San Francisco
October 9, 2004:
First things first.
Set List:
1) Optimistic -Radiohead cover
2) Dancing In The Wind
3) Love Somebody To Know
4) Dream Girl
5) Look At You
6) Zac solo: Lullabelle
7) Tay solo: I Will Come To You
8) Underneath
9) This Time Around
10) Rock 'N Roll Razorblade
11) Gimmie Some Lovin -Spencer Davis
12) Crazy Beautiful
13) Hand In Hand
14) You Never Know
15) Penny & Me
16) MMMBop
17) Lost Without Each Other
18) A Song To Sing
I was chatting online before I left for the show. I was chatting online with my friend Betsy, and she replied to something I said with "no prob, Bob," Which made me think of Family Matters and Urkel. For much longer than I should have.
I was a little worried I would be screaming things like "GOT ANY CHEESE?!?" or "DID I DO THAT?!?!" at the Hanson show when they came onstage.
I got to the show a lot later than I usually do, since it was only a little bit before the doors opened.
Though, of course, this meant there was a long line around the block.
The Warfield is located next to a Gentleman's Club. Which are located in the "tenderloin" area of San Francisco, near even more "gentleman's clubs".
I waited with my dad and just hung out, and I talked to my friend Kiley on my cell and Kiley rules, and I wanted to insult the people I was standing next to while on the phone with her, but I couldn't, because even though they were 14 year old girls, I was afraid of them. I'm not very strong, they could have taken me down easily with their scrawny barely pubsecent bodies One of their mothers was with them. Both of the girls were "goth". So they were dressed "dark", meaning, they bought their clothes in the "Goth" section of Hot Topic, and one of the girls was takling about how she had seen Marilyn Manson in concert. And, like, Korn. And all these "dark" bands. And how she thought seeing Hanson in concert was "a good idea at the time", and now that she was waiting in line with two people she had dragged she wasn't so sure. Uh. The mother was like I don't know any Hanson songs except MMMBop and Where's The Love!
But the daughter did defend Hanson and did say that they WERE good live.
And they were really, in fact, fourteen, since the girl said that the last time she saw Hanson in concert she was 7, and that was 7 years ago. Her mother also let her swear. And she had her lip peirced, and their hair was dyed unnatural colors. What a great generation.
Those girls were at such a horrible age, do you remember when you wanted to try SO HARD to impress people with everything you did, and in the way where you don't act anything close to yourself?
Once inside, my dad and I had to run to the bathroom, and guess who I got stuck behind? The"Goth" girls.
"We're never going to lose them!" my dad whispered to me.
I had to wait in a long line to get in the Ladies Rest Room, and my dad finished before I was even in the vicinity of the bathroom, considering the girl to guy ratio was extremely unbalanced even though we were in San Francisco, and went to the bar to get something to drink and wait for me.
Eventually we met back up and once I was in the general admission area, it was like ZOOOM down to the stage, Ike's side. My dad didn't want to be crushed by young girls and block people's view so we spent the concert apart.
I could see Zac's drums and all I could think was "WTF WHY ARE ZAC'S DRUMS THERE WTF?!?!"
Like I said, I'm still in shock. Like it didn't happen. Even though I had seen Hanson six times before.
I talked to Kiley on the phone in between the opening act and Hanson. The opening act was, uh... Brandie... S.... something. I liked her voice a lot. But I didn't really like her music too much, and there were these two people behind me being assholes, this girl was with her boyfriend and he kept making fun of her voice, like if he was forced to be on a stage entertaining hundreds of young women he could do any better. At first the girlfriend chastized him for being an ass, but then eventually gave into it and thought he was funny and I could hear her being affectionate and GROSS. They were in their twenties, is it just me, or do some people never grow up?"
In front of me, I got more fourteen year olds. Different from before. But the DIFFERENT FROM BEFORE 14 year old girls were SO STUPID. They were worse.
Hanson was later than the 9 o'clock they were supposed to come on, but man, Isaac came onstage first. All alone. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. JUST ISAAC.
Oh my God. He's so fucking beautiful.
