Shout it Out Release 6/8/10

Today was a day kind of like Christmas, only we're not lucky enough for it to be an annual occurrence. Hanson's fifth studio album, "Shout it Out," was released in the U.S. I feel like I'm cheating on a long-time relationship with "Underneath" by saying this about an album I've just "met," but I think I've got a new favorite. :)

My exposure to this album was very different from any other because I heard most of these songs in live settings the very first time I heard them. In the past, I've heard clips of songs, seen parts in podcasts, at least seen a tracklisting--but last May, I didn't as much as know a single title or note from the new album. The whole experience of hearing so many songs for the first time without any tainting from others' opinions was amazing. I don't think I can ever love any song as much as I loved the song "Use Me Up" in that moment. After hearing it live several times on tour and finally playing it directly from my own CD, I still can't love it as much as I did that first time. The word "Epic" is overused these days, but I mean it when I say that moment was epic for me.

Of the album, I heard ten out of twelve songs in live settings for the first time ever:

Waiting for This (Tulsa)
Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’ (video shoot)
Kiss Me When You Come Home (Tulsa)
Carry You There (Tulsa)
Give a Little (Bamboozle)
Make it Out Alive (Tulsa)
And I Waited (Bamboozle)
Use Me Up (Tulsa)
These Walls (Tulsa)
Musical Ride (Tulsa)

Part of me thinks the release was a little less exciting knowing that I was only truly getting two new songs. But in a way, it was also more exciting after building up anticipation for songs I already knew I would love. After spending a good portion of my day blasting Shout it Out, here’s what I have concluded:

1) Taylor wasn’t lying when he admitted to being a fan of vague. The guys always seem to leave room for interpretation for most of their songs. It’s one of the qualities that makes them good songwriters, but the English major in me is always analyzing and looking for deeper meanings. Waiting for This has me clapping and singing while wondering exactly what it is that we’re supposedly waiting for. Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’ begs to be danced to, but I couldn’t stop myself from submitting a question asking about what that “something” might be during one of the live streams (Thinking back, hopefully I worded it better than “Hey Zac! What is it that you’re thinking about?”—vague questions aren’t nearly as useful or appreciated as vague lyrics). During the same stream, we all explored a different side of vague as the guys joked about the vague nature of “Give a Little” and what exactly is being gifted, and what that catchy little “oh oh oh” is referring to.

2) I can dance. True, the album hasn’t given me any sudden skill in dancing, but it’s definitely given me some dance-worthy songs to help me come out of my shell. The Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’ video shoot really helped me gain confidence in just letting loose, and now that I’ve got that, I think I’ll use it to jam out to Give a Little as often as possible. It’s really impossible to listen to either of these songs and not bust a move—or at least a body part while trying.

3) Isaac is 1/3 of Hanson. Maybe that’s why it felt like 1/3 of the songs were missing. The album is a little shorter than their usual, and the obvious lack of Isaac leads is a little disappointing. I love the songs that are on the album, but after picking out 5 at random to share with my mom, then realizing they were ALL Taylor leads, I started to miss Isaac even more.

4) Taylor and his piano were meant to be together. I’m a sucker for lots of piano, and this album definitely has it. The piano solo in Kiss Me When You Come Home keeps leaving me ready to clap in my car, forgetting where I am. Give a Little has a great hint of piano playing in the background, but I wish it was louder. Hopefully it will really stand out live. Me Myself and I is also a beautiful piano—driven song, and I can’t wait to learn it. And on that note, I also love the simple piano in Use Me Up. Zac’s more in my league as far as piano skill goes.

5) They need to hire me as a copy editor. ASAP. Someone went rampant with the commas. Most of the lyrics in the booklet read as though someone inserted a comma every time they heard a pause in the song. I know that's how it generally works in spoken English, but songs are a little different. For example, no comma is necessary in the line "You don't need, a Cadillac, 'cause I'll be waiting..." even though there's an audible pause at that point in the song. The formatting of the 2nd track is also a point of interest for a grammar nerd like me. In all of its publicity for the single and video release, it was written as "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'." Now, it's written as "Thinkin' 'Bout Somethin'" on the tracklisting on the back. And while the "G" is magically present inside the booklet, "somethin'" suddenly grows its "G" back every time it's used within the lyrics.

6) There are some notable similarities to past Hanson songs. I don't mean this as a bad thing, just simply something I couldn't help noticing. "And I Waited" immediately brought "Leave the Light On" to mind. They have very similar intros and guitar parts. The piano progression in "Kiss Me When You Come Home" is very reminiscent of "Been There Before." I thought this immediately even the first time I heard it at the SUSU recording in Tulsa. It's a little more subtle, but I also hear a guitar riff in "Musical Ride" that sounds VERY similar to a more obvious in "Thinkin(g/') 'Bout Something." Lastly, the beginning of "Me Myself and I" sounds very much like a Billy Joel song to me for some reason. I wouldn't say the whole song does, but something about the beginning definitely sounds similar.

