Saturday night was Hanson’s Members Only Event in Tulsa, OK. It was being held at Cain’s Ballroom, but it was seated and a small crowd to keep things intimate. Rather than playing on the stage, the band was playing on the floor and there were several rows of chairs and then some risers in the back.
I was lucky enough to get a front row spot – which at first I was excited about, but then I realized just how intimate the whole thing was and it was kind of awkward haha. But I enjoyed myself just the same. (Actually, I think the awkwardness came from the fact that it was being FILMED)
We were right in front of Zac’s drums, so I was pretty excited… and then they walked out and Taylor sat at the drums and Zac went to the piano. They tricked us like this once before too… they had some technical difficulties right at the start, the “robot” that goes “click, click, click” was not working and they said how usually to kill time they sing someone happy birthday – so they sang happy birthday to whoevers birthday it was. Then they sang the Stevie Wonder happy birthday song. Then Zac sang some of Jimmy Crack Corn and I kept asking my friend Keena “do these songs count for the setlist?” because I had a pad and paper on my lap to keep track of the songs since we were not supposed to use phones or cameras. (Although, that rule didn’t seem to be enforced)
Once they got all the technical glitches out of the way, they played for us songs from “Facing the Blank Page” which is the EP you receive for being a Hanson.net Fan Club member in 2011. The way this EP came together was interesting – they decided to live stream to the fans their writing/recording process and basically each song came together in a day!
They played Sonny Get Your Gun and then after the second song, Sunny Day, they went in to a cover of Cecelia. They also had us doing a LOT of clapping and then stomping and clapping at the same time which I could not really do. My hand eye coordination is lacking and then throwing in trying to do something with my legs too? Forget it! But I tried, and that is what matters! Then they did the rest of the EP – Time Baby Take It, Bittersweet and Get Out Of My Heart. Taylor was on the drums with Zac on the piano/guitar for 2 songs.
After the EP songs they said they went in to the vault and would play some rarer songs. Zac played guitar and they all came out around one mic to play Live Forever, which was a song on a previous Members Only CD. They took it back and did Next Train, another rare song to hear live and finished off the Members Only songs with Coming Back For More.
Then they played a few songs off their latest release – Shout it Out – Waiting For This, Thinking Bout Somethin and Give a Little. They finished out the set with The Ugly Truth from the Van Wilder 2 soundtrack and then left for a brief break before it was time for Q&A.
Nothing too interesting in the Q&A but they confirmed a US tour, South American Tour and European dates pretty much… they also said they are looking to do a 5 of 5 in Australia but would want to have Shout It Out released there around the same time and that the earliest opening they have would be January – but that would be summer in Australia so it might work out.
There was a lot of talk about what to do when you get flack for still liking Hanson and they basically said to “not give a sh*t” about it and “at least they’re not Lady GaGa!” (I cheered a lot when Zac said that) and a guy requested that they sing the National Anthem. They had mentioned they were out of practice and kind of skirted the request, but after the last question Taylor whispered something to Zac and Zac said “Taylor wants to sing the National Anthem” so they all huddled around a mic and did it. It was amazing. Their 3 part harmonies are perfect and to be that close was just… really really awesome!
After the show we went out to Denny’s to grab some dinner w/ some friends which was a lot of fun. I was being ridiculous though because I was SO tired!
Katie 