Hanson Day 2021

I don’t know about you guys, but I was really impressed with all of the digital content that Hanson created for Hanson Day 2021. Hanson.net members got exclusive live streams every day for a full week, and much like “real” Hanson Day, there were so many side events going on that I could barely keep up. It was a nice compromise for all of the fans that normally would have traveled to Tulsa for the event and couldn’t come this year, but it also felt pretty groundbreaking for an even larger number of fans who have never been able to visit Oklahoma to finally be able to celebrate from home. I’m anxiously awaiting the day I show up to a packed Cain’s and an overly-full in-person HDay schedule, but I also hope that this year’s forced virtual ingenuity will carry over to a more inclusive Hanson Day for all hnet members in the future. If you haven't seen all of the content, it is still available to view at the link above, and trust me, the TTA Acoustic show alone is worth this year's membership fee if you haven't joined yet.

TTA Acoustic Concert

I want to start by sharing that I completely missed the original TTA era as a fan. I didn't hear this album at all until 2006, and by then, the record scratches and the late 90s/early 2000s sounding bells and whistles sounded dated and borderline cheesy to adult me. Getting to hear TTA acoustically removed all of those things and allowed me to appreciate the foundation of music that has always been under those added layers. I’m grateful that I got to hear the songs in this stripped down format, and I can honestly say that I appreciate TTA more now.

Spoiler: this is my second attempt at writing this review. I name dropped so many songs in a row in my first try that it was starting to get confusing. Every time I tried to label a song as a “highlight for me,” I’d remember another and then another. They piled on top of each other and vied for rankings. Instead, I’m going to give you a list of my favorite TTA moments, with the added disclaimer that seriously every last song was great.

1. Runaway Run. I thought this song peaked for me when I heard it stripped down as a Taylor solo, but then they had to go and play it full band with a slowed down tempo that turned it into a ballad. It was absolutely phenomenal, and dare I say, a total “game changer.” Excuse me while I further spiral into a heap of Masked Singer judge praises like “AMAZING!!” and “End game material!!” while gushing about my goosebumps, but I mean every single one of them.

2. In The City. Even without the electric guitars, I couldn’t not jump to this one. This song was acoustic rock, pure and simple. It was so fun getting to hear it this way, even if I do still love the electric version best.

3. Hand In Hand. They reworked the intro, and it really, really works. I might even like it more than the original, but I'm not making that claim on one listen. I had to laugh watching the stream afterwards because you can totally see me and my friend in the background scrambling to switch our light up masks to green in support of the magic happening on stage.

4. If Only. It’s better in its original state, but it sounded like a completely different song with an acoustic guitar replacing the harmonica parts. Unlike “In The City,” jumping didn’t feel quite right here, but it was really fun getting to hear it in a new way.

5. The encores. The show might have been short at just 15 songs, but it already felt perfect before they added two TTA era B-sides, “Lonely Again,” and “Smile.” It was a great way to end an already killer set.

6. The songs I was looking forward to before the trip: “Sure About It,” “Dying To Be Alive,” “Wish That I Was There.” With live shows, sometimes the songs you walk away loving the most aren’t the ones that you showed up to see; they’re the ones that sneak up on you and demand your attention, the ones that you don’t think twice about until their undeniable greatness is hitting you in the face. I showed up ready to swoon over “Sure About It” and “Wish That I Was There,” but I left completely blown away by “Run Away Run,” “In The City,” and “Hand In Hand.” Thank you, Hanson, for blowing up my expectations in the best way.

7. Can’t Stop. This one is probably the biggest culprit for the cringey bells and whistles I was talking about before. It’s always better live, but they got rid of the “tick tock, tick tock” for the first time. It might have sounded less cheesy that way, but it felt like something was missing.

In conclusion, TTA acoustic was the album I never knew I needed to hear. I did need to hear it. In fact, I kind of need to hear it again, preferably as a live album release from this exact show as soon as possible. Please?

Hanson Day Concert

I have a lot less to say about this one, but I’ve already written enough for a full post on TTA alone, so I’m giving myself a pass. The HDay show was not groundbreaking or full of new arrangements. It didn’t make me gasp or stand in awe or feel the need to give you a song-by-song breakdown like I did above. It did, however, make me cry, dance, sing, and hug my friends. It was the perfect upbeat counterpart to a mellow first show, and unpopular as the opinion may be, I am always happiest to hear jump-worthy singles over rare ballads. I’ll forgive Taylor for making me sob during WYIYD, but only because he immediately went into a super random country version after it ended, and then Zac ran with it in what I can only describe as the worst country rendition of WYIYD I could ever imagine. I can count on these guys to make me cry once in a while, but I can also count on them to put the smile right back on my face again, so thanks for that little bit of nonsense that broke up my pity party. I will say that for all the effort I was putting into ignoring WYIYD while it was happening, I can't deny that it was gorgeous and that I was not the only person affected.

It was fun getting to hear all the new songs from Crossroads, and the live setting helped me to appreciate “Muscle Shoals” more. I still stand by “Come Over” as my favorite of the bunch so far, even if I’m not 100% sure what it means yet (I’m developing a theory, but I’ll save that for a future post). I don't think Hanson prompted us to clap and fans don't always collectively have the best rhythm, but somehow we all got on board with a double clap and it just worked. I'm considering this song move canon from here on out like the Where's The Love arm spin. I don't know who pioneered it; I just know it's right.

They wrapped things up with a short acapella chorus of "Man in the Mirror" and even had five little Russian Doll figurines lined up on the piano as a cute nod to their time on The Masked Singer. I hope this won't be the last we ever hear of those covers, but I get that they would have to learn to play the full songs in addition to the abbreviated vocal parts they learned for the TV show.

Hop Jam Iron Man

We might not have had Hop Jam this time, but the Iron Man triathlon ending right outside of our hotel filled in some of the missing festival and "how are we supposed to drive anywhere with all the streets shut down?" vibes that I'm used to.

I am the least sporty person you can imagine and know nothing whatsoever about triathlons and races, but it was fascinating to be able to see people come from all over to compete. We stood near the finish line and cheered people on, and it was amazing getting to see these people who had trained incredibly hard accomplish something that meant so much to them. I even teared up the first time I saw one man round the corner towards the finish line, and his family spotted him and took off running alongside him just outside of the barricade, all the way to the end. The love and support was so obvious on their faces, and it felt like witnessing an intimate moment even though we were in a crowd. It reminded me that we might not all have the same goals and accomplishments—his finish line with his family is my front row with my friends—but it’s a powerful feeling to be surrounded by people that care about you while doing the thing you love.

On a much lighter note, spending the night next to an Iron Man event also meant that we couldn't leave to get food, and it took three failed orders and a solid two hours to successfully retrieve a Doordash order. I had to meet our dasher two blocks away and fend off a group of teenage boys in the elevator who saw the giant Chipotle bag and thought I was delivering it to them. I guarded our hard-earned burritos and wished them luck in their own food journey. Note to future self or anyone in the same city as Iron Man: stockpile food.

And We Keep Coming Back

It might not have felt like a “real” Hanson Day, but it sure beats last year’s “I didn’t go to Hanson Day 2020” theme. It’s a sign that things are looking up, and while I’m having to adjust my comfort zone and relearn how to be in larger groups of people even with my own big group of friends, I’m excited at the prospect and happy to be in a time and place where that seems possible in the near future. I’ve had a fun run in my light-up mask, but I can’t wait to see the light on everyone’s faces again soon.

So You've Just Found Out That The Russian Dolls Were Hanson...Now What?

If you've been watching The Masked Singer season five, then you now know what many of us have known since that very first delicious note in the season preview of "Shallow": The Russian Doll mask has been hiding the members of Hanson. Now that the secret is out, this is a post for those who didn't know all along. This is for anyone whose mind is blown, who had no idea Hanson was still making music, and who may be suddenly having an identity crisis over how they could have left Hanson behind in the 90s when they are clearly still SO GOOD. Maybe you never heard of them before the show and are now searching the internet for answers.You can relax, because I am here for you. 

Here's what you need to know:

1. Hanson has consistently been a band since 1992 and had their first big hit in 1997. They write all of their own music and play their own instruments, and any long-time fan will argue against labeling them as a "boyband." There have been years between albums and tours at times, but they have never broken up or stopped making music.

