Train and Barenaked Ladies Give Toronto a Hometown Night to Remember

Toronto was the only Canadian date on Train‘s Drops of Jupiter, 25 Years in the Atmosphere tour, and Barenaked Ladies made sure everyone in the building knew it. By the time Train closed things out with confetti, beach balls, and a 14-year-old shredding a Gibson Les Paul next to his dad, it was clear this wasn’t a typical tour stop.

Traffic into the venue was brutal, and Matt Nathanson’s opening set was the casualty. From the setlist, he covered a lot of ground, “Car Crash / Boys of Summer,” “Giants,” “Pablo Picasso,” a James cover of “Laid,” “Impossible People,” “Used to Be,” “Bill Murray,” “Faster,” “Suspended,” and a closing “Come On Get Higher / Ahead by a Century.” During “Bill Murray,” he reportedly left the stage entirely and walked all the way out to the lawns, which sounds like exactly the kind of moment worth catching if there’s a next time.

Barenaked Ladies Play the Hometown Card

I caught the Barenaked Ladies set from the start, and it was obvious this show was getting special treatment. Ed Robertson told the crowd that because Toronto was the only Canadian stop, they were playing four extra songs compared to the rest of the tour. Then he walked it back a little, joking that management may have promised that, but he and Kevin Hearn never actually agreed to it. The crowd loved it either way.

Those four extras were “Just Wait,” “One Night,” “Raisins,” and “Blame It on Me,” and they were woven into a set that also included “Lookin’ Up,” “The Old Apartment,” “Gonna Walk,” “Falling for the First Time,” “Big Back Yard,” and “Pinch Me.”

Ed Robertson introduced his son Lyle not just as family but as a member of the band for this tour. Later, Robertson introduced “Almost Ready” with a laugh, telling the crowd they’d played it in soundcheck and it was, in fact, almost ready. He then introduced Andy Creeggan, who’s related to bassist Jim Creeggan, before Creeggan came out to join the band on bongos for the song.

After “Brian Wilson” and the “Big Bang Theory Theme,” Jim Creeggan got his own moment: a short upright bass solo, a nice quiet break before the band kicked back into full gear.

Then came the one-two punch every BNL fan waits for. “One Week” had people singing along from their seats, but “If I Had $1,000,000” is what actually got the whole amphitheatre on its feet, front row to the lawns. Robertson mentioned the song hit number one around the world when it came out, though it only reached number three here in Canada, a fun bit of trivia for a song that just leveled the entire venue.

The set wrapped with a genuinely chaotic run through “Pink Pony Club,” “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” “The Gambler,” and “HOT TO GO!” before closing on “Lovin’ Life.” Whatever else happened that night, nobody was going to accuse Barenaked Ladies of mailing in their hometown show.

Train Takes Over

Train opened with “She’s on Fire” and “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” before the first confetti cannon went off during “If It’s Love,” sending hands up and swaying through the crowd. That’s also when fans started throwing their phones up to Monahan, who worked his way across the stage catching them, snapping a selfie, and throwing them back.

“Play That Song” led into a cover of John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” with Matt Nathanson joining the band, followed by “Calling All Angels.” Then Ed Robertson came back out for “Meet Virginia,” which the band folded into “Country Roads”, a genuinely fun crossover moment between the two acts on the bill.

After that, Pat Monahan started launching t-shirts into the crowd with what can only be described as a football arm. It’s hard to remember seeing anyone throw shirts that far by hand, no shirt cannon involved. He wore a Virginia shirt the whole time he was tossing tees, and once he was done, he signed it and walked around the stage getting the rest of the band to sign it too. He then took it off, looked ready to throw it, and just dropped it on the stage floor, clearly going for a laugh. Someone in the front row almost certainly ended up with it, even if the actual handoff wasn’t visible from where I was sitting.

“Pennsylvania Turnpike” and “Mississippi” followed, and Monahan told the crowd “Mississippi” is his favorite song off the new record, with the guitar solo living up to the hype. Train’s 12th studio album, Mad Dog in the Fog, drops August 28 through Columbia Records, their first full-length in over four years since 2022’s AM Gold, and reportedly an ode to San Francisco. Red roses went flying into the audience during “Mississippi” as a nice visual tie-in.

Then Monahan went solo acoustic for “Marry Me,” joking about a wedding he’d been to recently where they never played the song, though he stuck around once he found out there was a free bar. Phone lights came out for this one, lighting up the RBC amphitheatre while the crowd sang along.

A Family Moment

The biggest surprise of the night came during a cover of Journey’s “Stone in Love,” when Monahan brought out his 14-year-old son, Rock, who played guitar on a Gibson Les Paul and traded vocals with his dad for two songs. Monahan then moved behind the drum kit himself, taking over for a stretch before throwing his sticks into the crowd once the song ended.

Rock stuck around for “Save Me, San Francisco,” which came with six giant beach balls bouncing through the audience. “Hey, Soul Sister” kept the singalong going, and “Drive By” brought the confetti cannons back out, this time folded into a singalong of “Hey Jude.” The main set closed with “Drops of Jupiter” itself, the song the whole tour is built around, and it landed exactly the way you’d expect a set closer with that title to land.

The Little Things Added Up

What made this show stick wasn’t just the size of the setlists. It was Barenaked Ladies adding four songs just for Toronto. It was Ed Robertson’s kid on stage, and then Andy Creeggan showing up for a cameo. It was Jim Creeggan getting a quiet bass solo in the middle of a set built for big singalongs. It was an entire amphitheatre standing up for a song about winning a million dollars.

Then Train brought its own version of that same idea: shirts flying, roses in the crowd, a surprise Ed Robertson cameo, a 14-year-old kid holding his own on a Les Paul next to his dad, and a closing blast of confetti during “Drive By.” None of it needed to happen. All of it made the night better.

Two bands, one hometown crowd, and a lot of reasons to stick around until the very last song.

A huge thanks to Mahlet Sintayehu at Live Nation for the accreditation.

Train

Barenaked Ladies

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Drew Osborne

I’m Drew, the founder and editor of Front of the Stage. I have a strong love for music and photography, which started at a very young age. There’s just something I love about experiencing live music and capturing memories that will last a lifetime, and that’s how Front of the Stage came to be.