Train • Edwin McCain • September 9, 2025 • Red Butte Garden Amphitheater
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
Train played an outstanding show at the sold-out Red Butte Garden Amphitheater on the cool summer night of September 9th, 2025. The crowd was filled with excited fans of all ages, all decked out in train merch. A few fans in the audience were even wearing train conductor outfits, and when complimented on their outfits, would make a train horn noise, a very fun nod to the band performing.
Utah Concert Review has had the opportunity to cover Train many times over the years. Starting when they filled the streets of downtown Salt Lake City with a show outside the Delta Center (at the time Energy Solutions Arena) in 2014. Time and time again, Train has proven to be one of the best live bands around.
Edwin McCain
Edwin McCain had the crowd feeling all sorts of emotions, from singing along lyrics passionately to tearing up. McCain started off his show by saying, “My name is Edwin McCain, from Greenville, South Carolina, we’re happy to be here with y’all. Can I play y’all a song? Have you been in a Home Depot for more than a few minutes in the last ten years? I feel certain that you’ve heard this overhead in the speakers. It’s my favorite thing, but when that happens, I just stop in the middle of the aisle. Call my kids over, I’m like Come here, come here, listen listen. This money’s gonna pay for you to go to community college.” This comment about his popular song “I Couldn’t Ask for More” made the audience laugh.
There were definitely some McCain fans in the audience, standing up and dancing throughout his whole set. A few couples in the middle of the crowd were slow dancing, swaying along to the beat. There was a super sweet moment when McCain said, “I have three children, two sons, one’s 19 and one’s 18. They’re 7 months apart. That’s how I know if y’all are really listening. But I adopted my first son, and then half an hour after we agreed to adopt him, my wife became incredibly fertile. But I also have a 16-year-old daughter. She’s my favorite of three, I love my sons… but I love her more… is what she told me to tell you. I wrote this song for her, 16 and a half years ago.” He then played “Walk With You”.
The more jazz tone of Edwin McCain had people up and out of their seats and ready to hear the catchy songs from Train.
Train
The show started out the show with the stage completely dark and the sounds of a train on the move, horns ablazing. Train is no stranger to playing at the Red Butte Garden Amphitheater, as well as in Utah, playing numerous times. It’s nearing the end of their summer 2025 tour; however, they still packed a punch of a show.
Lead singer Pat Monahan came onto stage with his excitement and warm presence evident! It’s clear he loves performing the songs that shaped both older and younger generations. Little kids around the crowd were wearing matching Train merch with their parents; it was super cute to see a shared love for the band.
Monahan came out onto the stage wearing a white Train Merch shirt, saying how he originally didn’t want to throw merch into the crowd that night, but he was convinced otherwise, so they were going to throw merch into the crowd. While throwing bundled-up shirts, Monahan was running around the stage, having every member of the band sign the shirt that he was wearing. At the end of collecting the signatures, he took off the shirt and handed it to a young fan in the front row, who was singing along to every song.
During the hit song and nod to the band’s hometown, “Save Me, San Francisco,” giant bubbles were thrown out into the audience. It was a ton of fun to be able to throw these around with the rest of the crowd, but the canyon winds had other plans. All of the bubbles got blown into bushes and trees around the amphitheater and had to be retrieved and thrown back into the crowd. Some of the bubbles sadly popped a bit, but it was certainly fun while it lasted.
“Mississippi” was a memorable moment of the night, and was said by Monahan to be his “Favorite song on the drops of jupiter album”. Everyone broke out their flashlights and swayed along to the song. The setlist was fun, and had the song, “Marry Me” right before “50 Ways to Say Goodbye”, Train’s classic scream-the-lyrics-of breakup song. Which had the couples swaying together during the former, and all the single people in the audience singing and jumping to the latter. Monahan even commented, “Isn’t this such a great love song?” in the middle of guitar solos during “50 Ways to Say Goodbye,” making the audience cheer more.
Train also played a cool cover mashup of “Blue Jeans” by Lana del Rey, mixed with Hozier’s “Too Sweet”. The crowd loving both of those popular songs made it easy for the crowd to sing along and dance to the songs. Train played their most popular song, “Drive By” which had me dancing along with the crowd.
Train ended the night when the moon was just peaking out from behind the mountain with “Drops of Jupiter”.