2. They went independent and formed their own record label in 2003 after their original label, Mercury Records, became Island Def Jam and didn't leave Hanson a lot of control over the type of music they wanted to make. Rather than continue to clash with their label while giving up full creative control, they broke free and created 3CG Records. Their first indie record, "Underneath," went on to debut at number one on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. If their journey from giant commercial success to underdog indie band intrigues you, the whole thing was captured in a documentary called "Strong Enough to Break," which you can watch for free in 13 episodes on Youtube or purchase in full on DVD here.

3. They have released six studio albums, gone on ~16 different tours, and released dozens more EPs, Christmas albums, and compilations. Every year since 2003, their fan club members get an EP with roughly five exclusive tracks. They have a double album called String Theory consisting of songs backed by an orchestra. Taylor even had a side project as lead singer in a band with Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins, and the late Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. There is an incredible wealth of music to catch up on if you are just now learning about them and want to dig deeper than singles. (Trust me, you want to dig deeper than singles.)

4. Their fan base is pretty intense and is full of dedicated fans that travel to multiple shows per tour like modern day Deadheads. Many have been fans for over 20 years since MMMBop came out in 1997, but plenty have joined more recently. We're all over the globe and are a fairly diverse group full of unique personalities and interests outside of loving Hanson. Dive in and find your people. We're out there somewhere, both in line and online.

5. They have an active fan club. For roughly $40/year, you get: a member's only EP with exclusive music, access to a streaming platform of the entire Hanson music catalog, exclusive videos and podcasts dating back to 2003, access to forums, occasional livestreams, free entry to members only events, and the opportunity to win M&Gs or gain early entry into shows. The media library is exhaustively full of behind the scenes footage that is a mix of making-of videos, live performance recordings, and even a collection called "Hanson Does Stupid Stuff On Video" just in case you need to watch Hanson learn to ride a Segway or hold a koala in Australia in between those killer harmonies.

I'd personally join every year for the EP alone because the idea of not having access to some of their best work doesn't sit well with me, but there are certainly other reasons to join if the EP isn't enough to sell you. If you want a sneak peak of fan club music without the $40 price tag, check out Perennial, which is a compilation of 21 past fan club songs released publicly in late 2020. 

6. If you loved their covers on TMS, buckle up, because there's more where that came from. Here are a few of their best cover performances that you didn't get to hear on the show, mask-free:

Chain of Fools
Too Much Heaven
Oh! Darling
Cecilia
A Song For You
Change In My Life
Rip It Up
I Believe In A Thing Called Love

And an honorable mention for Taylor's cover of "Love Me" by Elvis, which is absolutely gorgeous and served zero justice by all of the noisy youtube videos I found. (Welcome to the moment of realization that I miss concerts, but not concert talkers!)

They also have a five song EP called Roots & Rock 'N' Roll with studio versions of several great covers.

7. There were some mega-obscure clues on the show, even for dedicated fans. The New Jersey sign from episode one was in reference to Hanson's first public appearance after MMMBop, which took place at Paramus Park Mall in NJ. Nobody anticipated the mass turnout that would happen and Hanson basically had to evacuate due to way too many screaming girls and not nearly enough security or space to hold them all. Lots of people thought the health-scare clues referred to Zac's motorcycle accident in 2019, but his injuries weren't life-threatening and I personally think they were referring to Isaac's pulmonary embolism that happened during a show in 2007.

Nicole Scherzinger was right about the "What goes around comes around" shirt referring to their first pre-fame album called Boomerang, but I call BS on her knowing that all on her own when only a few hundred copies even exist (but hey, maybe she's a closet megafan?) "The seal of approval from the King herself" = Hanson co-wrote a song with the legendary Carole King. Cluedle Doo practically gave it all away when he pointed out the significance in the spelling of "MisfITZ toys." ITZ = Isaac, Taylor, and Zac, and old school fans could identify which brother was in which doll the entire time thanks to plenty of Teen Beat style Q&A articles and those trusty green, red, and blue microphones color coordinated to each brother's favorite color circa 1997 (Green = Isaac, Red = Taylor, Blue = Zac).

But my personal favorite--the most clever, hit you in the face it's so easy I didn't even get it at first--were the three mugs that said "Eat," "Pray," and "?" begging the only logical question: Where's the Love? 

8. And finally, you're just in time to jump on this bandwagon with the release of their brand new single "Annalie," available now.  It's the first of seven singles from their latest collection called Against The World. Keep an eye out for a new single + music video every month through November. You can also attend an accompanying "tour" consisting of eight shows live streamed from Cain's Ballroom in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are limited in-person seats to each show as well as streaming options, and each show is a different theme based on a previous albums plus Against The World. Click here for all the details!

And The Winner Is...: Listener's Choice

Confession #1: I don't like setlist voting. This is probably old news if you know me personally or have kept up with this blog, but I feel like it's an admission that needs to happen before I can talk openly about a series of shows with a "Listener's Choice" theme.

Confession #2: The "Listener's Choice" setlists were my favorite of all four themes (if we can look past my wildly festive love for all things Christmas). I know, I know, this feels kind of incongruous with confession #1. In my defense, all of my favorite parts of these shows were the surprise songs HANSON threw in, not necessarily the songs fans voted on, so I still stick by my dislike of voting in general. However, if voting on half of the setlist is how we motivate Hanson into one-upping our votes with killer picks of their own, sign me up. Direct me to voter registration. Send me the campaign materials and the unsolicited texts and consider me a supporter of this party. 

The energy at these shows was high from the beginning I think partly because the setlists were amazing and partly because they were the last shows for the foreseeable future. The first night, people lost it at "Georgia." People lost it again at "Save Me." But the moment we collectively lost it and COULD. NOT. GET. IT. BACK?

"Kind of a Girl."

First off, as someone who hates setlist voting mostly due to ruining the element of surprise, consider me surprised. Delighted. Fired up. Dead, buried, and brought back to life because this random left-field performance was THAT GOOD. Everything about it was tight--the drums, Isaac's guitar solo, and Taylor seemed very much in his element throughout the song.

While I never had the pleasure of seeing it performed by the original band, I'd say Hanson's "cover" did it justice and I was thrilled to see it played at all three shows. I fully regret not taking the one opportunity I had to see Tinted Windows live, and it makes me sad to think that the talented group behind this song has suffered the loss of one of their own. I'm glad Taylor chose to play it, and I think it was a nice way to honor his bandmate and friend.

At the first two shows, "Kind of a Girl" was followed by "Voice in the Chorus." This one seems to be under the radar of most fans and feels all but forgotten by even the band, but I like it. Everything about this song screams SIO tour to me. Maybe my appreciation for it is biased and based more on memories than music, but "Voice in the Chorus" works for me the way a certain scent might bright you back to a specific place or moment. Hearing it live puts me right back into a crammed front row of some hole in the wall venue with Isaac headbanging and that one piece of otherwise perfectly styled hair that would fly free while the whole room is losing it because there is so much energy on stage. It's definitely one of those songs that thrived in a specific moment of time, and I think maybe that time is over unless Hanson chooses to revive it, but even then it wouldn't be the same. It's still nice to hear it once in a while and remember how fun it can be.

I thought that nothing could top "Kind of a Girl," but then the second show made a "Kind of a Girl" sandwich on "Troublemaker" and "Don't Stop Believing" bread with a side of "Stories" and then "Dream Girl" for dessert. You can stop reading right here and just imagine mindblown emojis for the rest of the post, if you want.

So let's talk about "Troublemaker." Back in 2011, Hanson did a proper recorded version of it for Billboard's Mashup Mondays. You can add Weezer to the list of bands I loved before I rediscovered Hanson, so I was excited for this cover and remember watching that video over and over. About a month later I got to see it performed live at the Boston HOB and I remember being ecstatic and thinking "YES! Now it's going to be a tour staple at the rest of the shows and I'll get to hear it more!" Naturally, they never played it again. Fast forward almost 10 years, and they finally broke it out of the vault only for the 2nd show of the Listener's Choice series. It was kind of great getting to hear Taylor sing the line "Having seven kids" now that it's true, and I'm not even sad that he didn't get all the lyrics right because he practically had a novel in 20pt font taped to the floor, and I sure didn't know all the ones I used to know either. It was still an epic surprise and one I really did not mind being front row for. I won't drag you down "Don't Stop Believing" memory lane too, but it's a great crowd song that lets Zac roam the stage, and it made an already great setlist combination even better.

