so many people could find a babysitter on a Thursday night.
Photos by Christina Mendenhall
Butch Walker and The Black Widows
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