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The day I bought Snoqualmie Casino tickets feels like a hundred years ago now. I'm sure it's a long-forgotten detail at this point, but the tickets for this show went on sale just days after that email went out. Emotions for some of us were high, and at the time, it felt more important than ever to take advantage of some random casino show on the other side of the country because it felt like there might not be much else coming our way for a while. Pair that with the fact that this show fell on my usual travel partner's 40th birthday (happy b-day, Rachel!), and I knew I needed to be there. Scoring good seats sealed the deal.
And in true "If you give a fan a ticket..." fashion, if you attend the first show with a friend that lives in the city of the second show, and she invites you to just fly back to her house for the next one...you're going to want to add that glass of milk, er...plate of ribs? Also, traveling fan math: when you're flying cross-country to see a show, technically anything in between is on the way home.
Seattle/Snoqualmie
I've been to Seattle once before back in 2013 for the Anthem Tour, but all I really saw was Hanson and a sidewalk. I was excited to fly in early with friends this time to become full-blown tourists for a few days, and we took advantage of every free moment. While there, I visited:
-Pike Place (Where I had smoked salmon mac & cheese at Beecher's, seared scallop chowder from Pike Place Chowder, and a turkey sandwich from DeLaurenti's. I saw the original Starbucks from outside because I didn't want to spend 3 of my 4 days in line to go in)
-Starbucks Reserve
-Underground Tour
-Jacob Two Trees troll
-Space Needle Tour
-MoPop
-Kerry Park
I'll share a few key takeaways with you.
1. If you ever visit Seattle in a car, pre-book parking downtown. We thought we were being smart looking up the location of a nearby parking garage; we did not realize that when we got there, every garage in the area would be full or that we would pay $81 for 3 hours when we finally found a spot. We learned from that mistake and pre-booked a space for 9:30am-3pm when we returned two days later for a grand total of $13.99. When we got back to the car to leave, there was a sign out front advertising $100 event parking. Maybe Ticketmaster dynamic platinum pricing is exploring the parking industry.
2. Also pre-book any tours or paid sightseeing you want to do. We missed out on the underground tour we really wanted because we waited too long and it sold out, and we missed visiting the aquarium because we failed to realize even that needed timed tickets.
2. You can mobile order Pike Place Chowder to cut the ginormous line if you don't care about sitting inside.
3. Probably just don't go to Pike Place period on a weekend in the summer unless you love unnecessarily giant crowds, long lines, and touching a minimum of three strangers at all times.
4. If you eat an overpriced hot dog from the stand outside of the Space Needle, don't skip out on the free plums even if grabbing a plum out of a communal watery bowl of ice at a hot dog stand sounds like a risky choice. I can now say with confidence that the best plum I've ever eaten in my life came from a hot dog stand in Seattle, and I'm hesitant to admit that it may have been the best thing I ate in the whole city. Who knew?
Snoqualmie Concert
The show was technically at the Snoqualmie Casino, but really it was outside in the parking lot. For someone escaping 110+ degree heat indeces at home, wearing long sleeves to an outdoor concert felt like a luxury vacation, and watching the sunset over mountains during the show was a much better backdrop than a smoky, carpeted event hall. A+ for location. There was an older man in the front row center section who I assume got his seat by being a high roller casino member, and he was clearly enjoying his luck. He was clapping along with the rest of us and thrusting his cane into the air on beat, and at one point, loudly exclaimed something along the lines of "That was pretty good!" Hanson heard and joked back "Hear that? This guy says we're not terrible!"
The setlist was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be (though we were "robbed" of TBS), but it just felt good and right to be there enjoying a bunch of songs I know in my bones. These days, acoustic "Madeline" is becoming a mid-set staple and a new favorite for me. The harmonies never disappoint. I got to celebrate Rachel's 40th side by side with her in the front row, and while we weren't all next to each other, the rest of my friends all had great spots, too. I really couldn't have asked for a better night.
Minneapolis
We put the phrase "Sleepless in Seattle" into effect when we went to bed at midnight and set an alarm for 2am to get up and go to the airport so we could drop off rental cars and check bags before hopping a 6am flight to Minneapolis. I think every person that was parked at Pike Place all weekend was also at SeaTac when we got there, because the bag check and TSA pre-check lines were the longest I've ever seen (our international friend without pre-check actually beat the rest of us through security). Things moved quickly enough once everything opened, but for once I'm glad we showed up cautiously early. I love and support my bag check friends for knowing their own travel needs, but standing in that line for a change definitely made me thankful that I've gotten used to traveling carry on only.
The show in Minneapolis was at Mystic Casino's outdoor Ribfest, and long gone was the chill in the air and the need for long sleeves. I felt right at home in the 90+ degree humidity and opted to enjoy a shaded spot in the bleachers rather than braving the sunny asphalt on no sleep. I don't regret my choice, and while I love front row more than anything, I also enjoy the occasional chance to sit back and soak in a giant crowd rocking out to Hanson.
I was happy to see Plain White T's open and thought they did a great job putting on an upbeat set and pumping up the crowd. If you think you vaguely remember their name from "Hey There Delilah" fame, odds are you probably know a few more songs than you think. Hanson's set was pretty similar to the one in Snoqualmie with a few changes and felt like a hit with the crowd.
It didn't hit me until after the show that for the first time in forever, I don't know when my next Hanson show will be. For years now I've had a minimum of two guaranteed Hanson trips per year with BTTI and Hanson Day. With BTTI on a confirmed pause for next year and Hanson Day in some sort of silent limbo, this is the first time in at least 15 years that I don't 100% know when I'll be seeing Hanson again. It's a first world problem for sure; poor me, I don't get to see my favorite band five more times this fall because I'm taking a different trip in October, and they're probably taking a well-deserved break of some kind after that. I think I'll survive, and anyway, isn't a big part of the reason we all go to so many just living in the moment because the next one is never guaranteed? I'll hop back out of my feels for now to say I had a genuinely great time at these shows, and while I don't know what's next, I'm sure it'll be worth the trip--even if parking tries to cost as much as the flight.
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| P.S. Shoutout to Yelena's mom's homemade borscht for being even better than the hot dog stand plum🤤 |