The final show had a similar setlist to the first two with the added bonus of "Sunny Day" at the end, though I was a little too distracted to fully enjoy it watching security try to contain a very happy drunk girl to her increasingly distant table as well as some guy who wandered up to sip his beer and head nod front row Isaac. This definitely fell into the category of "not my table, not my problem," but it was just close enough that I couldn't entirely ignore it, either.  Predictably, my favorite part of the third show was "Thinking Bout Something" because luck dealt my friends and I three side by side tables in the center, and it felt like a giant line dance going on. Over the years it seems like less and less people participate in the dance, but after hearing TBS six times over the course of these streaming shows, it feels like it's making a little comeback. Feel free to join us next time! The best part is laughing when you trip over your own feet, or in some cases, your friend's.

One of my favorite parts of writing these reviews is often retelling the random outtakes that happen along the way, but there's really not much to tell when the only places I went were Cain's and my hotel room. The most exciting thing I did outside of the shows this time was spend more money on Cheesecake Factory delivery than the hotel, and that awkward moment I got literally stuck in an elevator because my backpack strap got caught on the handrail. One moment I was walking out behind my friends, and the next they turned around and I had disappeared to ride back down to the first floor while crying laughing. At least one of the three stayed behind to free me. You're the real MVP. 😂

It's hard to believe this series of livestreamed shows has come to an end, but here we are in January 2021 with one heck of a year behind us and still plenty of obstacles to get through before we can enjoy "real" concerts again. While I know there was a certain amount of risk involved in choosing to go to any of these shows, I am confident in my own safety precautions, and I am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to be in the room with these songs, these musicians, and a few of my friends. Even in the months between when I was stuck at home, planning table decorations, having mild panic attacks about buying tickets, talking about the best (and occasionally worst) parts of the shows, and just generally having something to be excited about again lifted my spirits in a way I don't think anything else could have.

Thank you to Hanson, to Cain's, and to the fans who made this experience not only possible, but relatively safe and incredibly enjoyable during a time when we all needed some good days (and no thanks to the lady in seat 13D, who provided me neither safety nor enjoyment, just ranty blog post material). I'm going to miss this like crazy and look forward to "seeing" you all on the island, even if that island is digital and it takes us another year to trade the stream for the ocean in real life. It'll be worth the wait.

Credit to Yelena for the photo on the right side of the title graphic. Thanks!

Fight or Flight: Traveling Fan Problems

Last week I flew to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the final installment of Hanson's monthly livestream series. I had every intention of making this anecdote just an introductory paragraph, then moving onto reviewing the show. Then I started writing and found out I had a lot more to say and really didn't want half of the review to be an angry rant about someone that had absolutely nothing to do with Hanson. Consider this one a #travelingfanproblems outtake and keep an eye out for the actual review over the next few days.

I've made a lot of conscious choices throughout the course of the pandemic not to police other people's safety behaviors outside of my own and to instead try to keep myself out of situations that are beyond my control and my comfort level. Turns out I finally found my breaking point on an airplane. My initial flight out of my hometown ended up being half empty, and I had a window seat with an empty middle seat and a lady sitting at the aisle. I was a little surprised she didn't get up and move to give us both more distance when it became clear that there were empty rows around us, but figured it wasn't worth the hassle of making her get up and moving my bags so I could have my own row for such a short flight.

Right before we took off, she started eating a candy bar. I told myself it's fine, she's totally allowed to eat, and if she eats the whole time to prolong her time without a mask, I'll just get up and move after it's safe to get out of my seat once we're airborne. We taxied for a while. She put the small remainder of her candy bar in the seatback pocket (ew?) and started working a crossword puzzle with her mask under her nose and barely over her mouth. I gave her a few minutes before I said anything, because yeah, eating is allowed and her candy bar was still out. After a solid five minutes or more when she hadn't touched her food, I decided to speak up. I leaned forward and politely asked, "Could you please put your mask over your nose?"

Her reaction was to stare at me and immediately pull the mask not over her nose, but entirely under her chin. For what it's worth, I work in retail and have seen a wide range of anger, confusion, and some people who don't get out much and are just plain unaccustomed to mask etiquette. I've had several older customers who have trouble hearing pull their masks down in an attempt to hear me better as if that will somehow help (I suppose it might be a subconscious cue to get me to pull my own mask down so they can hear me better.) I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and kindly repeat my question thinking maybe she just didn't hear me and wasn't thinking when she pulled it down. So I repeated: "I'd be happy to move to a new seat once we take off, but for now I'd feel a lot better if you would put your mask over your nose."

She immediately leaned closer to me and shouted (mask still entirely under her chin leaning over the empty seat between us) "I'M EATING!!!" Then continued to rant loudly about how she has "the antibodies" and therefore can't possibly make me sick, and oh, by the way, she's going to take it off again later to take some pills so I better be prepared to deal with it, and also, as it turns out, I need to chill. 

There was a lot packed into this rant and so, so many things I wanted to argue back as there was something wrong with literally everything that came out of her mouth (and I'm not talking about the germs). In the end I knew that saying anything at all would just prolong the time I would spend with her maskless yelling and I didn't actually want to be part of one of those viral news videos, so instead I waved over the closest FA and interrupted the safety demonstration, asked her to please let me move, and got myself the heck out of that row. I felt a little crazy interrupting, but as a friend later pointed out, I interrupted a safety demonstration to actually demonstrate real safety.

Since I never got to tell her any of the things I wanted to say, I decided to write her an open letter:

To the lady in seat 13D, 

I hope you and your antibodies are doing well. A close friend of mine has contracted covid twice in the last two months, so I was unaware that you have a superior kind of defense that means neither of us can get sick in your presence. This is rather impressive and I sincerely hope you have alerted someone in the medical field to do testing on your singular immunity. 

You seemed a little confused during our brief interaction, so I thought you might be interested to know that I'm very familiar with dictionaries, basic functions of the digestive tract, and have an aptitude for following directions. I've double checked with Webster just to be sure and have confirmed my previous understanding that eating is the act of "putting food into the mouth, chewing, and swallowing it." I've done a bit of further research and can find no source that includes the act of sitting adjacent to a piece of chocolate under the term "eating." (I know some people claim they can gain 10 lbs just by looking at a cupcake, but I'm fairly certain that this is just a figure of speech and not an actual mode of digestion recognized by American Airlines.) Urban Dictionary provided some less common and more colorful definitions, but mere proximity to a food item was still not listed. I hope this helps.

Your confusion is nothing to be ashamed of. I, too, was confused by something you said. I know you tried to explain to me how you would need to remove your mask again to take your medications later in the flight, but I'm not following the process of removal for something you haven't put on in the first place. I'm a visual learner and can't quite picture this scenario based on the information provided, so I would love to hear your insight into how that works. 

I realize my last point may be a bit sensitive, but you seemed pretty comfortable getting close to me during our brief encounter, so I hope you won't find this overstepping. I've heard rumors of some women going years without taking the time to get to know their own bodies and certain parts going largely ignored due to lack of proper education. I know it must be embarrassing to ask especially at your age having gone so long without proper awareness, so I thought I might spare you the trouble by providing a brief educational video on the topic for your benefit (you may find the :12-18 second mark most useful). 

Best of luck,

13F

P.S. I hope that your super antibodies protect against more than just Covid if you trust eating opened food out of seatback pockets. 

 

Hanson.net EP Ranking: An H-Bomb Show Response

I didn't actually mean to write this one, but last night on my way home from work, I listened to the most recent episode of The H-Bomb Show. In this episode, host Nick and guest Nev work to rank each hanson.net member EP in order from best to worst. I found myself agreeing with a lot, disagreeing with some, and inadvertently forming my own list in my head as the drive went on. About halfway through, I caught myself really engrossed in the conversation and couldn't help but grin thinking how nerdy and niche it is to be so invested in music that most of the world doesn't even know exists. Being a big fan of something can be a lonely thing if you don't know anyone who understands, so it's really nice to know people who "get it" while also realizing that it's totally foreign to someone from the outside. So thanks, Nick, for helping bring a voice to this little niche I call home.

If this sounds like your idea of a good music conversation and you haven't listened yet, I'd encourage you to 1) make your own list ranking your favorite EPs, and then 2) listen to the podcast and see how they match up. You can check out the most recent episode of the H-Bomb Show HERE if you haven't already.

