Celebrating 25 years of ‘Drops of Jupiter,’ Train rolls into St. Louis Tuesday

Published 4:53 pm Friday, August 7, 2026

Since 1993, San Francisco-based pop-rock band Train has been bringing the party to crowds large and small around the world. With hit songs like “Meet Virginia,” “Calling All Angels,” “Hey, Soul Sister,” and so many more, Train has proven that they can bring the light, bouncy pop and the emotional depth of heartbreak to the radio waves as well as the live stage.

The band is currently out on tour, promoting both a new album – “Mad Dog in the Fog,” coming Aug. 28 – but also marking the 25th anniversary of the multi-platinum hit album “Drops of Jupiter.” The anniversary tour, joined by Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies, rolls into the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Mo. on Tuesday.

Ahead of the tour stop, Train founder, writer, and lead singer Pat Monahan took a few minutes to share his views on what playing live means to him, his love of the Bay area, and how he spends his down-time when he’s on the road.

Mike Sorensen: You guys are out on the road celebrating 25 years of “Drops of Jupiter,” and you’ve got a new album coming up, so you obviously got plenty of studio work covered for the moment. What is the importance, to you, to get out in front of people with your music?

Pat Monahan: Well, you know, we’re all humans, and we grew up loving other people’s music and wanting to be around it and engaged in it. Now we’re the ones performing for other people, and I feel like it’s respecting the gift. We’re able to have songs that have mattered to people, (so) to respect that gift would be to go out and perform these songs and give people the best version of these songs possible, visually and audibly. It’s an obligation that I feel I deserve from artists that I love, and in return fans of what I do or what Train does, they deserve that as well.

MS: I’ve been fortunate enough to see the live show a few times, and you guys are doing more than just going out and playing. You are putting on a full-blown performance. When you’re out there, what does it mean to see thousands of people singing your words back to you?

PM: It’s always been the dream like, you know? Like, I’ve become really good friends with the Barenaked Ladies guys, and we both think the same way. If you have two or five or 10 recognizable songs, why wouldn’t you play them for people? It doesn’t make any sense. So it’s such a beautiful gift that someone would be singing those songs back to you.

And I’m a fan, too. I have a 14-year-old son and on a 17-year-old daughter, so I’m going to see live acts with them a lot, and I love it when I recognize the song and I get to sing it back to whoever’s on stage.

MS: Well, you talk about having a few songs that people would recognize, but you have a roster of hit songs. How do you find that balance between playing what everybody wants to hear, and getting some new stuff out there that you think they would like as well?

PM: We have to be pretty careful about it. We have a new album that comes out in a couple of weeks, and we play one new song from it each night. I think that that’s not too much to ask an audience, and especially if it’s good, especially if it’s a song that we play well, a quality song. But I don’t want to beat people over the head with things that they’re not familiar with. That wouldn’t be fair, and we don’t have enough time on stage to do that.

So we put one new song in, a couple songs from the “Drops of Jupiter” album since it’s the 25th anniversary, and then my son, who’s 14, he comes out and we do a Journey song with him, and he crushes guitar and vocals. The rest are songs that I think familiar to people.

MS: Going back to you guys have been on the road for a few years now, how do you keep things interesting when you’re on the road? Because I can’t imagine there’s a lot of touristy things that you haven’t done.

PM: It just depends. Like last night, I played golf with some friends, my son went guitar shopping with my two guitar players, and then we went and had dinner in Chicago. When I’m in Kansas City or St. Louis, we always look for a great barbecue place, try to catch a ball game. It just depends on the kind of time that we have there. I used to just sit in a hotel room, and now, it’s like I want to have adventures.

MS: Outside of life on the road, this isn’t necessarily a question, but I wanted to say, between you and your songs, and watching Adam Savage, I’ve never been to San Francisco, but you guys make me want to go there so badly.

PM: Yeah, it’s an incredible place that we are so lucky we were able to start our careers there. It’s a magical place, and all my friends are still there. It’s just such a such a cool part of the world, not just the country. Anytime you get to go there, you’ll have an amazing time, drink some beautiful beer, have sourdough bread, all the food is delightful.

MS: Your love for the place clearly comes through in your music, and I just wanted to put that out there for you

PM: Thanks!

MS: The last question I would ask, just because I know you’ve only got limited time, if anybody is coming Tuesday night and this is their first time seeing Train on stage what would you tell them to expect from a Train show?

PM: I would say don’t expect anything, and then you leave as happy as you’ve ever been. I think, really, what you can expect is you’re going to see a great show visually, it’s going to sound great, my band is incredible. But if you expect just to have a good time, you’ll have a great time. And I believe that.

MS: The only thing I’m expecting is to walk out with a big smile, because I’ve done it several times already.

PM: That’s a very important thing, and that’s a great compliment. Thank you.

Doors open at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. To stay up to date on all the upcoming shows, and to catch the release of “Mad Dog in the Fog,” head over to Train’s official website at savemesanfrancisco.com.