Yeah, I was one of them. If you know me for any length of time you'll uncover that embarrassing tidbit of information. My room was covered from floor to ceiling (and even spilling out onto the latter) with Hanson posters. I knew each of the brother's full names, zodiac signs, and favorite colors, along with a myriad of other useless trivia that would not help me one bit on my Biology test.
That was then, though. I'm not thirteen anymore, I've calmed down a lot, my last Hanson concert before last night was a good six or seven years ago, shortly after the release of This Time Around, and I haven't bought any of their records since. I poked my head in on them every once in a while, seeing what they were up to, if they're still touring, making music, etc.
For some reason, I'm on TicketMaster's mailing list, probably because I've ordered tickets from them before. (Who knew?) On Friday, out of curiosity, and because I've had the mad craving to go see a concert recently (my last concert was in December, in my prime I was hitting one concert every month or two, if not more), I clicked on their calendar of upcoming events in my area. Turns out Hanson would be playing Tuesday. In a mere four days.
What the hell, I said, it's a Thing on my List, I should go. It'll probably be all sedate, acoustic or something, only a few people, because really, who listens to Hanson anymore?
HAHAHAHAHAHA. After finally finding the place thanks to
syntheticjesso's adept skills at using Google Maps, I realized I was in line behind quite a few people. And not just girls, either, there were menfolk, too. A few of whom didn't seem to be attached to a chick! I bought my ticket and joined them, meeting a fellow grown Hanson fan/lj user kittenislost, along with her very own manfolk. We reminisced about how nerdy our fandom was, and I was feeling pretty good that I'd be nice and calm for this event, I mean, come on, I haven't kept up with them for years and I'm not sure when the last time I listened to Middle of Nowhere was. By the time we were in the venue, though, you could tell everyone was excited. Suffering through the two opening acts was just as tough as it had been six years ago (although the first band was pretty good, and apparently you can download their album for free at www.freegro.net). And when Hanson took the stage, I found out that I'm still thirteen, apparently. The fangirl in my soul broke free and screamed and cried like a tiny baby girl, and so did everyone else's. Really? The pandemonium at this show was not any less than the first Hanson concert I went to ten years ago, except that now mostly everyone in the crowd was old enough to drink.
I was pretty damn shocked at how crazy it was, and how stupid I got. I don't think I've actually cried at a Hanson show before, it was like my inner teen saying, "THIS IS FOR ALL THOSE TIMES YOU FAILED AT GETTING OVERLY EMOTIONAL FOR A BAND." And the show? The show was REALLY, REALLY GOOD. I didn't know half the songs thanks to not keeping up with their new albums, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The three of them didn't stop moving the entire time (except for a few breaks to set up the mid-show acoustic set), Taylor constantly encouraging us to clap and jump and clearly being incapable of asking any question other than, "How are you guys feeling tonight? Are you sure? ARE YOU SURE????" There were several songs that they played just strung together one after the other. They played "MMMBop", of course, because it's pretty much a requirement. But they didn't seem to hate doing it! If I were them and I had to play that song at every single show I did, I'd probably hate it by now, but they appeared to be enjoying every single song they played.
They also played "Where's the Love" and "A Minute Without You" from MoN, and "Can't Stop", "A Song to Sing" and "If Only" (which I'd forgotten how much I liked and completely freaked out over) from TTA. They did some covers, too, including "Let Love Rule".
By the end of the night, I was sore, tired, and very, very happy. I'm afraid I might have to get the albums I've missed and keep an eye out for their next trip through town.
(This was a Thing off my List!)