Here's my own attempt at ranking the EPs from favorite to least favorite. I won't say best to worst because there is something I like about all of them, and even some of my overall favorites have a skip song or two. I also have to say that it is REALLY hard for me to refer to these with titles that didn't exist until this year when I've spent a solid decade referring to some of these by the year they were created.

1. Watershed (2007)

I didn't realize how hard it would be to order my top four picks. All of my top choices have some songs I feel really strongly about, and some of my favorite songs do not come from Watershed. I ultimately gave it the number one spot, though, because it has the most songs I love all in one place. I'd categorize even the "worst" songs on this EP as better than some of the best from other years. "I've Been Down," "Got A Hold On Me," "I Am," AND "In A Way" are all really strong songs to me. I love "On The Rocks" slightly less, but I do still love it, and "Take Our Chances" feels like a snapshot in time that I'm still happy to look at. There might be a little nostalgia at play here too since this was my first year as a fan club member, but you can see why I kept renewing when this was my first taste of what a membership would get me.

2. Loud (2016)

Loud wins the number two spot for being a home to "No Rest For The Weary," which I would argue might be the best fan club song of all time. It's not my own personal favorite (which I will get to later), but it's close, and I think it might be the best song overall. I didn't fully appreciate "Siren Call" until I heard it on String Theory, but I'm definitely a fan of it now. "Oh La La La" is probably the closest thing to a skip song for me, but I do enjoy it live.

3. Facing The Blank Page (2011)

This one ranks third for having two really solid songs that I love- "Sunny Day" and "Sonny Get Your Gun." One of the first live streams Hanson ever did was an actual live stream of them writing "Sonny Get Your Gun." There were technical difficulties and it was never saved or recorded, so you either saw it live, or you didn't see it. I got lucky and watched it and absolutely loved hearing them discuss word choice and finalizing lyrics. I remember Taylor argued not to use the word "peephole" and Zac argued to keep it (you can see who won that one in the final product). That should probably not factor into ranking these, but it helped me to love the songs on it even more. Also, "Sunny Day" is forgotten way too often by both fans and Hanson.

4. Sound of Light (2013)

There was a time when this was my number one pick, but looking back, it drops a bit because I don't find myself still listening to "Call Out My Name", "Best of Times," or "Roller Coaster Love" unless they get played live. "Sound of Light" is a really good song, and I know plenty of people would call "On and On" overplayed at this point, but it was and still is one of my favorite EP songs, so I'll fight for it.

5. In Color (2017)

"I Don't Want To Go Home" is another song that could compete for best fan club song period, and I don't think anyone will argue against me saying that "Somebody That Wants To Love You" is also particularly good. My unpopular opinion that bumps this EP up a bit higher for me is that I will go to bat for "I Lift You Up." Do I want to listen to it on a regular basis? Not even a little bit. It's one of the saddest, most emotional Hanson songs I think they've ever written, and I mostly keep it wrapped up in a little box I don't open. I still think it's really good and a totally unique song that's underrated.

6. Music Made For Humans (2014)

This is where I start getting more into skip song territory. I could take or leave "Show Me The Way" and "What's Your Name" (though I do appreciate how different this song is with Isaac's falsetto), but the other three songs on this EP are good. Sorry Nick, I love "White Collar Crime" even if it feels like a "best of" Digital Pants song. I also like "Panic in the Streets," though I often forget it's not on No Sleep For Banditos because something about the image of riding through town on a horse just fits that theme. "On The Road" is the best one of this bunch, hands down, and could've held its own on a studio album.

7. In Real Life (2019)

This is where my personal opinion overshadows fan logic. I LOVE "The Ballad of Seymour Better Times" and would probably put it in my top five favorite Hanson songs period. Since "My Favorite Christmas Sweater" is also on that list, I suspect I have a way-too-soft spot for punchlines in songs, but I can't help it. Okay fine, "Compromise" is pretty good, too.

8. Continental Breakfast in Bed (2020)

Time will really tell where this one falls since it's so new, but this EP has two standout songs on it for me: "Miss You Like Crazy" and "All I Know." The opening to "Miss You Like Crazy" is close to "No Rest For The Weary" level of catchy and upbeat. "All I Know" now lives in the box with "I Lift You Up." I think that box may actually be a box of tissues.

9. Watch me Bleed (2003)

Don't hate me for ranking this one so low. I know "Down" is great, "End of the Line" is really fun, and "Rock 'n' Roll Razorblade" is a fan favorite live. In my defense, I joined the fan club years after this one existed, so I don't have the same connection to it that a lot of people do. 

10. Leave The Light On (2008)

This one might have ranked higher if it had more than three new songs on it. All three are good, but "Coming Back For More" is the best.

11. Inside the Box (2015)

"Grace Unknown" is obviously the best song on this one. I do love the harmonies on "Don't Hide Your Tears" and think it's pretty underrated. The rest...kind of skippable for me. Honorable mention for the awful greatness of "Have it sauteed, grilled or filleted, we're cooking up a backbeat so pick up a plate," though.

12. No Sleep For Banditos (2012)

Fight me on this, but I love "Be My Own." I don't even usually appreciate sappy love songs, but I really like this one. "Heartbreaker" can be fun in small doses, and there was a time I was tired of the title song, but it's been so long since I heard it that I think I'm back to having potentially falsely fond memories.

13. Animal Instincts (2018)

"Young and Dumb" is absolute lyric gold to me. Unfortunately, I don't love the more techno/dance sounding beat of it. The piano and energy of "Working" is a highlight, but even Hanson seems to have forgotten it, so I'm not all that inclined to fight for it.

14. Fool's Gold (2009)

This is another one routinely forgotten by Hanson, and I think it is the least played live EP of all. Three of its five tracks have never been played. "Wait Here For You" has been played once, and "Devil's Nachos" has been played twice. I was there for all three of those and I still have to check hansonstage to see if it's "Wait Here For You" or "All I Have To Give" that I've heard. That's not a great sign for either song's memorability, especially when they're not even sung by the same brother. I will say I would be happy to hear "Take My Time" live one day, though. Maybe at BTTI.

15. Never Let Go (2005)

Again, you can maybe blame me joining the fan club in 2007 for why this one doesn't rank higher, but even so, I've never been a big fan of the song "Never Let Go." I also don't care much for "Call Me," and both have made me sob live. "So Lovely" is the song I like out of this bunch, and I mostly forget it exists.

16.  Time and Trouble (2010)

I'm gonna have to side with Nick and Nev on this. It might be partly their fault for planting that idea in my head before I wrote this, but even so, it's a cop-out answer I'm willing to run with. I had high-ish hopes of "This is the Jam" being kind of fan anthem-y live with lots of fist pumping and excitement, if only it would ever be played. Then Zac played it at his first solo show in Jamaica, and everybody just looked bored and totally killed my excitement for it. I think "Too Young To Kill" is fun in an experimental "what is happening" sort of way, and "Live Forever" can live forever in that tissue box I was talking about.

I'm not going to go back and ask myself if I'm sure about any of these picks because I could probably talk myself into rearranging several for way longer than would ever be necessary. Overall there are definitely some similarities and agreements about what's top and bottom EP material across my list, Nick's list, and the collaborated list between Nick and Nev. Here they are side by side. What does your list look like? Which EPs would you fight for?

You can follow The H-Bomb Show on Twitter at @HBombShow and subscribe to the podcast at hbombshow.podbean.com.

Sequins, Sweaters, And String Lights: The Christmas Ball

Every year around this time, I see fan stories about how Snowed In has been a staple in their Christmas traditions for decades. Some decorate their trees with family while playing the album, some remember playing it while baking cookies and wrapping presents, and plenty have now made it part of the next generation’s traditions. For me, Snowed In is a reminder of family road trips where one person being happy with the music selection inevitably meant that two others were not. It never stopped me from begging and insisting that we listen to Snowed In at least once per four hour drive to visit my grandparents. Every trip, I would “sneak” my Snowed In and A Chipmunk Christmas cassette tapes into the car. Mom would ask if it was over yet, Dad would tell me to “take those chipmunks out already” (even when the three brothers singing weren’t Alvin, Simon, and Theodore), but they always let me listen to it anyway. It’s been more than 20 years, and now there are only two of us in the car. These days the destination is a nursing home instead of my parents’ childhood homes. Mom still lets me listen to all of Finally It’s Christmas and complains every few songs. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks about my Dad when she does, even though Hanson doesn’t sound like chipmunks anymore. It’s a bittersweet feeling, and I’m thankful to share it with her and to have music that reminds me of all the great Christmases that came before.