Charlotte Bamboozle 5/22/10

*Edit- Just realized this was my 20th show! I guess this is some kind of milestone?

This was the most last-minute decision I've ever made in going to see Hanson. I ironically posted a facebook status along the lines of "Hanson is going to be a 3 hr drive away, and for the first time, I'm staying home." Really, I didn't want to shell out close to $50 for a 30 min. set, so I decided to sit it out. The day before the show, I saw on twitter that LiveNation was going to give away a pair of tickets to Bamboozle to one person who retweeted a message. On a whim, I RTed it once, and won! I made the drive and met up with two friends before the show.

The tickets I won were lawn seats, but the seating was all way below the lawn, so we had a perfect view. We arrived around 5 pm and decided to sit in the grass near the Hanson merch tent. My friend noticed that Zac was sitting on the bricks in front of us, but we decided to leave him alone. We saw several groups of girls recognize him and ask for pictures, and he was very polite and took pictures with every person that asked. We also saw security tell him to get off of the bricks; it's good to know that the Zac Hanson card doesn't work for everything, or at the very least he didn't pull it in this situation. He looked like he was trying to go somewhere, but every few feet, more people would stop him. It probably took him about 30 min. to make his way to where he was going, but he was so polite taking pictures with everyone that stopped him.

We arrived in time to see Cartel, and I enjoyed their set. I also really enjoyed Good Charlotte, who played a surprising number of songs that I recognized. They played a song from their new album that hasn't been released yet, something about a drunk girl; I don't remember the title, but I liked it. They also made an obvious point to leave out Hanson when they were getting all the fans to shout it out for the other bands. They mentioned every other band, and we could tell that some girl up front was definitely letting them know. Several songs later, Benji said "Hey Joel, we forgot Hanson!" It was obvious it was intentional, and it was kind of cute the way they did it.

Hanson played after Good Charlotte, and I think they chose a great setlist for their limited time. It was only about 30 min. and 7 songs (Waiting for This, And I Waited, A Minute Without You, Give a Little, Penny and Me, Thinkging 'Bout Somethin', and Lost Without Each Other are the ones I can remember). I have pretty much vowed not to let myself listen to the new music until the release date, so it was kind of neat getting to hear And I Waited and Give a Little in a live setting for the first time I heard them. I REALLY liked Give a Little, but I don't feel like I could hear And I Waited well enough to judge it yet. All in all it was good, and we stayed seated in the grass. I'd be willing to bet this will be the only time I ever sit down for an entire Hanson show, but it was a nice change from the usual chaos. My only complaint is I think they should make more of an attempt to connect with the audience. All of the other bands made more of an effort to talk to the audience and make little jokes. I guess Hanson chose to let the music speak for itself, but I feel like they would gain more fans if they would talk a little more.

After the set, a huge line formed and Hanson consented to sign autographs for their merchandise only, and no posed pictures were allowed. While the rules were strict, I've got to give them props for staying to sign for every last person in that long line. All Time Low came onstage as the autographs started, and they drew attention to us asking "WHO is back there signing autographs while we're up here!" and mentioned how long the line was. It seemed pretty lighthearted, though. They even said "I haven't met Hanson yet, but I love them already."

I didn't buy anything or get an autograph, but I waited in line with my friends and was going to take a picture for one that got an autograph. I did get the picture, but I also walked straight into a block of concrete and scraped my foot, just as my friend was walking away from Zac, giving him an unobstructed view of my clumsiness. Oh well, I was bound to make a fool out of myself in front of one of them sooner or later. My record of three years was just too long.

All Time Low was so-so. They talked a lot and did a pretty good job of pumping up the crowd, but they had too man curse words in their songs for my taste. Boys Like Girls was last, and by that time I had a bad headache, so I was kind of over it. They also got fans to cheer for each band, but they completely left Hanson out on purpose and didn't mention them again. It seemed like an intentional snub, not something playful. We left early so we didn't have to fight the crowd to get out though, so I don't know how the second half of their set was.

My trip home was horrible. My headache only got worse, and about 30 min. into the 3.5 hr drive, I started feeling really sick. I decided I must have gotten food poisoning from the McDonalds I ate earlier in the day. Ironically, some guy at the entrance to the show had us sign a petition against the chicken McDonalds uses and gave us some anti-McDonalds info, so it was a pretty good combination to make me want to quit McDonalds for a while.

Thinking 'Bout Somethin' video shoot 3/6/10

When Hanson announced that we were invited to watch them shoot the video for their first single from their upcoming album, I was excited. When I found out that first single is going to be "Thinking 'Bout Somethin," I got a little irrational and decided that maybe I could make the trip. So with about 2 weeks' notice, I made the best irresponsible decision I've ever made and bought a plane ticket to Tulsa (p.s. Priceline's Name Your Own Price is my new hero).

