Train Mix Originals with Covers on Euphoric Night at The Piece Hall [Photos]

American rock band Train arrived at The Piece Hall ready to put on a special show for the almost capacity crowd that had turned out to see them.

Before they took the stage, opener Matt Hansen – a great singer with a hefty TikTok following – came across like the Californian equivalent of Tom Grennan and put in a strong performance that included a great cover of Goo Goo Dolls “Iris” which brought the crowd to life.

It was a good start to the show from an artist who is worth further investigation and who resonated with the crowd, with a lot of material coming from a place of looking after your mental wellbeing, which is a good, however, he relied a little too much on his backing tapes to fill out the sound, which wasn’t.

Train have been around for years and have a back catalogue with some serious cred to it, much like their peers Matchbox 20 and Maroon 5, but it felt a little like they weren’t maybe as confident in their notability in the UK as they precariously trod the line between great rock band and good rock covers band with a few too many other people’s songs thrown into the mix throughout their set.

Steve Miller’s “The Joker” featured during “Meet Virginia”, Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away” – which was brilliantly sung by Pat Monahan’s 13-year-old son Rock – and a few more including a more contemporary cover of Teddy Swims “Lose Control” which the frontman said was a song he wished he’d written, and although they all sounded great they perhaps could have made way for more of their own material.

They didn’t disappoint with their own stuff, though, with a lot of their studio albums being featured in some part. “Save Me, San Francisco,” answered one of the many signs hanging over the barrier and the stomping “Angel in Blue Jeans” had everyone dancing in the courtyard. However, as the band left the stage, leaving just Pat and his acoustic guitar to create a special moment in the set with “Marry Me,” the awful ‘gig-talkers’ in the crowd got a bit too loud and spoiled it.

The band returned and regained the audience’s attention with the rousing Mariachi stomp of “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and latest single “Brokenhearted” – before answering everyone’s prayers with a brilliant version of “Hey, Soul Sister”. The fact that it featured a small part of Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love”, was followed by “Drive By” which featured a “Hey Jude” outro and then a cover of “Hotel California” only added to them being awkwardly close to sounding like a covers band, albeit a great one.

Thankfully, they finished with an epic “Drops of Jupiter,” which had everyone arm in arm singing at the top of their voices. It was the euphoric ending the show needed and proved to be yet another extra-special Piece Hall moment.

Our photographer, Frank Ralph Photography, brought back this gallery of photos from the show, which you can check out here along with their set list:

Set List:

1. AM Gold
2. Calling All Angels
3. If It’s Love
4. Get to Me
5. Meet Virginia
6. Over the Hills and Far Away
7. Save Me, San Francisco
8. Running Back (Trying to Talk to You)
9. Play That Song
10. Long Yellow Dress
11. Angel in Blue Jeans
12. Lose Control
13. Marry Me
14. 50 Ways to Say Goodbye
15. Bruises
16. Brokenhearted
17. Hey, Soul Sister
18. Drive By
19. Hotel California
20. Drops of Jupiter

Train (w/ Matt Hansen) @ The Piece Hall (Halifax, UK) on July 3rd, 2025

32 photos