November 17, 2019

Zaccidents Happen: Anderson, Indiana


I’m a little overdue for one of those posts about some show I never planned to go to but then I wound up there anyway at the last minute. This year's "oops I did it again" quota can be filled with a random show at a casino in Anderson, Indiana. I know the fandom scapegoat is generally Taylor, but you can mostly blame Zac this time.

Several months ago I told myself I was going to be "good" and put a cap on not going to too many one-off shows because I'd rather save my money and vacation days for a tour with new music. I made an exception for Hawaii and Lake Tahoe, but Anderson was never on my list of places I needed to play tourist for a day (no offense to Indiana). Then Zac got in a motorcycle accident and temporarily earned himself a spot front and center with a cowbell instead of drums, and my resolve for staying home faltered when my whole reason for skipping these shows had been because I’ve already seen a dozen just like them. I held strong until about two weeks ago when I looked at my work schedule and realized I’d been given off the three day weekend surrounding the Anderson show without asking for it. Add in the perk of having that one trusty friend with equally reckless and questionable decision making skills, and suddenly I found myself with a flight and a pair of concert tickets to a sold out show in a city I'd never actually heard of before. 

The Terrace Showroom at Harrah’s Hoosier Park was easily the weirdest concert venue setup I’ve ever seen. The room was much wider than the stage with randomly placed pillars in the way in several spots and large screens on either side to help compensate for the weird sight lines. The stage was also only about a foot tall with stadium seating designed so that anything above 2nd or 3rd row was above the stage and looking down onto it. We got extremely lucky with 2nd row seats and may have overcompensated for short girl problems with last minute ridiculous heeled boots (BOGO!) as a backup plan in case we were stuck behind someone tall. I’ve never experienced “leg day,” but if it feels anything like jumping to “In The City” in 5 inch heels, I’m fine to continue skipping it forever.



The setlist was very similar to the last few I’ve seen, but everyone was in such a great mood and it was impossible to keep from grinning. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac were full of energy and were all over the stage climbing on speakers, grabbing hands, and in Zac’s case running out into the audience to deliver a little more cowbell to all corners of the room. I saw so many happy faces around me and Hanson really just went above and beyond with making everyone feel like they were in the right place that night.



The guest drummer did a great job, though it definitely felt a little strange to see Zac dancing around unhindered during songs like “And I Waited” or doing some moves so similar to fans letting loose during “Lost Without Each Other.” I have no idea if he was loving his unexpected freedom or if he felt completely out of place and just embraced a situation beyond his control, but it was fun to watch a show with a different dynamic that we'll likely never see again (Dear Hanson, I like when you switch things up, but I sincerely hope your injuries will never feel like some kind of twisted selling point again!). I'm glad to see he's doing well enough to climb on top of speakers and head bang with a cowbell, and though our short unexpected era of #ZacOnDrugs has certainly been entertaining, I'm happy that we'll have a healthy #ZacOnDrums back soon enough.

It's been a pretty epic travel year for me so far, and I always have Hanson to thank for getting me to places like Jamaica, Australia, Hawaii, and, you know, Anderson, Indiana. So whether I'm on a plane fulfilling a decade long dream of visiting the other side of the world, or I'm en route to a 24 hour last-minute trip to a city I've never heard of before, I'm grateful for the adventure. And to quote some really weird recent merch, I guess you could say I'm glad I "Zaccidentally" wound up in Anderson for a day.



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