(LENOX, Mass.) – Pop-rock group Train performs at Tanglewood on Monday, August 8, at 7 p.m. The multiple Grammy Award-winning band, known for hit power ballads such as “Drops of Jupiter” and “Hey, Soul Sister,” has been riding a comeback wave since the 2009 release of Save Me, San Francisco, released after a four-year hiatus from recording and several personnel changes. The group will be preceded onstage at Tanglewood by the Boston Cello Quartet, composed of BSO cellists who have arranged several Train tunes for cello quartet.
Train first formed in Northern California in the mid-1990s when lead singer Patrick Monahan dissolved his Led Zeppelin tribute band and teamed up with former guitarist Rob Hotchkiss. The group originally straddled the line between Wilco-like alt-country and the neo-classic rock popularized by bands of the time such as Counting Crows, Hootie and the Blowfish, and the Wallflowers. Early albums were produced by Pearl Jam helmsman Brendan O’Brien, but the group always seemed to have more corporate-style pop instincts than its fellow groups, and its chart successes soon proved a winning formula.
Train today consists of vocalist Patrick Monahan, guitarist and vocalist Jimmy Stafford, and percussionist Scott Underwood. The three-time Grammy-winning trio has toured extensively since the 2009 release of Save Me, San Francisco, which features the hit singles “Hey, Soul Sister,” “If It’s Love,” and “Marry Me.” These tunes reached the number three, number thirty-four, and number thirty-four positions respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. Train’s performance will include tunes off this most recent RIAA-certified gold album during their Koussevitzky Music Shed performance.
The worlds of rock and classical will meet up when the Boston Cello Quartet — composed of BSO cellists Blaise Déjardin, Adam Esbensen, Mihail Jojatu, and Alexandre LeCarme — perform as the opening act for Train. The four young cellists (each qualifies for the BSO’s 20 Under 40 ticket program) met in 2008, when three of the members joined the Boston Symphony. The group is the first of its kind in the BSO’s 130-year history. As the opening act for Train, the quartet will perform works from their growing repertoire as well renditions of the Train tunes “Marry Me” and “Parachute” arranged for four cellos by member Blaise Déjardin.
Tickets for Train on August 8 range from $21-66. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, or by visiting the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Mass.