Hall & Oates with Train in Detroit

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Hall & Oates rolls into Little Caesars Arena-Detroit with Train

By: Kenny Kulpa May 20th, 2018

“The Night of Hits.”

Train with its soulful singer Pat Monahan rolled into Detroit’s Little Caesar Arena with the head-liner Hall & Oates. They kicked off their hour-long set with “50 ways to say goodbye,” then followed it up with, “If It’s Love” and “Get To Me.”

Monahan, super energetic said. “This next song we would like to dedicate to everyone of you because Detroit is where kinda rock started.” The song, Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” a great choice. As the song ended Monahan then said, “I feel like playing,” “Heartbreaker” and that’s what they did, the crowd went wild.

As Monahan moved back and forth down the stage getting the crowd motivated, they went right into “Meet Virginia.”

Pat, wearing a jean jacket, pulled out a sharpie from his pocket and had every member sign it. He then took it off and feigned to throw it into the audience, which caused a few “Ooh’s and Aah’s.” Finally, at the end of the song he walked to the end of the stage and handed the jacket to a very lucky fan, I was jealous.

When they played “When I Look to the Sky,” Monahan said, “I would like to dedicate this song to my mom.” A nice sentimental touch to the evening.

Monahan then grabbed his acoustic guitar and played “Marry Me,” which had every woman in the arena singing along.

They also did one of my favorite Tom Petty’s songs, “Free Fallin,” and what a mighty fine job they did playing it.

They ended their high-powered set with “Drops of Jupiter.” I gave Monahan and the band a A+ for the evening and would love to see them again.

Hall and Oates: H & O’s set started off with the haunting saxophone intro to “Maneater” played by, Charles

Hall&Oates (credit: Kenny Kulpa)

“Mr. Casual” DeChant, it gave me goosebumps.

Through the evening they covered all their hit’s, “Out of Touch,” “Say it isn’t So,” and a well-received version of the Righteous Brothers hit, “You Lost That Lovin Feelin,” which had the crowd on their feet dancing and singing along.

They then slowed it down a bit and played a couple of favorites, “She’s Gone,” and “Sara Smile.” A song that was written for his girlfriend at the time Sara Allen, who, also helped write some of H & O’s big hits.

Daryl got on the mic and said, “This is one of my favorite songs, John wrote this one, it’s from an obscure album we did called, “War Babies.” It was a funky soulful song which I hate to admit, I never heard before but fell in love with it.

They did an eight-minute extended version of “I Can’t Go for That,” which dragged on a few minutes too long.

Pat Monahan came back out on the stage and sang three songs with H & O. The first song they did was one

Hall & Oates with Train (credit: Kenny Kulpa)

he helped co-write with Daryl, “Philly Forget Me Not.” I wasn’t a big fan of that song, but, the next song I was. “Wait for Me,” one of my all-time favorite Hall & Oates songs. The version was reminiscent of his performance on “Live at Daryl’s House,” love that song.

Monahan, taking control said, “If you don’t mind we would like to play a Train song for you,” “Calling All Angels,” which got the crowd back on their feet.

H & O finished up their set with “Kiss on My List” and “Private Eyes.”

For their encore they played their first NO. 1 hit “Rich Girl,” and followed it up with “You Make My Dreams Come True.” Which of course had everyone singing that song on their way out of the arena.

Overall, Train was “Awesome”.

Hall and Oates on the other hand, it wasn’t their best performance. I gave them a C+. The band lacked

Hall & Oates (credit: Kenny Kulpa)

continuity, and soul, they seemed to just go through the motions. But granted they did play all their hits for the audience.

With that being said, Billboard Magazine named the Hall of Famers “The most successful duo of the rock era.” They certainly deserved that honor and distinction.

My suggestion: You need to put Hall & Oates on your bucket list for bands to see, they’ll make your dreams come true.