Because I was traveling to Massachusetts while Hanson was also going to be in Massachusetts, performing, I decided I had to go. Surprisingly, my dad said he'd want to go see Hanson with me, even though he'd never heard them before.
Before I get into anything else, I just want to say the show was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, because that's the most important part of this review. Moving on...
My dad and I got to Middle East Resturant and Nightclub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a time we thought was early (around six o'clock, doors were supposed to open at 8), and got in line. But it turns out we ended up kind of close to the end of the line.
("this must be the end of the line...)
We waited for a couple of hours, at least, just standing in place... wanting to get inside... with occasional messages from the workers who were telling us if we brought cameras in, we'd be kicked out. I had been planning to bring a camera, I had a method that probably would have worked, but I wussed out at the last minute today! I'm sorry!! So no Lauren Pix 4 U :(
Walker (Hanson's dad) was walking down the long line of people with a video camera, some people were screaming, but I smiled and waved as he walked by. I told my dad I thought that it was Hanson's dad, and he kept trying to tell me it was probably just a roadie... um.
Eventually, some people started checking IDs. The show was 18 and over, which I thought was stupid, especially since Zac is 17, but whatever. To show they'd checked your ID, they drew monsterous black "X"es with what seems like a permanant marker on both of your hands. And if you were over 21, you got a green wristband and could get drunk inside. Hideous Xes for me, wristband for my dad.
The first thing we did once we were inside, was head over to the merchandise. I wanted to get my CD purchasing done beforehand. We're waiting in line for a little bit, then a familiar-looking man with a "Walker" nametag shows up behind the counter, and... I'm ordering merchandise from Hanson's dad! What the heck?! So I order the new acoustic album and the tour t-shirt, after making Mr. Hanson show me different sizes so I could compare them.... and my dad pays for me, because... um... he likes buying me stuff. Walker Hanson asks my dad if I'm his daughter, and my dad says "yeah."... and then Walker Hanson pats my dad on the back, and says something along the lines of "I'm impressed!"... then I was really confused as to what he was impressed about, but... I've met Hanson's dad!!! I will never meet Hanson, but Hanson's dad patted my dad on the back! How cool is that?!
We try to head toward the stage, but we can't see anything, so we went up to the little elevated bar area where we could kind of see, and stayed there the rest of the show, with a slightly obscured view. Some moments duiring the show all I was looking at was the back of some people's heads and a big post. We were standing behind quite a few people.
We just sat around duiring T-can'tremembertherestofhisname's set. Hanson came on a little after 10, I had to go to the bathroom really badly at around 10... and Hanson hadn't came on stage yet, and I didn't want to miss their entrance... so I dashed to the bathroom and back in time to see them come onstage. :)
I was going to write down all the songs they played, so I could finish my review now... but I lost my red Sharpie somewhere along the line, so it's all just guesses from memory and out of order. Enjoy!
The show opened with "Strong Enough To Break", I think. Good song, but it seems kind of weird for an opening song... *shrugs* Anyway, another one of the first songs they did was "River", which was really cool... everyone was singing along, and happy.
Also: Runaway Run, one of my favorite songs, which was all funky and acoustic and pretty and awesome. Everything sounded awesome! Man.
They did a cover of "Teach Your Children Well", a Crosby Stills and Nash song. The three of them gathered around the microphone, and Isaac was the only one with an instrument - a guitar. Three part harmony, TOO cute. CUTENESS OVERLOAD
Zac did a solo, I'm not sure of the name of the song "Broken Wing"? "Broken Angel"? It was just Zac on piano, and Zac's beautiful voice. The entire time he was singing I was in awe. The song was so beautiful, I wanted to listen to it over and over agian... but um. it's not on the CD I bought.
Isaac did a solo of "Hand In Hand"... passionate... that biyach was cheating on him, what a stupid girl. ISAAC I WOULD NEVER CHEAT ON YOU, MARRY ME
They sang "Deeper"... that one part where Isaac gets all intense... that's my favorite part. Yeah.
Taylor did a solo of "Never Let Go"!!!! Remember when that demo leaked on the internet? And... it wasn't the whole thing... there was a whole other half to the song... and again, amazing, amazing, amazing. I never want to leave Hanson shows, I want them to just play forever so I can watch them all the time.
"Rock 'N Roll Razorblade"... that was intense! I didn't think that song could be so intense acoustic... Taylor was literally pounding on the keys, like, with his fists, and it still sounded insanely good.
"Penny and Me" was in there somewhere, along with "Underneath". I like Zac playing harmonica.
They did "With You In Your Dreams", which was amazing and totally something I needed to hear recently... my grandmother just passed away a couple of months ago, and this trip to Boston... we're staying in her old house. I miss her so much, earlier today I brought flowers by her gravesite... I so needed that song... thanks, Hanson!!!!!!!! Isaac called the song "Gone When You Wake Up" though. Umm...
They also did some song they said wouldn't be on anything.... and it was new... "just for you guys!". Wow. I don't remember that many of the lyrics right now, d'oh.
And another part... Taylor started singing "It's getting hot in here... so take off all your clothes"... oh my!
My dad kept turning to me, and saying how good Hanson was... "they're really a good group...." "Thanks for taking me, they're really good!" "Wow", etc.
They did MMMBop, and then a cover of Little Richard's Rip It Up... which was fucking awesome. My dad got a little too into it, because he was like, doing the twist while Hanson was playing that song. He was like "I'm embarassing you by dancing!", but I wasn't. I thought it was cool. I'd never seen my dad dance before, heh.
The "This Time Around" singing along was very much fun.. I was going to say "it's one of my favorite songs!", but, I need to stop saying things like that because every Hanson song is one of my favorite songs.
"Hey" was a pretty cool song, I had only heard a little clip before... it was catchy.
They left. :(
Then they came back for an encore. :)
The encore was "Lost Without Each Other", which I would also describe as "fucking awesome" the way they did it. I really got to enjoy that song, because some woman who had been kind of in my way the whole night moved and motioned for me to move to where she was for some inexplicable reason... so I had a good view of all three guys. Then everyone left, and I couldn't hear very well, and I couldn't talk because I'd been screaming too loud in between songs and singalongs, and my legs hurt. But I didn't notice any of this until I had exited the building.
My dad said "Hey, they didn't play HummBaby!" as we were walking to the car.
"Do you mean MMMBop, Dad?"
"Yeah, MMMBop."
"They played it right before the Little Richard Cover!"
"Oh". I would have thought he'd remember, especially since I said "Dad, this is MMMBop!" when I heard them starting to play it...
My dad was then going off for a really long time about how good a group Hanson was, and how he really liked them... which was weird, but cool. He even wanted to listen to the acoustic CD in the car! Like, he suggested it... not me. And we got lost, so the ride home was kind of long, so after it was over the first time, I took the CD out, and he was like "Why don't you play it again?"
"ok!"
Good stuff.
He said that if he'd known the guy we were buying merchandise from was Hanson's dad, he would have started talking about how I've been a huge fan since 1997 and how we came from California and how I wanted to meet them, which would have been embarassing and wouldn't have worked at all, so I'm glad I didn't let him know. That would have been embarassing, however, my dad doing the twist is not embarassing.
I love Hanson so much. THANK YOU FOR BEING HANSON, HANSON! Thank you for the tour! Thank you for the album(s)! Thank you Walker for patting my dad on the back! Thank you Taylor for touching my hand three years ago! Thank you Isaac for always being sexy, even though you're completely unattainible. Thank you Zac for being ZAC. I love Zac. I love them all. LOVELOVELOVELOVE
And merchandise.