Eventually the other guys walked on. Taylor's hair is growing out and it's long and pretty and girly and I love it. I want to run my hands through it. But running up to him and tackling him to run my hands through his hair doesn't seem like a good idea.
I like Zac's hair lately too, but unfortunately, he was hidden from my view during just about the entire concert. But not unfortunately for me, he was being blocked by Isaac, who was holding my attention almost the entirety of the show. Because he's so fucking wonderful. HE IS MY FAVORITE TEE HEE HehehesehEHeheknjfdlks!122
Isaac was rocking. ISAAC WAS ROCKING. AND NEAR ME. AND ROCKING. AND ROCKING NEAR ME. I love Isaac getting into playing his guitar. Oh, him and his rocking out faces. everytime he would get intense, I wouldn't be able to stop smiling. There were times when I found myself paying a little too much attention to the way he was moving his pelvis, and I had to stop myself.
Ikey and Tay "Ooooooooooh"ing during Optimistic was.... why am I out of positive adjectives these days? It was, uh, positive.
Dude, Taylor playing electric guitar. TAYLOR PLAYING ELECTRIC GUITAR. CAN WE SAY HOT I mean, he kinda has this thing where it seriously looks like he shouldn't be playing a guitar. I noticed he looked a little awkward when they were playing acoustic, but electric he's always kinda hunched over and doesn't have the typical "rock star" look. But at the same time, he also managed to look like this awesome Rock God. IT IS STILL SO HOT.
Dancing In The Wind, which I'd never seen live before and made me dance, though there wasn't any wind. *ba dum ching* And not everyone else was dancing around me, so I probably looked stupid and I don't care. When Isaac and Taylor play guitar next to each other... so cool.
Dream Girl. I love that song. I wanted to spend the entirety of it pointing at myself, saying "HELLO HANSON HELLO", but I didn't because I was too in the zone of the concert. I couldn't even scream this time, the way I used to. I just stood in stunned silence, applauding after each song with my hands above my head.
But seriously, Hanson, that song is about me and I exist thanks.
I see you in my dreams / And you are so fair / I tried so hard to find you / but you were never there / you're my dream girl / and no one can compare
you're my dream girl / it'll allways be that way
No it won't, date me duhhh. Then everything that was ever wrong will magically be fixed and we'll get married and have babies ew wait I hate babies and I don't want any nevermind that song isn't about me.
I LOVE Look At You. I always have. Of course, I always imagine sexual things that sound like they were intentional, but according to the official song meanings I've read, aren't supposed to be there. But come on.
Kick off your shoes / Get on the floor / This is what we came here for
You've got to break it down / you've got to get it out
I love watching Isaac rock out. I love when he rocks out so hard he breaks guitar strings.
I absolutely adored the funk Look At You had, and the part at the beginning where Ike was singing "Get up... get on up" or whatever it was, all funky.
Man From Milwaukee... that was fun. It makes me happy to know they're still playing that song, it's so cute.
Gimmie Some Lovin'.... their cover has gotten better, even though at the same time I kind of wished they were doing a cover they hadn't done on any tours before. How come their cover wasn't that good before? hah....
Crazy Beautiful... was good, but I wished they could have had horns on it like they do on the album version. They should have brought a bunch of horn players along just for that song, haha. They could have randomly run out on stage for their little section, then run back off.
I love Hand In Hand, even though I always get sad that some stupid girl cheated on Isaac. I personally like the acoustic solo of it better because you can really see Isaac getting into it so bad, even though it wrenches my heart and I die. But electric rocks and then I rock out, and then I realize I'm rocking out to a song about infidelity then I get sad. But then I rock out some more anyways.
You Never Know is always good for the dancing, or, "shaking your ass" as Taylor has taken to phrase it recently.
I can't remember what song now, but Isaac was playing a solo and ran/slid on his knees and it made me so happy. Of course it wouldn't have if he had slid into something, like Taylor, or the grand piano, but luckily that did not happen.
I'm not the biggest Penny & Me fan, but it's still enjoyable in concert. I prefer the electric version to the acoustic one.
