Last night I went to the Calvin Theater to see Hanson perform. Unfortunately I bought tickets on “Taylor’s side” which meant for the 2nd show in a row I’d be unable to see Zac. Actually, at first I thought I would be able to if I stood to the side of my chair, but, well, I’ll explain why that didn’t work in a second.
While we were waiting for doors to open, Siobhan Magnus of American Idol walked by to get in line, I had wanted to get a picture with her but ended up not wanting to bother her and cause a “scene”, so I didn’t end up getting to meet her – but I did find it odd that the 2 concerts after I got my braces on, an American Idol contestant was at the show. (When I got my uppers on we met Chicken Little – Kevin Covais at the Honor Society show)
Our seats were front row and we sat there and waited for 8pm to roll around when Jarrod Gorbel would take the stage. The place was not filled at ALL so I was wondering if the other fans happened to know something I didn’t. I think they did. While Jarrod has a nice voice, his songs are not very up beat and do not really get you pumped for a Hanson show. He also took time to make fun of people in the crowd, which I didn’t think was cool. And his set seemed to go on forever. Whenever he would talk about going home, I thought that meant that his last song was up next, but then he’d play 2 or 3 more…I am really not looking forward to checking him out 2 more times on this tour and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this negatively about a Hanson opener in the past (with the exception of perhaps The Cringe who opened at Toads Place a few years back and lived up to their name)
Then it was time to wait for Hanson! It actually was a relatively short wait and they came out about 9:15. I was hoping I’d be able to sit for at least some of the show, but once the front row stood up, girls started filling in the aisles so I had to stand up to claim my spot in the front row on the side. I thought this was incredibly rude since it was a seated show and you should just deal with the seats that you have… and if these girls stayed where they were supposed to instead of knocking into me all night I’d have actually been able to see Zac.
Unfortunately there were no new songs for me to add to my “heard live” list, but I did hit over 1,000 songs heard performed live by Hanson a few songs into the set. (I think #1,000 was ‘And I Waited’, but I haven’t double checked that for sure) Oh Darling was a little bit different with Zac holding out an “Oh” for a ridiculously long amount of time. I also don’t recall having heard Madeline electric in a while (not counting 5 of 5, of course)
Taylor also was not too pleased I wasn’t dancing or jumping around – but unfortunately I can’t. Sometimes it is hard enough just to remain standing and any shifting of myself could end up with me falling over. In my head I was dancing and jumping though! At one point he walked all the way over to where we were and said “You need to move!” And then tripped on some wires on the way back to the piano. Don’t mess with me Taylor… 😉
One of the highlights was that they played Lost Without Each Other just before the encore which is one of my all time favorite songs. I tried to get into it a little bit more, but at that point I was tired and had forgotten how to even jump, so I’m not sure I could have if I tried.
The other highlight was when Taylor started talking about how they had some friends with them at the show and I looked over to the side of the stage and saw Stephen Kellogg and Goose! I was like “ITS STEPHEN KELLOGG” and was sooooo excited because I haven’t seen them in what seems like forever. SK and Goose joined Hanson on the encore of Long Way To The Top (Lyrics were printed out and put at the piano and on the ground near the extra mic – I was hoping it would be something new since they put the lyrics down but no such luck. Of course SK and Goose made up for that!)
A lowlight was when one of the girls who pushed her way up front (who started out next to me and being annoying and ended up in front or me and blocking Zac almost entirely from me for the acoustic set) ended up getting on stage to dance with Taylor. It frustrates me when they reward misbehaving.
Setlist under the cut – photos coming soon!
1. Waiting For This Medley
2. Make It Out Alive
3. Where’s The Love
4. And I Waited
5. Speechless
6. Carry You There
7. Underneath
8. This Time Around
9. Penny and Me
10. Use Me Up (Zac solo)
11. Great Divide
12. Voice In The Chorus
13. Can’t Stop
14. Minute Without You
15. Madeline
16. Thinking Bout Somethin
17. Oh Darlin
18. MMMBop
19. Give A Little
20. If Only
21. Lost Without Each Other
22. Long Way To The Top w/ Stephen Kellogg and Goose