But this isn’t a nostalgic blog post about Snowed In or about holiday memories. It’s about an exciting new event that gave me something to look forward to this holiday season instead of looking back. It’s about feeling festive, enjoying good music, and looking for the silver lining. Or in this case, the sparkly, shiny, dripping-with-sequins-and-disco-balls silver lining.



As soon as we found out about the themed streams, I was hopeful that December would be all about Christmas. I’ll be spending a quiet Christmas at home with just my mom, and a Christmas theme for these shows gave me something positive to look forward to during a season where I’ll be skipping all the best extended family traditions that I'm used to. I’m grateful for the opportunity and truly enjoyed getting to hear these songs and see all of the festive outfits and decorations. From ballgowns to onesies, Christmas trees to train sets (tiny fireplace ftw), and from living room selfies to front row tables—everyone really brought the cheer I've been missing.

Of course, I can't write about The Christmas Ball without first mentioning its namesake. The song "The Christmas Ball" is a truly deep cut in the Hanson catalog that had never been played live prior to these shows. It was released on a fan club EP called "Super Digital Pants" back in 2016, and I'm pretty sure I listened to it once and never looked back. Some songs take time to grow on me and need a very specific moment to reveal their potential. This was definitely one of those moments, and two weeks later I'm still catching myself singing "ho ho ho, mistletoe, now we're on a roll," which tbh is about a 250% increase in the number of lyrics I knew to this song prior to these shows. Consider me impressed that Zac knew them all, too.

"Joy To The Mountain" was every glorious note I remembered it being from the Finally It's Christmas Tour in 2017, and I'm giving extreme bonus points for the lack of catcalling. I can't wait for the moment it's safe to have regular concerts back, but on the bright side, a 10% venue capacity where most people are fan club members sure helps keep things respectfully quiet for acapella performances. "Wonderful Christmastime" with Hanson's "Come on It's Christmas" addition will also always be a favorite of mine; it's fully danceable no matter where you are and demands you to move even if it's awkward car dancing at a red light while the people next to you probably envision Mariah Carey on your radio. They don't know what they're missing. 

My absolute favorite, though, was "My Favorite Christmas Sweater." It's in my top five favorite Hanson songs of all time, maybe even top three material. I love it that much. It checks all my favorite boxes- it's catchy, it's sentimental, and it's one giant pun. I tried to tell Hanson that it’s one of my all-time favorites once and they seemed mildly confused, but I stand by it and wish it had made it onto the Finally It's Christmas album instead of remaining one of Hanson's best kept secrets. I’ll just be over here spilling it to anyone who will listen.

The setlists for these shows were very similar, but that's to be expected when they only have two full-length Christmas albums to pull from. During the first show I kept wondering if they were going to play any "regular" songs from non-Christmas albums since previous newsletters suggested it would be a heavy mix of Christmas with some other Hanson hits sprinkled in, but it never happened. Every last song was a Christmas song. I was thrilled, and I think stopping a wall of Christmas cheer to play "Where's the Love" wouldn't have felt like the right flow for the atmosphere they were creating. I also genuinely love their Christmas albums and haven't had the privilege of hearing live performances of them very often, so I was pleased with the song choices. 

The shows weren't error free. There were lyric flubs, keyboard malfunctions, a few guitar chord mishaps, and one moment they abandoned a song entirely and didn't play it until the following show. Taylor has since revealed on Instagram that he had a minor surgery not long before these shows and welcomed his 7th child the day after the last one. It’s probably a Christmas miracle that things went as smoothly as they did with all of that going on behind the scenes. If we were grading them on performance accuracy, they wouldn't get a perfect score on this one. But I'm not here to grade them, and while I might be literally here to review a performance, I'd rather do it holding a cup of hot chocolate than a sharp red pen. I'm not looking for perfection; I'm looking for a good time, and that’s exactly what I got.

"Everything is different, but nothing's changed" feels like a pretty accurate statement for how I feel about The Christmas Ball event. It can probably be applied and interpreted in many ways, but for me, it means being grateful for good music and for all the usual warm fuzzy feelings it gave me when so many things aren’t usual at all right now. I've made plenty of cheesy past references to feeling at home at Hanson shows (I might be just shy of a "home is where the hanson show is" doormat), and I think it's so true for many of us. So for everyone who might be missing out on in person shows or missing out on family gatherings this holiday season, I think it's fair to say-- "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my streams." Thanks, Hanson, for bringing us your brand of Christmas cheer. 💗

Coming Back For More: Perennial Live

 I wanted to get a jump start on this blog post while everything is still fresh in my mind, but as I'm writing this, it's T-minus 2 hours until tickets for the December shows go on sale, and let's be honest: I feel like I may vomit. If you don't get that way when you buy tickets, you're a calmer human than I am. If you do feel sick when buying tickets or rushing into a GA venue and were hoping it goes away eventually...I'm here to tell you it doesn't. And if you're trying for tickets for any of the upcoming shows, best of luck, and may the odds be ever in my favor. (jk, good luck to you too!)

Perennial Live felt a lot like a warped Hanson Day with extended concerts and less events. The location, the setlists, and the people in the room all felt reminiscent of HDays past. The masks, lack of lines, and 10% capacity--not so much. I thought a series full of members only songs might be a bit more mellow and not allow for as much dancing and jumping around, but I had a really good time and found plenty of opportunities to enjoy the music and the space to move. Bonus points for mouth coverage during a set where you know less lyrics than usual. Who cares if you don't know the words if nobody can see you singing the wrong ones?

Instead of trying to do a chronological recap of everything that could get repetitive with three similar sets, I thought it might be more fun to do a countdown of some of my favorite moments from this trip:

10. Not show related, but that awkward moment when we pulled up to do curbside pickup at a restaurant, turned on the radio, and Spotify chose that exact moment to blast an ad at earsplitting volume that said "EXTREME NAUSEA" instead of music. Nothing says support your local pizzeria like damaging their employees' eardrums with ads for stomach medicine. (tbh I probably should've taken note of the brand for future ticket buying stress.)

9. Getting to hear new songs. It was my first time hearing both "Nothing Like a Love Song" and "Good Days." I knew we'd hear the first one since it's the new single from Perennial, but "Good Days" was a nice surprise. I know we're all struggling right now and the year as a whole sucks, but there are definitely some good days to celebrate, and I'm grateful for the two I had in Tulsa this month.

8. "The Ballad of Seymour Better Times" during the first show. When Zac got to the line "My journey may be long before I'm done, so won't you play the drums," the whole room broke out into an unplanned stomping session to add to the fake drum effect. I thought it was so clever right up until everyone did the exact same thing for "play the horns" despite the fact that stomping on a wooden floor sounds nothing like horns, so I feel like something was lost in translation there. The initial idea was a good one, at least. Just in case I haven't already fangirled hard enough about this song in previous blogs, let me remind you it's in my top three all-time favorite Hanson songs and I will never stop being impressed by the clever ending.

7. Hearing "Georgia" as we waited for presidential votes to be counted felt historically appropriate. No political statements were made, but you can't deny that Georgia HAS been a little back and forth lately.

6. That great moment when a really stupid dance move for "Get The Girl Back" finally makes sense about seven years later. For years we've always jokingly pushed our hands out during "Get the Girl Back" in an exaggerated "back up" motion (inspired by elbow throwers and crowd pushers of tours past), so it felt more relevant than ever to mime literally getting girls back on their side during a pandemic requiring social distance. It's about tiiime that you get the girl back to her table.

5. Learning that "Be My Own" started out as "Be My Home." Before Taylor started singing it, he explained that those were the original lyrics to the song. I can definitely hear how they'd work interchangeably, and the idea of asking someone "Do you want to be the one I know, to be the place I go, to be my home?" is incredibly sweet. I'm glad he shared that with us and I'm curious what made them ultimately choose "own" over "home," but it's a beautiful song either way.

4. Taylor soloing "A Song To Sing" with the extra verse. I've heard this song performed live with that verse a handful of times now, but I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've heard Taylor pull it out during a solo. In general I try not to read too much into things that are ambiguous at best, but it was hard not to hear "Don't wander through this glassy surface expecting to find more than me" without thinking about it as a reminder to fans to stop looking for Hanson to be anything other than themselves. It may not have been his intention, but that's what I got out of it. "Compromise" hit pretty hard as true for the same reasons.

