Photographed by Andrew MacLean ; Written by Andrew MacLean
A warm summer day down on the waters of Downtown Toronto. The sun shining down through the scattered clouds, and the distant roar from racing engines can be heard as the Honda Indie race plows through the streets of Toronto. Tonight I find myself at the Budweiser stage, nestled right at the edge of Toronto’s lake shore, the lines to get in long, and the CN Tower standing proud in the distance. Tonight’s line up includes Yacht Rock Revue, REO Speedwagon, and Train, as they arrive here in Canada for their Summer Road Trip tour.
First up to the stage is Yacht Rock Revue. Arriving at 6:30pm sharp they wasted no time getting right into their set. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the group groved and moved the crowd as they covered some well known songs. Opening with a cover of Daryl Hall and John Oats song “She’s Gone” and following up with Michael McDonald’s song “Sweet Freedom”, the group showed how to jam out in the warm summer heat of Toronto. Yacht Rock also performed other hits such as “You Make Loving Fun” by Fleetwood Mac, and “Africa” by Toto. A whack ton of a variety of instruments, all while being masterfully played behind sunglass covered eyes, Yacht Club Revue indeed proved to Toronto that there are still fun and unique ways to be a cover band in 2024!
This part of the night I dedicated to my mother, as growing up I always heard the best tracks from artists like Meatloaf, Olivia Newton-John, ABBA, and REO Speedwagon. I can remember her and I dancing and singing in the kitchen to some of REO’s songs, and even blasting them on some long road trips. Right off the bat and right into the swing of things REO Speedwagon opened up with their songs “Don’t Let Him Go”, “Take It On The Run”, and “Keep Pushin’”. While photographing their set, I noticed on either side of the stage were cases of different kinds of guitars and basses that varied in size, and colour.
As I continued watching their set, I was amazed to see how the members of REO Speedwagon performed, and ran about the stage showing how young at heart these guys truly are. Smiling, and interacting with the crowd, large drum rolls and guitar solos galore, the group knew how to wow a crowd. Kevin (Lead Singer) introduced the crowd to Matt Bissonette (Bassist) who had just finished working for Elton John for 12 years prior to joining REO Speedwagon on tour. From here REO Speedwagon moved through their tracks “Music Man” and their hit “Can’t Fight This Feeling”.
REO Speedwagon continued to leave me speechless with their clever ways around the stage. Kevin later joked with the crowd that some performers from their generation have left, but they stuck around because, “REO Speedwagon isn’t going anywhere.” Mentioning that “rock and roll will keep you young forever,” REO Speedwagon bowed out of their set with their hits “Keep on Loving You” and “Roll With The Changes”. Kevin told the crowd to “Keep On Loving Toronto,” and that REO Speedwagon loved performing in the city that night, but to stayed tuned as the “Train is on the tracks”. A beautiful, and moving performance full of fun, high energy and shock factor, mom, I know you’re reading this and wish you were here tonight, as you would have loved every minute of it just as you raised me to love them. One set may be over, but it was time for the next.
Arriving back to the photo put in time for Train’s set, I was intrigued to see Train’s set that had 3 giant suitcases on stage covered in travel patches. 2 standing up right, and one overturned on its side with a piano on top of it. Train smiled to the crowd and opened with song “Calling All Angels” ending the song with an abundance of streamers falling onto the crowd. During the second song “If It’s Love” people in the crowd started throwing their cell phones up on stage, and Patrick (Train’s vocalist) grabbed them each one by one and took selfies and videos on them before throwing them back into the crowd. Right off the bat, I was amazed at how interactive Train had been with the audience.
Digging deeper into the set, Train performed a mash up of “Meet Virginia” and “The Joker”, bringing Kevin from REO Speedwagon back out for the vocal part of “The Joker”. Following this Patrick introduced us to his son, Rock Monahan, who wowed the crowd with his cover of Led Zeppelin’s song “Over The Hills and Far Away”. Performing song “Long Yellow Dress”, Patrick teased “Hey Soul Sister”, before telling the crowd, “No you’re not ready for that one yet,” and continued his set with “Play That Song”, and “Parachute”. Continuing on with their song “Angel In Blue Jeans”, Train transitioned the songs outro to being “Too Sweet” by Hozier.
Train later went into “50 Ways To Say Goodbye”, and I couldn’t help but smile, watching everyone dance and clap to that track. Train stopped and asked the crowd how everyone was doing tonight, with a rebound of screams. Patrick laughed and said, “we’ll we’re going to follow up our least romantic song, with our most romantic,” as Patrick took out an acoustic guitar and performed “Marry Me”. The rest of the band slowly joined halfway through the song, as the Budweiser stage lit up with everyone’s phone. Finishing the song Train had asked if anyone had gotten engaged during it, which a few screams could be heard and Train joked that all they could give them was a t-shirt as congratulations, but whoever got the t-shirts had to wear them to their wedding.
Finishing off their set with a bang Train performed their hit songs “Hey Soul Sister”, “Drive By”, and “Drops of Jupiter” to a wonderful crowd full of Torontos biggest fans. A fun night and one to remember. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everyone who performed on that stage returns again soon with a show just as good!