The experience was unforgettable and probably ranks as one of the most exciting things I've ever taken part in. I tried not to get my hopes up too much in case there wasn't enough time to get a shot with the fans in it as extras. I thought that maybe they would throw us in the back and tell us to move around like we were having fun, but we wouldn't really be a big part of the video. I couldn't have been more wrong.

We arrived around 7:30 AM, and at that point there might have been about 20 fans there. We watched as the hired dancers practiced a few runs through their dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIwBjX3wjjk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemC5qT07dg

Shortly after, they had those of us that were present (maybe 30ish?) get in a shot behind the hired dancers. They instructed the people in the front to do the twist, and the ones in the back to have their hands up. We just did that while the other dancers did their choreographed moves. We did a couple of takes, but no more than maybe 30 minutes and that part was done. At first I thought that was the only fan shot, and we would spend the rest of the day watching Hanson film. It didn't happen that way at all.

After more people arrived...and arrived...and arrived (a news article estimated around 500 fans), they asked EVERYONE to go out into the street and spread out. We started out just dancing on our own behind the official dancers (I stuck to the twist--seemed safe enough). Then they told us we were going to learn the "Hanson slide." It was so fast and we were all so confused in the beginning. I was worried that I was never going to learn it, but we did it so many times that we all ended up feeling like pros. At some point early on, Zac ran into the crowd and blended in somewhere in the middle/back and did the dance with us--while eating an apple. I don't know.

I have no idea how many times we must have done it, but it had to have been like 30 at least. We worked for 3-4 hours just doing the same dance sequence over and over and over. I'm sad to admit that I didn't even realize Hanson was dancing with us until it was all over. I was probably 1/3 of the way back in the crowd, but I'm so short and generally unobservant that I just didn't know. I assumed they were off to the side watching somewhere, but honestly we were all working so hard that there wasn't time to think about where Hanson was.

Around 1:30 we finished shooting the big crowd scene, and the guys thanked us for coming out and sang us the chorus acapella.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81cpqgA1UNk

We were a little confused as to whether they were dismissing us or sending us off on some kind of lunch break. My friends and I were unsure and didn't want to be in the way, so we took part in some general awesomeness with ourselves instead.

We did come back at the very end when we got word that fans were watching, but we walked up RIGHT as they finished. Fortunately, we did get to take a few pictures of the second shooting location where there was a big mural and a few props set up.

Update: The final product is out! I'm very happy with the end result.
(P.S. If the whole thing seems random to you, go pick up a copy of the Blues Brothers. It's an homage to a scene from the movie with Ray Charles. See Tay's Music Exchange? See what they did there? Brilliant.)

If you were skilled at Where's Waldo as a kid, you might spot me at 1:51 on the far left looking all awkward and twisting. I'm elsewhere at 2:52, but don't waste your time on that one. Oh, and check 0:56 for proof that you CAN rock out on a tambourine, but only if you're Weird Al.

"In it for the music"?

I’ve realized that every time we say we’re “only in it for the music,” we’re lying to ourselves. Ultimately, music brought me to where I am now; I travel hours upon hours not to see their pretty faces, but to hear the music; I purchase albums for the music; I’m inspired to play the piano by their music, but if we’re honest with ourselves (or maybe I shouldn’t lump us all together--if I’m honest with myself), meeting the guys multiple times, watching all of their entertaining videos, walking barefoot in countless cities—it’s more than music. When I was nine, there was only music. Hanson was at superstar status, I was at an age where they all seemed relatively old to me, and even the idea of seeing them in concert was beyond my wildest dreams. I had no access to the internet, no posters, no t-shirts, no embarrassing fan letters—just a walkman and a Middle of Nowhere cassette. I didn’t know a fan club existed, and I don’t recall ever gushing about Hanson to other fans. It’s an equation that led to me losing touch with Hanson’s music for almost ten years, but I was truly only in it for the music.

Today, I regularly see Hanson in concert, routinely log on to their website, and in general spend more time (and money) than I care to admit doing Hanson-related, but not specifically music-related things. People don’t look at pictures for the music. As entertaining as the FUTYs are, they don’t have anything to do with music. Tulsa is beautiful, but it’s related to Hanson as a family, not the music itself. I love this lifestyle, I really do, and I’m not suggesting that any of these things are bad or wrong. But I can’t help but wonder if there was something different, something that is now missing, in that original, simplistic feeling of just loving your favorite music and being satisfied in just that. Hanson is the only band I feel this strongly about, but Hanson is also the only band whose full names and birthdays I know, whose hometown I’ve visited (I couldn’t even tell you the hometown of ANY of my other favorite bands). I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything, but sometimes I just wonder how it would be if nothing mattered but the music.

Birmingham 10/26/09

This got long...so I'm making headings. You're welcome.