3. Isaac's "Grace Unknown" solo on the third night. He put so much emotion into it, and when he got to the line that says "Any time the silence starts to feel like home/ I can hear my heartbeat," he stopped playing entirely, closed his eyes, and thumped his hand on the wood of his guitar to the rhythm of a heart. The whole room was quiet while he did it, and it gave the perfect erie effect of a heartbeat echoing in silence. He also blew us away with further flawless performances of "Watch Over Me" and "Something Loud." We don't get a lot of Isaac leads and solos, but when we do, Isaac usually nails them and leaves you wondering why he doesn't do it more often. Cue the most interesting man in the world: 

2. "Thinking Bout Something." I didn't have any hopes that this would be played, so having it pulled out during a fan club set really surprised me. If you read this blog with any regularity or even just stand near me at shows when it gets played, then you already know I love this song and am a big cheesy dork when it comes to doing the dance. As I mentioned back in February, it has officially been 10 years since I learned it or practiced for any sort of accuracy, so we just get progressively worse each time. I always say I'm going to go back and relearn it, but then I never do. When they played it at the first show and I was at a 2nd row center table with room to dance and spotlights and cameras around, we made the executive decision: time to actually follow through on that much-needed practice.

We went back to our hotel room and played the youtube tutorial on the giant TV, and surprisingly, it only took about two runs through it to get it right. My absolute favorite moment of the whole weekend was the moment it got played at the final show. I was front row center with another table of friends right next to me and one adjacently behind. During one of the moves that requires spinning around, I took stock of the room and realized virtually everyone within my line of sight was also attempting the dance. I think it was the most people I've seen doing it in one place since I was on the set for the music video, and it was fun to actually know what I was doing for a change and not have to stop to spiral into a fit of laughter because we lost our place or stomped on each other's feet.

1A. Drumsticks. For the last show, we had a few extra friends coming meaning we needed two tables instead of one. There was definitely that nervous moment before buying tickets of what if we only get one table, what if we get one amazing table and one terrible one, how do we figure out who sits where, etc. By some miracle, we got two side by side tables front row center and it became a non-issue (which definitely falls in to the Sydney Opera House category of how is this even happening?). I was with one friend in particular who is a Tulsa local and has been such a gracious host chauffeuring us around and being generally awesome, and she's the only one of us who had never been given drumsticks. Once we knew we had those tables, one thing led to another and suddenly we were buying programmable light up masks and planning operation get Morgen sticks. Morgen's mask said something along the lines of "sticks, please," and the rest of us had "sticks" with arrows pointing towards her.

I knew they weren't guaranteed, but I was mostly mentally prepared for her to get them at the end of the show when Zac stepped forward with sticks in hand. What I was NOT prepared for, however, was when I saw someone rush past me from behind to claim them first. Everything happened so fast and things got confusing after that. The stage rusher got sticks, then someone else got sticks, then Morgen got a third pair, and I was so annoyed by people rushing but also so relieved that she still got sticks that gratitude won out in my mix of emotions. I put my hands together 🙏 and mouthed "thank you" to Zac (which he couldn’t see, because #masklife) while my friend Rachel did a very similar gesture right next to me. Then suddenly he’s going back for a final pair of sticks and aiming them towards our table, and the three of us just froze and stared at him and each other for a moment. I finally stepped forward and took them when I realized that if I didn’t, a second stampede was likely to start. The whole thing was super unexpected, though very much appreciated, and it occurred to me that maybe our “thank you” gestures looked a lot more like “please" and he gave them to us because he was confused. Or maybe he was just already in the Oprah zone and figured why not one more? ("You get sticks!" "You get sticks!" "Everybody's getting sticks!") Who knows. 



1B. My favorite part of the whole encounter though is what happened next. It felt selfish to keep a second pair when my whole table already had some, and 2 sticks + 3 people is bad math, so I immediately turned and looked for someone to give them to. I noticed a boy and his mother behind us who were slowly stepping forward but also politely keeping distance, so that sold me on giving them to him. It wasn't until my friends and I were talking in the hotel room later that I realized my brain skipped a few of the details of how that actually went down. I left fully thinking I handed the sticks to the boy. What actually happened is I had been aiming to give the sticks to the boy's mother (on his behalf, she was just closer), and Rachel took them out of my hand and gave them directly to the kid. This was all so seamless and exactly what I had intended to do that I didn't realize I didn't do it myself. The best part is there was zero communication between us when this happened. From an outside perspective, Zac gave me sticks and my friend literally stole them out of my hands and gave them away to a stranger. I'm pretty sure friendships have been canceled over less. The fact that she knew exactly what I was trying to do without either of us speaking and then carried it out so well that I didn't even realize it wasn't ME doing it...that's friendship goals.

And for a bit of relevant balance, here's a list of my #1 least favorite moment:

1. Maskless stage rushing. I don't care who gave you permission or what invitation you think you received, under no circumstances should you be leaving your table without your mask and going into someone else's space. It's against Cain's policy, and it's against common decency. I need you to feel a little less "Hakuna Matata" and a little more "Be Prepared." TL;DR: Do what you want at your own table, but stay there. #GetTheGirlBackToHerTable2020

Soapboxes and mask rants aside, I had a really good time and feel incredibly lucky to be able to go to these in-person shows and spend some time with friends even if I can't do it as often or in as large of a group as I would like. I don't want to be too harsh here and I know we all have lapses in judgment sometimes, but I do believe it's our responsibility to take care of each other and do our best to follow basic guidelines so that we can slow the spread and continue having the privilege of attending these shows. I'm thoroughly excited for next month's Christmas Ball, and I can't wait to see the room full of whatever range of ugly sweaters and ballgowns people choose to wear. (Those of you watching from home...I'm counting on those cheesy Christmas pajama photos!)

P.S. All I want for Christmas is to hear "My Favorite Christmas Sweater." 🙏 <-- P.P.S. Just to be clear, THOSE are please hands 😂

This One's Optimistic: Live & Electric Revisited

The Announcement

It's an understatement to say that 2020 hasn't given us much to look forward to. You know things are rough when the highlight of your month is a save the date for some cryptic announcement from your favorite band. Even then, you know they're not going to release their new album yet, they haven't found a cure for Covid, and they're not about to announce a live tour, so while the prospect of news is exciting, it's not that exciting when the possibilities are pretty limited. I opted to watch Jeopardy with my mom that night vs. sitting glued to my computer awaiting this big announcement. I jokingly messaged my friend to call me if I needed to buy tickets to a show, knowing full well that would never happen.

I physically jumped out of my seat when my phone actually rang at the beginning of the Double Jeopardy round and I saw her name on the screen. I'll take plot twists and questionable life choices for $1000, Alex.

The Decision

My reaction was a mixture of pure adrenaline, excitement, and worry. On a scale of total home isolation to anti-masker, I'm at neither end of the spectrum, but I definitely fall towards the end of always wearing a mask in public and only going out for essential outings. Though the introvert in me doesn't mind much and has been relatively content to plow through a hundred books as a substitute, it didn't take long for me to deem my first opportunity to see Hanson live in eight months as an extremely essential outing.

I tried to have a very real talk with myself about expectations when I made the decision to go. I knew that going on this trip was going to expose me to more people in closer proximity than I would like, and I told myself that if I was going to get angry or scared every time I crossed paths with someone without a mask, then it was my responsibility to keep myself home, not my responsibility to try to police other people. To me, getting on a plane and doing this was accepting that I can't control anyone outside of myself. If nothing else, this year has been an exercise in learning how to navigate what I can control and what I can't and not holding onto anger over things that are not within my power to change. I made the decision to go and to do everything I could to minimize my own exposure and risk. Instead of approaching or starting a debate with someone not wearing a mask, I simply distanced myself from them. I wore an N99 mask on all of my flights, knew all of my table mates, and made sure we all agreed to wear our masks during the entire show. I roomed with only one friend and she was the only one to ever be in a room with me while I was maskless. Acknowledging that I was willingly taking a few calculated risks and doing my best to minimize them for myself went a long way towards having a good time without getting caught up in how I wanted other people to behave.

The Shows

Finally stepping inside Cain's was a weird mix of surreal and normal. I loved the amount of space we had and not having to worry that someone was going to push ahead and take my spot. With a limited capacity, assigned seats, and no opener, I felt just as spoiled as I did for String Theory. We plopped a bottle of sanitizer on top of our table and geared up for what was sure to be one of the strangest best Hanson shows in history. Emotionally speaking, at least.

