Train's free Packers Kickoff Weekend concert outside Lambeau covered 'Hey, Soul Sister' to 'Hey Jude' and many sing-alongs in between

GREEN BAY - Train pulled out so many surprise covers outside Lambeau Field on Saturday afternoon, you got the feeling “The Bears Still Suck Polka” wouldn’t have been out of the question if someone had just asked.

The pop-rock band with no shortage of hits of its own took a large crowd along on musical detours to Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On,” ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” during the Green Bay Packers’ annual free Kickoff Weekend concert ahead of Sunday night’s Packers-Chicago Bears game.

It was like a home opener happy hour — and a half — with Train lead singer and songwriter Pat Monahan leading fans in one feel-good hit after another. When it was time for the irresistible “nah, nah, nah, nah, nah” sing-along chorus of “Drops of Jupiter” to close the nearly 90-minute concert, gray skies that originally threatened to dampen the festivities had turned to blue.

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“Hi everybody,” Monahan said from a stage on the northwest side of the stadium that looked out at the Titletown District across Ridge Road. “I haven’t been back here for a few years. I sang the anthem here, and I asked why I wasn’t invited back. It’s been 15 years and somebody said, ‘They must’ve lost.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, sh. --.’”

(Caitlyn Smith, who sings the theme song for the new Fox country music drama “Monarch,” will do the national anthem honors for the Bears-Packers game.)

Train returns to Green Bay for first concert since performing at Celebrate De Pere in 1999

It was Train’s first performance in Green Bay since the band’s 1998 self-titled debut album launched its adult rock radio success. Monahan didn’t make mention of it on Saturday, but the group did play a side stage gig at Celebrate De Pere in 1999 when the single “Meet Virginia” was on its way to double-platinum success.

Twenty-three years later, Monahan, who briefly donned a No. 22 Packers jersey with “Train” across the back, was tossing “Meet Virginia” T-shirts to a Lambeau crowd heavy on green and gold but not without the occasional Walter Payton jersey sighting.

Like last year’s Kickoff Weekend concert headliner Jake Owen, Monahan told fans he golfs with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California.

He and his six bandmates breezed through Train staples “Hey, Soul Sister,” “Calling All Angels,” “Drive By,” “Marry Me,” “Angel in Blue Jeans” and “50 Ways to Say Goodbye.” They dropped in a couple of tracks off the band’s new “AM Gold” album released in May, including the title track to open the set.

Monahan’s human jukebox duties also worked in the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” Aerosmith’s “Dream On” and The Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music.”

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Train pulls out all the hits for Green Bay Packers Kickoff Weekend