The Line
This was my last show of the tour, so it was bittersweet. Since there was a day between the Orlando and Birmingham shows and we had to be out of our hotel by 11 AM Sunday morning anyway, we decided to camp out for Birmingham. We arrived the night before the show, maybe around 9 PM? I honestly don't remember. There were only 3 girls there already, so we were numbers 4-7. Only two more people showed up to camp shortly after us, and no one else arrived until the morning. It was definitely the calmest line I've ever seen at a Hanson show. By around 5-6 PM, there were still only around 60 people in line, and no one was trying to skip. Someone who arrived around #60 asked for a number, and we hadn't number anyone past the 30s or 40s, so I had to go through and number everyone in between. I expected some people to decline, but everyone was really carefree, and even those who didn't actively WANT a number had a pretty "whatever" attitude and let me number them just to make the others happy. The line worked really well, and I can't speak for what happened beyond where I was in line after doors opened, but we had no trouble at all.

The Walk

The walk was at a really nice campus and the weather was great. I'm pretty laid back about the walks; I almost always end up in the very back, and it's not a goal of mine to initiate random conversations with the guys. So when everyone was gathering at an entrance they thought Hanson would come out of at the beginning of the walk, my friend and I chose go to sit on the fountain a good 30 ft. away. It seemed like a good idea because A) I could sit while waiting and B) I could stand on the fountain ledge to get good pictures of the crowd. What happened instead was the guys came out where the crowd had gathered and walked straight on past to the fountain and gave the speech about 2 feet away from us. Totally didn't see that coming! As the walk started, apparently Taylor found a professor and a class that was meeting outside, and proceeded to take the professor's shoes off for him. I'm not at all sure how this was initiated, all I know is I saw Taylor bending down in front of the man, then saw that his shoes were off once Taylor got up. Others around me confirmed that he had in fact removed the guy's shoes. The teacher and class then proceeded to get up and walk with us. Best class ever! Unfortunately, my friend started feeling bad partway through the walk, so we headed back to the starting point to wait rather than finishing what turned into an uphill walk. After the walk they came inside and performed Great Divide and Where's the Love acoustic. Some guys in the back yelled out "Play MMMBop!" and Hanson looked pretty annoyed. Taylor shot back with something like "Did you guys even take the walk? Walk a mile barefoot and THEN we'll do it," but then the guys responded yes, they had taken the walk, which I think threw Hanson a little bit and elicited a much less sure "Well, you'll have to come to the show tonight to see it."

The Crowd
The show had a pretty laid back crowd, too. We were front row in front of Isaac, and we knew the girls behind us so they left some space between the two rows so there was actually room to sit between sets and dance and just breathe in general. I even left my spot to use the bathroom one, something I've never tried before and may never get the luxury to try again. Unfortunately, there was a little drama when a guy tried to bring himself and a handful of girls with him up front. As soon as he made it to where I was, that weird part that Hanson seems to bring out in me came out and I stepped in front of him so he couldn't get through. Everyone around us ended up telling them to leave and yelling at them to the point that security got involved and finally supported us and made them leave, which was pretty awesome. I don't think security cared much but I honestly think they were a little afraid of the way we were reacting and what might happen if they were allowed to stay.

The Show
The show was really fun because our part of the crowd had great energy, and I was probably wilder than usual just because it was my last show. There was a girl with a professional camera in front of the barricade (NOT the hnet reporter, she was front and center behind the barricade), and I noticed her taking a few pictures of the crowd, so I'd love to see them if they ever surface. After Steel Train's set, I asked one of the guys for a setlist, but apparently they don't use them (which makes sense since they play the same set every night). Oh well. Though my part of the crowd was pretty into it, I don't think the crowd as a whole was very energetic and Hanson seemed a little less into crowd participation as well, but maybe that's me misinterpreting things. I should mention that the stage was the highest stage I have ever seen in my life, so that kind of limited the Hanson/crowd interaction, at least physically. It literally came above my head; I remember joking about how horrible it would be if there was crazy pushing because I would end up underneath the stage. Though I really didn't foresee any hand grabbing or coming down off stage because of its height, Taylor proved me wrong when he started leaning over the edge to grab hands. There was a slight step down onto some other big platform between the stage and the barricade that wasn't as long as the stage. I have no idea what it was, but it came up to about my chin and stopped maybe 6 inches to my right. When Taylor came to the end, he took my hand in what I thought was just a brief hand grab, but then he proceeded to use me as leverage to jump off of the big platform and onto the floor, where he ran back around to the side of the stage to get back in his place. It caught me completely off-guard and I let go of his hand sort of mid-jump because I didn't realize what he was doing (once again, trying not to be that weird fan that Taylor has to pry from his hand), so I'm glad he's capable of jumping a good five feet without falling on his own. The finale was awesome and so sad. They covered "Sweet Home Alabama," and Steel Train and Sherwood came out--I think this was the first all bands on stage moment of the tour (of course minus HGB, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), so that made it even more exciting. Though I've definitely heard the song multiple times and am familiar with it, I really don't know any of the lyrics besides the title. I overheard some girls saying Isaac had messed up the lyrics, but I really couldn't tell you. It sounded fine to me :) I think the camera guy came out to film it, and Taylor definitely had a camera phone out near the end, so I'm hoping they'll eventually post some footage--maybe a FUTY--but at this point, I don't see it happening.