The first show had a kind of pent-up energy that I didn’t quite know what to do with. I know how to navigate a sweaty, neighbor's-elbow-in-your-kidney, sticky-floored good time smashed against a barricade. I know how to hold on for dear life and how to dance in the negative six inches of space I can call mine in any crowd. Sitting front row center for the first ever socially distanced Hanson show that is being live streamed to thousands of people wasn't on my concert resume. I felt weirdly exposed and visible having our own table with an eight foot empty radius around us and being unsure if it was okay to stand when the majority of people weren't yet. I was relieved when Taylor finally made a reference to getting up and dancing at the end of “Dancing In The Wind” and more people began to stand. And so we did, all at our own tables, and it was a beautifully respectful experience. Jumping during “A Minute Without You” has never been so cathartic.

From the first time I heard the Live & Electric version of “Look At You” years ago, I remember thinking "Wow, Hanson seems to love performing this song. There's an extra something here in this live recording that definitely isn't on the MON version." I got that exact same vibe standing in the room with it in Cain’s, and it was a fun surprise to hear it flow seamlessly into a new cover of "It's Your Thing." The standout of that first show for me though was “Love Me.” I wasn’t around for the L&E era, but when I got on the Hanson train in 2007, “Love Me” was the first solo I ever heard Taylor perform live in Atlanta. I thought it was jaw-on-the-floor beautiful and felt honored to be in the same room with it at the time. Thirteen years later, he’s still slaying it and I’m still impressed. Honestly, all of the solos from all three were top-notch each show, and I could probably spend another three paragraphs swooning.  Let's just pretend I did: "Being Me," "Lullabelle," "The Walk." They did an amazing job.

It took me until the start of the second show when a friend pointed at my chest to realize I somehow legitimately packed and wore a shirt that said "Optimist" on it without ever connecting it to the show theme. I was standing there during "Optimistic," wearing an "Optimist" shirt with an extremely confused look on my face while she gestured at me. "Oblivious" would've been more fitting. Overall, the second show felt very much the same as the first with a few minor setlist changes and the added bonus of feeling a little bit more comfortable in that space. We stood sooner and were probably more relaxed being in the center of the room instead of up close near cameras, or at least that’s how I felt. I don’t know that there was any one standout moment at that show when the whole thing was good, though I’m not sure I’ll be quick to forget the first time I had my view blocked by a couple slow dancing to Weird.

The third show was the best. I don’t know if it took two shows to loosen everyone up or if we were all just hyperaware that things were coming to a close and it was our last chance to enjoy a concert for a while, but the energy was so much better at that one. The real standout performance to me across the entire event has to be "Every Word I Say" from the third show in particular. There was so much energy and I just felt really connected to it like I wasn't ready to give up that moment and that space in that room. That was the moment I felt the most present and alive and like I was right where I belonged.

By the end of the night after dancing and jumping to “If Only,” “Lost Without Each Other,” “Rock ’N’ Roll Razorblade,” and “In the City,” I was happily exhausted and wrecked in all the best ways that music can figuratively kill you. I came home with calves so sore I felt like I'd gotten to work Hop Jam 2020 after all and with a glimmer of hope that maybe I'd be lucky enough to do it all again in November.

The Outtakes

-The amazing moment when you somehow wind up with the only empty middle seat on the entire plane
-That awkward moment when your view is blocked by a couple making out during "Weird," and all you can do is turn to your friends and go "Isn't it strange?"
-Walking back to the hotel surrounded by unexpected fireworks that seemed magical at the time but went on to make the morning news by starting a small fire on a rooftop.
-Two words: Sushi. Burrito.
-Being in the middle of the dance floor, light shining on my face.
-Fording the river that was Main Street without losing any oxen. (TL;DR- burst water pipe. Serious applause to whoever got the water turned back on so the concert didn't have to be canceled!)

The Conclusion

It was great and weird and I don't regret it. I've run out of fingers to count the number of times I've been to Tulsa, hung out with giant groups of friends, and played tourist in a city that always seems to be building something new to check out. It was so strange to go there for under 48 hours, see three full-length shows, and actively avoid many of the people I've really missed seeing, Hanson included. If I saw you and didn't stop to talk or make plans to hang out, it's nothing personal and I really hope all that can change by next Hanson Day.

Instead of hitting the "usual" spots, I had expensive sushi delivered right to my room and joked through a virtual dance party where there was no pressure to actually dance. When we found ourselves with a few hours to kill between two shows, we traded Covid masks for skincare masks and watched a live stream, because what better way to wait in line for your next show than chugging chocolate milk in PJs in front of a giant flatscreen replay of the concert you just went to? It was weird and I don't want to call it my "new normal," but it was just the right mount of strange and we made the most of it.

I almost always end my posts with some sappy, positive, borderline-cliched statement that wraps the whole experience up with a cute bow for closure and paves the way for me to do it all again next time.

So how's this for sappy irony? After months of needing something positive to look forward to, when the lights cut out and Hanson finally came on stage, it was the most at home I've felt all year despite literally being at home all year.

The real conclusion here is I'm glad I went and I'm happy with the outcome. I had a great time and I feel oddly refreshed, sore muscles and all. Sometimes you just have to try the best you can and hope that it's good enough. In my experience, it was. Spoiler alert: this one's still optimistic.

Me, Myself, & I: A Self Reflection on Expectations

I’ve considered writing a post like this for over a year now, but I’ve always talked myself out of it. This topic has been on my mind a lot more lately, and I finally caved and let myself write a draft several weeks ago. I still talked myself out of putting it out into the world at first because I don’t mean to come off like I’m sharing this perspective from my perch atop a tall horse mounted on a soapbox (or as some may see it, from the cozy safety of my sheep pen). It may be better left in my own head, but once I put it into writing, I couldn’t let it go. I should probably throw in a disclaimer that this is just my own opinion and I don’t mean it to cover any broader personal social or moral issues. This is about being a fan of a band and the way we consume music. It’s a look at my own perspective as a music fan and an introspective journey I’m inviting you to share with me.



The topic I’m talking about is the growing dissatisfaction among Hanson fans surrounding their music and business decisions in recent years. It started pretty quietly after the release of Anthem in 2013 when it became apparent that Hanson wasn’t going to release another studio album for a while. At first there were vaguely dissatisfied but harmless questions: Why tour with a cover EP instead of taking time off to write new music? Why put time into a greatest hits compilation instead of releasing a new album? I didn’t share in these worries, so it was easy enough for me to brush them off. My stock answer became “Of course I want a new album, but I’d rather Hanson take the time to write something that inspires them than churn out something lesser for the sake of meeting a deadline.” 



In 2016, we got a double EP: Loud, and Play. One was released for fan club members only, and one was a public (albeit quiet) release. Combined, we got 10 songs that fit together as a cohesive single project. It didn’t carry the pomp and excitement of a new full album release, but to me, the content, the quality, and the time spent creating it were all there. Still, the questions remained. “If they can do this, why can’t they just put out a full length album?” I started to wonder if those comments would have sounded different if Hanson had simply put all of those songs on one disc and called it “Play Loud” instead. It reminded me of the time I went to Starbucks and absentmindedly asked for a “sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich”. The barista said “I’m sorry, we don’t have those.” I looked at the menu, searching for the fancy name that had slipped my mind, and tried again. “Okay, can I have the Spicy Chorizo, Monterey Jack, and Egg sandwich, then?” “Sure, that’ll be 7.95.” I left with my sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich under another name, amused by how the branded marketing could completely alter her perception of the ingredients she was actually serving. It tasted the same to me.



Several years passed and the things Hanson felt inspired to do turned out to be anniversary tours, orchestra collaborations, Christmas releases, and just about everything except for a full length album of new music, and the dissatisfaction and complaints grew. I could understand the fan frustration, but I still clung to my perspective of wanting things to happen organically on the timeline that felt right to Hanson. I still didn’t want an album that they weren’t excited to make. I didn’t want outside pressure and expectations to kill the joy they once had in doing a thing they’ve clearly loved. In 2019, we finally got news that quieted the concerns and left all of us happy: We’d be getting not one, but two new albums in as many years. The waiting would finally pay off.

