Ravinia 2023 Issue 6

IT ’S ALWAYS FELT as if Train has been one of Chicago’s very own. “I mean, I think we even behave like Chicagoans,” Train frontman Pat Monahan laughs during an interview with Ravinia . “We’re real people. We’re not full of it. We try to write songs that maybe will make people’s lives a little better. [ Pauses .] It’s kind of like Chicago Bears football. We just get in there and try to get the job done. That’s just always the way it’s been.” Monahan draws in a deep breath, as if the accomplished singer-song- writer is giving a second thought to his decision to compare against the team with the losing record last year and a mounting hot seat of expecta- tions. But then, he continues: “Chi- cago is the biggest little town in the world. It’s just really cool. The food is amazing. There’s really nothing I don’t love about Chicago.” Certainly, while the roots of Train are deep into the sun-drenched soil of San Francisco, Monahan counts Chicago as one of the key metro areas that broke them as a band more than 20 years ago. “One of the cities was Birming- ham, Alabama, and one was San Francisco, California—and then there was Chicago,” says Monahan of Train’s early jaunts as a band, following their formation in 1994. “Chicago Theatre was the first place we ever played ‘Drops of Jupiter,’ before it even went to radio. We played it and people gave us a standing ovation after that song. I mean, we had put it in the middle of the set. It was the first time that I thought, ‘Man, maybe this song is special.’ ” RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 7