It was a good show, and it took all of my responsibility and willpower to drive myself the 8 hrs back to school rather than the 2.5 hrs to Nashville where I knew Living on a Prayer was going to be played, but I sucked it up and headed back home. And so ends another epic tour. But in the words of Levar Burton--I'll see you next time! :)

Orlando 10/24/09

The drive to this show was a bit crazy not only because it was our 3rd show in 3 days, but we had to do an 8 hr drive on no sleep. I'm completely aware of how crazy this sounds, but I won't deny that it happened. Fortunately it helps to have 4 people who can switch off. We left Myrtle Beach around 1 AM, drove the 2 hrs to Charleston, showered at my dorm (and I packed), and hit the road again around 5 AM. We made it to Orlando with only minutes to spare, but we managed to make it to the walk. It was in the upper 80s and everyone was ridiculously hot and sweaty. The walk was on a college campus, so afterwards the guys did a TTW book signing and sang Great Divide and (I think?)Been there Before acoustically.

We were tired and not interested in wasting more money on PTL, so we went back to the hotel to relax for a while. We freshened up and lazed around, and I personally passed out for a good 20 min. nap unintentionally. We finally left to get in line about an hour before doors, and I stopped and got a peperoni pizza pretzel in downtown disney beforehand. Let me just say--YUCK! The HOB ended up letting people with walk stamps get in the PTL line, just like what happened in Chicago. I think it's a really nice way of rewarding the people who took the effort to go out of the way to get to the walk, and to discourage those who choose to stay behind at the venue out of fear of losing their spots.

We opted to stand on some stairs rather than go for 4th-5th row so we could see over heads (I'm 5'2"--it's either the front or the back for me). I kept migrating within our little 5 ft radius trying to find the best view, and I ended up losing it to a really tall girl, but that was my own fault for being so decisive, and my view was good for the most part. It was a little annoying having so many people wanting in and out of the crowd constantly, so I had to keep moving and pressing myself up against the people around me to let them out. Some drunk guy came back at one point and started to fall next to me, so I had to grab his arm and yank him back up so he wouldn't just camp out on my feet, and in his condition, I think that would have been his final destination if we hadn't intervened.

The show was good; Hellogoodbye got more energy out of the crowd than at any other show I saw. Once again the only song I had never heard live was the Isaac solo. He played Everyday and dedicated it to Nikki, who was apparently watching from the window upstairs. He said something along the lines of "this one is for a very special lady; she knows who she is" and then pointed at his wedding band and looked up at the window with this huge grin. So cute! Like I said, Isaac is holding strong this tour. I had actually never heard this song period, and I thought it was really beautiful. You could tell he really had his heart in it since Nikki was there.

We really wanted to get a good spot by the bus, so we decided to see what the encore was and then leave if it was something we had already heard. It turned out to be If Only, so we stayed long enough to get one good set of jumps in, and then ran back to the car to get cameras and stuff to get autographed (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie for me). NEVER again will I do this. I wouldn't say we missed something completely epic, but apparently during the break in the middle of If Only, they threw in the entire song Something Going Round! I would have loved to have witnessed that, and it kills me that I was sitting outside doing nothing while this happened like 10 feet away. Oh well, this is how you learn lessons I guess. They ended up not coming out at all, which is what further teaches me not to skip out early--it might not be worth it. We did end up meeting a really nice girl who had just rediscovered Hanson and was really excited about the show, so I had fun talking to her and remembering all those same feelings just two years ago.

The day ended with us falling into bed, which was an AWESOME feeling after the lack of sleep from the last few days. Just to put things into perspective...After Charlotte, I drove back to school and slept for about 5 hrs, and after Myrtle Beach, we had no sleep at all, so this was my first significant amount of sleep in about 3 days, and it was glorious.

Myrtle Beach 10/23/09

I was really excited for this show because it was in my hometown and two of my less crazy friends came (one who is a mild Hanson fan, and one who I think was there purely out of interest of watching me to see how I act at a Hanson show). Since I already missed 2 M/W/F days of school for Hanson, I decided to do the responsible thing and go to my classes in Charleston that day before the show. I got out of class at 1, so there was no way I could have made the walk. I'm really disappointed, though, because the walk ended up being at Coastal Carolina University; a TON of my friends from high school go there, and it's located in Conway, which is REALLY my hometown. And how many times will Hanson be in Conway in the future? Probably zero. I was also the only person to receive flyers for the MB show, and I put a TON of them up at CCU, so at least I helped promote even though I wasn't there.

Since I went to school and we didn't want to shell out money for PTL or CTB, Rachel and I arrived around time for doors and ate in the HOB restaurant to wait for the line to go in. I'm not used to intentionally planning to be in the back at a show, but it was pretty fun and much less stressful (though nothing beats front row). My friends and I ended up in the very back bar, but the view was still pretty good, and HGB, Steel Train, and Sherwood all ended up coming out and having a massive dance party back there as soon as Hanson started playing Oh Darling, and it lasted for the rest of the show. I even joined in during Lost Without Each Other, at which point I don't know what my lesser eccentric friends were thinking, but I probably don't want to know and honestly don't really care. They already knew I was crazy; they just hadn't properly witnessed the side effects.

