by Lindsey Bakker

I went to see Train. I can hear a collective
groan of disappointment and I myself am hanging my head in shame. I
can’t defend my actions, just know that I had my reasons and I
don’t regret going. Well, not really anyway.

There’s
very little to say about the show itself. There was the
disappointing female vocalist who opened. I missed much of that;
because I was hanging out with the reason I was at Train in the
first place.
Train themselves
were not terrible. The music isn’t that great, but they’re a fairly
non-offensive band. Fluffy, pop songs that don’t mean much
& don’t do much for me. I remember the first time I saw
them (I had a reason then too) my friend, Eric, and I had a long
argument about whether or not they were a Christian band. Frontman
Patrick Monohan comes off as someone pompous on stage. They pulled
a group of teen girls on stage to help sing a song and gave them
all cute little shirts that read ‚ “I’m a
Train-ette.” I’m not sure that’s the best message
to be sending to the younger generation, but whatever.

Honestly
that’s about it when it comes to the show. The staging,
performance, are good, the songs aren’t. The crowd really loved it.
Nothing spectacular, edgy, or anything important happened. The most
remarkable part of the show was the size of the crowd. Train had
sold more tickets to this show than any other. There were
approximately 10,000 tickets sold (total capacity for href=”http://ravinia.org”>Ravinia is around 15,000)
but only approximately 4,000 of these people could see the show.

“The most remarkable part of the
show was the size of the crowd… but only approximately 4,000 of
these people could see the
show.”

Personally, I wouldn’t
buy a ticket to a show if I wasn’t going to be able to see
anything, but Ravinia is an entirely different world all together.
Located in the north suburbs of Chicago, it is a remarkably
beautiful setting. The pavilion area appears to be recently
renovated and is kept in great shape. Most people were on the lawn.
It was packed solid with families and groups of friends grilling,
socializing and basically tailgating the show. Tickets aren’t cheap
and the clientele reflects this. It’s not the most diverse crowd
I’ve ever seen. Then again, this could have been because we were at
Train, but I’m not so sure. The majority of the crowd was made up
of upper class white women, many of whom had their children with
them.

“It’s not the most diverse crowd I’ve
ever seen. Then again, this could have been because we were at
Train, but I’m not so sure. The majority of the crowd was made up
of upper class white women, many of whom had their children with
them.”

This
really, really disturbed me. It made me think of what was going to
happen in 10-20 years when I hopefully have a family of my own.
Are my music tastes going to change so drastically that I
am going to be dying to go see Train (insert concerned and slightly
disgusted face here)? Am I going to drag my children to this? Will
they actually like music like this? I
can’t picture myself dancing poorly to this nondescript, bland
music, but you never know how the years are going to change
you. I could go the other way, and be like the
parent at the Aquabats show I went to a year
ago. They allowed their 6 year old to be launched into the crowd
from stage to crowd surf. The music is, in my opinion, infinitely
better, but I’m not sure the parenting decisions are any better.
Then there’s the third option. What if my kids don’t like
the same music as I do? I guess it’s logical that they
will because I listen to music constantly so they will be exposed
from very young. But what if they like something that I
can’t stand? What if they like their generation’s Justin Bieber?
Will I have to force myself to bring them to shows and listen to
it? Drag them to shows? I guess I only have to wait and
see. LB