I wasn’t sure what to expect with this double-bill of Uncle Kracker and Train. Would Train be a bunch of skinny long-haired rockers, like The Black Crowes? I wasn’t sure. I was pretty unfamiliar with Uncle Kracker’s tunes — save for their popular covers. I’ve heard plenty of Train’s tunes, so I knew it’d be melodic and blues-based. I wondered if I’d see artists that could tap into the raw passion, grit and improvisational “magic” of the blues, or if I’d see radio chart aimers that were nothing but pop guys trying to capture an audience at any cost.
With Uncle Kracker, it was soon apparent that these musicians were tight. With an image that is better suited for radio than MTV, they laid a tight groove and just played. Jumping into “I Do,” the band wasted no time in enteraining the mostly older crowd. I observed only two or three people in the audience with giant black X’s on their hands, signifying an under-21 age. This was adult rock night at La Zona Rosa.
The drummer was a dead-ringer for Cornerstone Festival’s Dave Canfield, who kept a solid beat. Kevin Wilson, the lead guitarist (the only long-haired musician in the band) played tasteful leads throughout their set. Frontman, Matthew Shafer (the “uncle” of the band), sported a black leather party derby. The band kept the energy level in the room upbeat with a new song, which sounded like a good mix of Elton John and the Allman Brothers. They did get the crowd clapping and really swayin’ along as one during the cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away.” The band hit another high spot with another sorta-cover tune (which vocalist Matthew Shafer co-wrote with Kid Rock), “All Summer Long,” which fuses bits and pieces of “Sweet Home Alabama” into the melody.
The set ended and it was good. It was just slightly average. Like I was worried about coming into the show, the band tipped its hat to some classic rock sounds, performing it well, but adding about as much passion as you’d expect from a good cover band at a frat party. The material is good and provides a platform for a transcendant moment, which never comes. It’s as if the band is satisfied with “good enough.”
During the 30-40 minute break between bands, the sound crew played lots of songs related to the hometown of the headliner and the subject of its latest album — San Francisco. One of the roadies had a wicked long black beard.
Train came out after the lights went out and the varilights setting the mood of something anticipated arriving, like the landing lights of an aircraft. “Brick By Brick” (from Save Me, San Francisco) started things off and a confident Pat Monahan came out and showed that he owned the stage and it was obvious he knew it. Sporting a rock star sportcoat, the bright lights splashed around him with lots of color. He held the microphone a fair amount away from his mouth as he projected his voice powerfully through the sound system. This guy’s a talented voice, but also a performer. More importantly, the dude’s got soul. When you’ve got a voice people want to hear and the desire and knowledge to take it places with gusto and abandon, that’s a transcendent moment. There were a few of those this night.
He wisely invited the crowd to celebrate how great the Longhorns were (who were in the process across town at the moment dismantling the Kansas Jayhawks) “and get romantic.” They powered into the smooth, melodic “Get To Me,” singing about riding on the “back of a butterfly.” Next he crossed the bridge between the stage and audience by inviting 5 young girls onto stage to sing the background vocals of the song “She’s On Fire.” He trained them a little bit with dance moves, had them outfitted with official “Trainettes” t-shirts and gave them a microphone. There was a moment later where he introduced a song a cappela without the aid of a microphone. While a few in the crowd couldn’t resist screaming approval, it was a special experience to hear the human element of music do so well on its own.
They played the current single, “Hey, Soul Sister,” complete with a ukulele accompaniment, not unlike the popular movie hit: “Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World.” It makes for a good dynamic low energy “dip” in the show. The lead guitarist, Jimmy Stafford, plays a prominent role in the show, getting lots of attention from Monahan — ranging from being introduced to an attempt to get a girl for the man, to taking center stage with this small instrument. The keyboard/piano player was able to leave his bank of instruments to get front and center, too, with another tiny member of the guitar family — the mandolin. They played a spot-on cover of the Zeppelin acoustic number “Going To California.” Always a nice song, but Monahan is actually skilled enough to hit those ultra-high notes in the song.
“Calling All Angels” was a unifying and hopeful point for the crowd, which drowned out Monahan’s vocals ever so slightly. He held his arms around himself with strobe lights highlighting him as if he was singing from a straightjacket. Jimmy Stafford played some really cool flanger during the bridge. Monahan introduced the next song, “Let It Roll,” as a request they’d received via Twitter. “Save The Day” picked things up with another good example of the songwriter’s lyrical wit. They had fun with it by inviting another happy female fan to sing along to Jimmy Stafford. “I Got You,” featured another song hybrid of the night, grafting the riffs and words from the Doobie Brothers’ classic, “Black Water.” Perhaps the newness of the song and album caught the audience by surprise, as I heard many in the crowd continue to sing the original lyrics (“…by the hand, hand, take me by the hand, pretty momma…”) after the band teasingly cuts back into their own words. The band ended with “Drops Of Jupiter,” left the stage and came back for three encore songs.
“Dream On” was a shocker, but it found the band riding on and squeezing out the glory of that great old song. Like their earlier foray into cover material, Monahan was able to hit those high, raspy wailing notes that Steven Tyler made famous. They played another new song (“Parachute”) and then ended with “Mississippi.” It might not have been the band’s best night, which is a scary thought, because they were really good, passionate and having fun. I doubt anyone left the club disappointed.
(c) Copyright 2009 HM Magazine. All rights reserved.
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