The show was great; I had a lot of fun dancing in the back with my friends. I also got to hear Isaac sing Being Me, a song that I had only heard 2 or 3 times period, and never live. I really enjoyed it, and if I haven't already said it, Isaac was just ON this tour. He was always grinning and really into whatever he was doing at every show I was at. The guy's obviously got something good going on in his life, and it shows.

After the show, we went out by the buses and my friend Holly and I attempted to get "Holly sandwich" pictures with the guys. We managed to get one with Zac and one with Taylor, but we never saw Isaac (though I hear he came out at the last minute while we were off throwing cupcakes--but that's a story for later).





Aside from the awkward sandwich banter, Zac was really talkative that night. He stuck around and talked to my friends for a couple of minutes. He talked to us about what shows we were going to and seemed specifically interested in how many more Rachel was doing. He asked where I was from, which was kind of ironic since we happened to be in my hometown at the time. Rachel also asked him about when the Cali members event would be, and he told us that it would be on Nov. 6th and that more info was going to be posted the next day. My friend Laura also called him "sir" and he shot back with something about how he can't be referred to as "sir" until he has a half-grown child lol.

After we got our pictures, we went back to my car to dive into some chocolate cupcakes I had made for Laura's birthday. We took some really awesome pictures (okay, LAURA took some really awesome pictures), and we "caked" her with a cupcake in honor of all of the caking we had seen over the past two days (I forgot to mention that the show ended with Will caking himself). It was a great show, but it was one of those that I'll probably remember more for my friends than for Hanson themselves, which is one of the reasons I love this band so much--they've inadvertently introduced me to some awesome people.

Charlotte 10/22/09

I was really excited for this show because I had never seen a birthday show before and most of my friends were traveling to see the show as well. My 3 friends that I traveled with to the event in DC camped out starting Monday morning, and I joined them Tuesday afternoon around 6. Oddly enough, I still managed to be #4 because no one arrived in between us, which was nice. I know it's completely crazy and I have never camped out for that long before (2 days, the show was Thursday), but it was fun and well worth it for front row on Zac's birthday. It was definitely interesting to say the least. Let's just say there was a schizophrenic guy who gave us God's phone number and kept proposing to my friend, in addition to an anonymous perv in a car who tried to put on a little show for us, which ended in us calling the cops and giving them the car and license plate info.

The cheap hotel I booked for showering purposes also proved to be an interesting experience. Around 8 of us split it and went in shifts to shower, but none of us actually slept there or used anything other than the bathroom. I hit a traffic snag on the way to check out, and was afraid I was going to miss the 11 AM deadline, so I called the hotel while I waited to let them know I was on the way and did not want to be charged for an extra day. We ended up getting there with a few minutes to spare, but when we got there our room door was open and all of my stuff was gone. A very tense argument with some workers who weren't 100% fluent in English ensued since our room had been cleaned BEFORE checkout time and I was being yelled out for returning to my own room that was in MY name. We finally worked out the misunderstanding; my friends were allowed to use the bathroom, and I was given my things back. Fail, Days Inn, fail!

I was a little surprised in the lack of early campers, but it worked out because all of my friends who couldn't come until late the night before still got second row right behind me. The night before the show, there were still only around 20 people in line. The walk was probably my favorite that I've been on. The weather was great, the campus at UNCC was beautiful (and not too painful), there was a really good turnout, and everyone was in a great mood. I ended up getting some really good pictures with my new camera, too (which I also found out on the walk is the same camera Zac got for his birthday).

The line got a little dramatic towards the end with a group of girls lingering next to the line about 40 people back, refusing to get back in their spots further back in the line. There was also a couple who said they had won a pass to see the soundcheck but had missed it (which I totally believe), but they then decided to just hang around the front of the line to compensate their loss. They finally left after being yelled at by everyone in line and being spoken to privately by a bouncer.

The show was great, though admittedly not as wonderful as I thought a birthday show would be. The lighting was really crappy, and the sound was off enough that if I hadn't known all the words to the songs, I wouldn't have known what was going on. I ended up front row directly in front of Isaac, though, which made for a great view. At the end of the acoustic set, I noticed a toy truck zooming around on stage, and I'm pretty sure most people couldn't see it, but it didn't last long.

Don't Stop Believing was pretty epic, as always, and moreso from front row on Zac's birthday. He ended it with a lengthier, awkward crotch grab, which I'm sure someone caught on video since there were cameras everywhere. The caking was a little less exciting because only one measly bit was thrown towards the crowd, but a small piece did manage to hit my friend who was standing next to me in the eye, and there was a good chunk next to me on the floor when we left. Overall it was good, but I think the crappiness of the venue killed it a little bit for me.