Until it didn’t, because 2020 became the dumpster fire we’re all currently living and the promise of a new album was pushed back. While the dissatisfaction is probably a small minority in the grand scheme of things, if you’re super active in the fan world, it’s virtually impossible to miss the complaints that now range from “Where’s the new music?” to “These streams should be free” to “They’re selfish for selling this shirt”. While I sympathized at first, the optimist in me has a hard time not writing off the increased and frequent complaints as spiraling into “the boy who cried wolf” territory. Instead, I’m trying to open my mind and figure out why we have such a gaping hole between fan perspectives, expectations, and contentment.



The new album has grown quiet, the old questions have grown loud, and after years of brushing off the discontent and carrying on in my happy bubble, I decided maybe it’s time to ask some tough questions of my own and tackle some critical thought. My questions aren’t for the band, though; they’re for myself. I looked at the growing number of fans seeking new music and throwing increasingly pointy jabs at Hanson's music abilities, intent, and business decisions and I asked myself: Why don’t I feel this way? Should I feel this way? Am I letting Hanson off of some sort of hook by choosing to be happy instead of expecting more? Should I be pushing them to reach some higher musical potential? Am I the wrong one as I stand nodding and smiling in a crowd with an increasing number of shaking heads? There’s no denying that in an overly-simplified cross-section of the fan base, I fall on the “Hanson can do no wrong” side of the stereotype and tend to disagree with the “Hanson can do no right” camp. I thought maybe it’s time to question all of it, why I stand where I do, why I’ve remained content when others haven’t, and if I find that some of those opinions are founded in nothing, is it time to change my own mind?

I felt like the answers to those questions were buried inside more critical questions about my music consumption in general. How had I handled dry spells or disappointments from other artists I loved? I thought of my musical past: Relient K was my other forever constant. I'd been head over heels for Andrew McMahon’s piano in his SoCo days and still followed much of his career, always hoping to love something as much as I loved Leaving Through The Window and never quite getting there. In high school, it was Dashboard Confessional with hints of The All-American Rejects and a dose of The Ataris. Most were fleeting. I'd intensely loved an album or two and then moved on. Relient K is the only other band I've seen live several times spanning more than a decade and own all of their studio albums. So what did I do between their releases? How did I react to that one album that was instantly my least favorite? It was during the break after that one that I rediscovered Hanson. And when I'd had my fill of currently available Dashboard material? I found Andrew McMahon. When I didn’t like the newest All-American Rejects release? I bought a Regina Spektor CD instead. So there was my pattern and my answer to my first question. When life presented me with a musical hole, instead of asking questions or expecting changes, I learned to fill it with other good music and seek out my next new favorite. My loyalty was to my own musical tastes, not to the artists. 


Obviously I can’t ignore the fact that Hanson is in a league of their own in my life, which led me to my next question: What is different about the way I'm a fan of Hanson and the way I'm a fan of any other artist? How did I create this complex history that makes them something bigger to me than the rest? The answer is I’ve put a lot more time and money into loving and supporting Hanson than any other artist. I own every Relient K album, some EPs, a few t-shirts, and have bought a handful of concert tickets and a VIP pass. In the 16 years I’ve been a fan, I've probably spent less than $500 on them. And Hanson? I spent $2,000 on them this January alone. Every January since 2013. And that’s not including 100+ other concert tickets, travel expenses, 14 years of fan club memberships, and a lot of other things I don’t ever want to tally.

So next I asked myself: Should I expect more out of Hanson than I do out of other bands because I've invested more of myself and my bank account in them? If I add all of those numbers up and it's a really exorbitant, painfully embarrassing amount that I'd like to take to my grave, does that mean they owe me more than the other bands in my life do? Is it fair to expect more out of the people I've given so much to, whose career I've helped maintain, whose family I've helped feed? I asked myself all of these questions, and the answer I've landed on is still no. No, because giving them that much of myself is a decision I made without them. No, because for every single dollar I chose to spend, they've delivered on their end of the monetary transaction. My $2k got me a trip to Jamaica. My $15 got me a copy of String Theory. My annual $40 got me access to the fan club forums and an exclusive EP. They offer a product, I buy it, they deliver it. Repeat. The collective sum is irrelevant and doesn't entitle me to anything more.



Often they've given me more anyway: dozens of photos, conversations, private messages, song requests, drumsticks. I'm grateful because none of it was guaranteed and it always feels above and beyond. I don’t show up expecting those things to happen which means I also don’t leave disappointed when they don’t. I try to remember that every dollar I've spent was a personal choice that Hanson never asked of me. They never told me to get on a plane or promised to learn my name or make time for me after a show just because they put a tour on sale and I made the choice to buy 20 tickets. There isn't some unspoken "Buy 50, get special treatment for free" program where my money also buys me the right to weigh in on what they do. No amount of membership fees buy me entry into the band and the way it's run. And if I’ve ever been disappointed by something that didn’t happen? It's because I started expecting something extra that was never part of the bargain they willingly entered into when I bought their CD or their concert ticket. It's a conscious perspective that I choose to have: be grateful for every moment that feels above and beyond rather than ungrateful for every moment that doesn't. TL;DR? I'm probably an optimistic realist.

Ten paragraphs of rambling introspection have finally led me to what I believe is at the root of all of these feelings: Expectations. Whether you're feeling frustrated, disappointed, happy, or forever in love with what Hanson is doing or not doing, it all boils down to personal expectations. We’ll probably never agree on what realistic ones look like or where the line is drawn for expecting too much. I stopped for a moment and made myself question if maybe mine were too low, if maybe the reason I’m not upset by the lack of a new album or the way they run their business is because I set my expectations low to avoid disappointment. I thought about my brief time as a teacher and the hours spent in college classes discussing the importance of expectations and how sometimes raising yours can help bring a student to reach a higher potential. If you lowball what you want out of them, they won't push themselves to grow. They’ll coast and you’ll settle. But I am not Hanson's teacher. They are not my students. I am the fan and they are the band, and for me, that musical relationship means that the only shots I get to call are how I choose to consume (or not consume) their music. I can't control them; I can only control myself.



I guess in the end the thing that really colors my perspective the most is that I’ve always viewed music as a gift. It feels foreign and wrong to me to form ideas about what someone else's music should be and to place constraints around it, like claiming ownership over something that isn't mine to change. I can look at a painting and acknowledge ways I would have liked it more, but it’s not my place to ask the artist to do things differently when art is a form of self-expression, and we haven’t commissioned a thing from Hanson, try as we might. I’m not saying I don't have hopes and desires and my own personal tastes. I don't think it's wrong to want something, but I see a solid line somewhere in between hopes and expectations. They are truly not the same thing, and one is much more likely to leave you hurt.


So why am I writing this at all? What is the point if I'm just patting myself on the back and validating my existing opinions in the end? Because it's healthy to question yourself once in a while, and I find questioning my own beliefs and motives a lot more productive than questioning the band and other fans. I'll wrap this up just shy of bashing you over the head with a mirror while quoting "maybe you could take a look at yourself lately" and say that the point of this post is that I decided to look in the mirror to make sure I was okay with what I saw there. The truth is while I’m usually all rainbows and butterflies, I don’t love every single thing Hanson does. There are skip songs. I’ve employed the “keep scrolling” approach to plenty of their merch endeavors. I’d love love love a new full length album as much as the next fan, and yes I would have enjoyed that about a hundred times more than the Middle of Everywhere release. But I also never expected them to be my idea of perfect and I’m happy with the big picture—I still love their albums even if they aren’t new anymore, there are some real gems on the fan club EPs, I can lose my worries in a crowd, and no matter how many times they “recycle” an old favorite in a setlist, the right song can bring me back to the first time I heard it with the added bonus of dozens of other great memories I’ve collected from it along the way. Loving their music doesn’t feel like an obligation or a drain or a disappointment to me, and it hasn’t yet sent me searching for that next great band or someone else’s new album. And so here I am, and there’s my answer.
 I'm not done with these guys yet, and I'm glad.

Part of what makes our community and the friendships I've made in it exciting is the way music can bring together people who are otherwise very different. Maybe that means a deep difference in expectations is inevitable and it was silly of me to question why I didn't feel the same way others felt in the first place. I think the place I've landed is that if I can ask myself those critical questions--how I see myself, what my expectations are, how and why I formed those expectations--and I can still feel good about the fan staring back at me and the band she chose to support? Then that's all that matters.