My favorite lyrics appear to be several other peoples favorite lyrics... the whole Penny likes to get away / and drown her pain in lemonade / Penny dreams of rainy days / and nights up late by the fireplace / and aimless conversations about the better days
How can you NOT enjoy MMMBop? Over the years it's gotten a little bit more of a harder, rockier edge. Though, hopefully, one day it won't turn out to sound like Metallica or something. That would just be a little too rediculous.
Over the"Lost Without Each Other" intro beat:
"I wanna tell you something.. we started a record company a couple of years ago, because we love THIS.
...
You guys have a passion for music, right?"
Crowd cheers.
I want you to call all the radio stations and say something! Not for Hanson, but for anything that you LOVE. I want you to call them up and say, ARE YOU LISTENING?!
The radio plays so few songs, and MTV sucks, radio sucks, all they play is shit!
I want you to call them and make them listen!"
Say, ARE YOU LISTENING?"
That was so awesome when Taylor gave that speech. I love a man that can insult the system that brought him success.
During it, if you had seen me, I was giving the "I love you" sign at first, which then changed into the devil horns, hailing Satan, whatever it's called that is generally used as the symbol for ROCK. I was also applauding and screaming. And I was probably so into the concert zone that I couldn't tell what my body was doing and I could have been doing a confusing hybrid of all of them at once, I don't remember.
Taylor was also talking about how people talk to him about how all the girls that camp out for Hanson like, have nothing better to do. And he said everyone else sucks, because the Hanson fans are passionate about something. And basically we need to show the world what it's like to be passionate about something again. This is where I would normally insert the phrase about Taylor needing to marry me, but considering he's been married for years, it's getting a little innapropriate, and come to think of it, repetetive as well.
"Lost Without Each Other" is such a great song.
The encore was A Song To Sing, and Isaac was standing there without any instrument which... like... never happens. He had his eyes closed and head down and was staring at the floor, Zac didn't have an instrument, and Taylor was on piano. Dude, then some girl that she was badass and ran on stage and thought she was hot shit showing off how she was on stage during such a solemn song. But luckily, she ran across and jumped off fairly soon.
During the glassy surface verse, during the "don't wander through this glass surface / expecting to find more than me", Isaac pointed at himself. And I died. So good.
Someone told me that it might not be good if your favorite band keeps making you die, BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE.
"I came just because I knew MMMBop, but I'm happy." -random girl I heard on the way out to a friend.
After the show, I didn't feel any kind of urge (which always remains unfulfilled) to follow Hanson. For the first time ever. They gave a great show, I had a great time, end of night for me. And, you know, my dad, since I brought him. But we weren't together, since I was in the "pit" closest to the stage, he stayed above on the floor's sorta-balconyish thingy.
I also wouldn't have anything to say to Hanson. I could say "YOUR MUSIC IS AMAZING. YOU ARE SO AWESOME IN CONCERT. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE BAND."
And they'd go "Ok, cool."
and then I would say "I can't think of anything else to say."
and they would say "OK, bye." and walk away.
And then I would start yelling "NOOOO JUST DOn'T WALK AWAY!!!!!"
And then I would attatch myself to their bodies by cligging to them with my arms, after enveloping them as they attempted to walk off, and they would be dragging me along for a while. And they wouldn't be able to pry me off with anything, including the Jaws Of Life. Hopefully I would not suffocate any of them.
I know I've mentioned it before, but I always wish good concerts would never end. I just want the band to play on and on forever, and I could lose my hearing. Or with Hanson we could just hang out for all eternity. And then eventually I'd get sick of them and hate them. That would rule.
Hanson was grabbing some hands before they left, after their encore. At the point Isaac bent down, the crowd rushed towards the stage, crushing many people's internal organs. I had to think quick. Did I want to crush my own organs, sacrifice my dignity, and behave like a 13 year old and also rush against the stage? Or did I want to act like a sebsible adult and get the hell out of the way?
Of course, I chose to rush the stage.
And I got nothing. No touchie-feely. But that's OK.
Have I ever mentioned that Isaac is the most awesome person ever? Because he is.