*More pictures can be found in my photobucket, linked on the right-hand side of my blog.

DC Fan Club Event

I don't have a whole lot to say for this one since it was a short show and nobody really waited in line for an extended period of time. It was a good time, but I would be tempted to say it wasn't really worth the drive if they hadn't pulled out Devil's Nachos for the first time. I drove to Charlotte to meet up with 3 friends and we all rode together from there. We drove there and back in the same day, which was really intense and left me sprinting back to class on no sleep with no shower just like Chicago. It's becoming a bad habit, really. I was a little terrified to drive in DC, but it really wasn't that bad, thankfully. And we found valet parking for $5 attached to the hotel, so that was pretty perfect.

The show itself was good, but the setup was horrible. There were lots of rows of chairs, but not nearly enough for everyone. I totally called that the people who arrived last would get to sit on the floor up front, and I was right. I'm not at all angry with those people--they got pretty lucky! And I had some friends up there. However, it caused some definite tension in the crowd and people were getting kind of riled up over having waited in line for a while only to have people who didn't wait at all get to sit a foot in front of Hanson. Some people got out of their seats and sat on the floor, but I didn't see any point in adding to the tension. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the chairs weren't arranged in a way so that NO ONE but the people in the front or on the very end of an aisle could see. I had to just trust that Isaac was there because I didn't see him at all until the group photos.

The performance was great, though I feel like Taylor was still battling the tail end of the flu. He sounded fine to me but he looked a bit strained to hit higher notes at one point. I was a little disappointed in the setlist because I expected them to pull out some rarer things, but the only song I hadn't heard was Devil's Nachos. As a HUGE fan of that song, though, I was completely ecstatic not only to be hearing it live, but to be hearing it as it was played live for the first time ever. Zac introduced it by saying we were welcome to sing along as we were now officially allowed to know that it existed. It was definitely the highlight of the night. I'm not going to lie, though, I feel like Follow Your Lead could have stayed home. Another highlight was Kiss Me When You Come Home. I heard it back in may, but it was neat to hear it again having heard it only that one time. There's something different about hearing new music live that you don't know the words to, and it's not a feeling you get to experience often.

I was a little disappointed in the Q&A session as well;I don't remember what all was asked, but several questions were variations of things that have definitely been asked and answered before. One girl asked if Been there Before had an Otis Redding and Johnny Cash reference. Beyond the fact that I feel like this is common knowledge and not worth using up one of the few questions we were allowed, the girl framed the question by pretty much saying "I already asked this on a walk and I think you said yes, but I wanted to make sure...." Fail. I'm hesitant to call out this person on the grounds that I should feel bad, but no, I think it was selfish to use up a question that you already asked just to draw attention to yourself for a second time. Someone asked what they were dressing as for Halloween, but they said they hadn't really thought about it. They ended up saying they were going to dress as Hellogoodbye, but I don't know how serious they were about that. Someone else asked where they were during Sept. 11th (appropriate since we were in DC near the pentagon), and they said they were in LA working on Underneath. Isaac gave a pretty eloquent answer off the top of his head; I was impressed.

Another girl prefaced a question by saying she had done research on it, but then proceeded to fail by stating that she thought they lived in New York. She basically asked why Hanson didn't step it up and work with governors (or senators? sorry, don't even remember--some type of representative) more in taking action. It received a few boos, but I feel like the guys did a great job answering and explaining that more can be done by appealing to the masses, and that they have in fact spoken with the people she suggested. I'm hardcore failing to explain their answer, but they did a fantastic job defending themselves and supporting their position.

The group pictures were pretty large, probably 15-20 people in each as usual. My friends and I were in one of the later ones, which is something I haven't experienced in the past being in the first and second group photos at the other two events I've been to. I'm not sure why, but I walked up to Taylor and told him I was short so I needed to be down front, so he moved me to the center of the bottom row next to Isaac. I don't really recall him moving other people around, so I don't know why it seemed reasonable at the time to tell him where I needed to go in the picture. Afterwards, I went to shake his hand but someone else started talking to him at the same time, so he got really distracted and more or less ended up awkwardly holding my hand for a few seconds without shaking it. Two of my friends went up to Zac and hugged him and said "See you in Charlotte!" so I decided to jump on that bandwagon, but for some reason I half apologized while doing it. I'm pretty sure I said "Sorry, I'm going to do it too," (really? Is it ever appropriate to say that when you hug someone?) then hugged him and said "See you in Charlotte!" He said I was succumbing to peer pressure and he understood. I had never hugged any of them and felt pretty awkward about it; I don't think I'll be asking for a hug from one of them again; in the future I'll just let it just happen if such a situation ever comes up, and if not, no more hugs. But Taylor did jokingly say Zac was going to hug every person at the event, and I did see him giving a LOT of hugs, so I'll just assume it was okay. I tried to get back to Isaac to shake his hand and tell him I enjoyed the show, but got herded out on the way and didn't get to greet him.

All in all it was a good show that could have been a little better, but I'm glad I went and I can't wait to see the group picture.

*This is proof as to why I should never begin a post with "I don't have much to say..." I will ultimately prove myself wrong.
I love this picture simply because I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was being an Isaac twin at the time.

Chicago 10/11-10/12/09

This trip is probably the craziest thing I've ever attempted. These shows fell on my fall break and I had a lot of friends going, so it only seemed right to tag along. It gets complicated, though, because I'm from South Carolina and it's a LONG drive to Chicago. I drove 6 hrs to Knoxville to meet up with some friends to carpool. We left Sat. night to pick up another friend in the St. Louis area, which was about 7 hrs from Knoxville. From St. Louis, it was another 5 hrs to Chicago. After driving through the night and taking a bit longer than anticipated, we decided we desperately needed a shower but were not going to make it to Chicago in time to do it at our hotel. Instead, we experienced our first truck stop showers at a Love's on the way. It was $9 and they provided towels. All in all, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I always pictured a sort of high school gym shower setup for truckstops, but no, there are individual shower rooms with showers, toilets, mirrors, and sinks inside--very private. I can't say the idea of drying off with a towel that has been used by truckers was exactly appealing, but hey, you do what you have to do.

 We somehow managed to arrive in Chicago right at 10 min. before the walk, which was pretty much a miracle. I stuck around the back of the walk because that's just what I do, and though I rarely see a Hanson on the walks, for some reason Taylor was overly watchful this time. We kept catching all the red lights at the back, so Taylor kept running back to stop traffic with his megaphone, then sprinting back up closer to the front. No lie, he did it like 6 times. I felt like I had a personal trainer egging me on! It was nice in theory, but he kept standing in the way of oncoming traffic to "help" us cross the road in situations where we were really fine. I don't really know how to describe exactly what he was doing without a picture, so maybe this will help. Just notice us all safely herded in the crosswalk while Taylor haphazardly stands with his back to oncoming traffic.
At this point when I passed him, I called out "You know you're in more danger than we are right now, don't you?" And he responded through the megaphone "Yeah, I am....but I'm the loudest." Thankfully no traffic decided to challenge his lame claim to safety due to a measly megaphone.

My friends and I didn't really bother to get a good spot in line and just headed over a little before doors. We ended up with a pretty good spot where we could all stand together and see. I've got to say, writing this in retrospect after having seen 7 shows on this tour, I think the first Chicago show was the best. Maybe it was just being with a lot of high energy friends, but it was amazing. I heard A Song to Sing for the first time which was really exciting, and I don't even know how to describe how I felt when the guys from Cheap Trick came out and Hanson covered I Want You to Want me. Hands down best concert surprise ever! I think that's the only time I have ever let out an involuntary scream.

The next day most of my friends and I walked to the walk, which was 2 miles away at a college campus. It was actually pretty fun with about 8 of us walking around seeing the city, and it really wasn't as cold as I expected. The walk was good, though it didn't seem like a lot of the students on campus were interested. I did get to explain what we were doing to 2 or 3 people though, so it was good that people were voicing their curiosity at least. As we left the walk we took the best jumping picture ever; I'm still pretty excited about it (I'm in the pink).We decided to get in line immediately when we got back (after a group trip to a 7-11 for some Chicago style hotdogs), and though the walk stamps didn't seem to mean anything the day before, they actually let people with walk stamps into the pass the line line. They seem to really appreciate the effort people put into going to walks that aren't at the venue rather than sitting at the venue to save a spot in line, and we were rewarded for it. Most of us ended up with the same spot we were in the night before, which was exactly what we wanted, though a couple decided to brave 2ndish row. It was a lot of fun, and though it was probably my 14th time or so hearing MMMBop, it was the best time because we all danced and had a blast, and we made a five person "too much rock for one hand" symbol at the end. I don't think Hanson saw it, but it was a great idea nonetheless. I was a little surprised that the setlist was a little less amazing than the night before, but I had an awesome time anyway. There's something really special about seeing a show with good friends who enjoy the music in the same way you do.

The drive home was absolutely insane. We left around 5-6 AM, but we dawdled a lot. One of the things that slowed us down was a trip into Metropolis, IL. As a HUGE Smallville fan, I felt like an idiot to discover that Metropolis is, in fact, a REAL city. I had no idea. Of course we stopped to take pictures with the huge superman, and had a little Hanson nerdery (think "that's supa!") while we were there too.

Somehow we didn't end up in Knoxville until 2 AM the next morning, where I crashed and slept until 4 AM at a friend's house (thank you, friend! Seriously, I think you saved my life), then dragged myself back to my car for the 6 more hrs back to school. I parked my car at 10:45, which was lovely since I had a class at 11. I literally ran from my parking garage to my room to grab my books and then ran to class just in time. I hadn't slept or showered in over a day, but I made it. Sometimes you just need a little crazy in your life, and I definitely got my fair share this fall break.