To finish off the birthday week/end, we went to see Hanson again in Bensalem, PA, just outside of Philly. We got to the hotel around 3pm and checked in and had just enough time to lounge and get settled before our dinner reservations. The accessibility at this hotel wasn’t great, and when I called for a shower chair we got brought a shower curtain. But after some google translate we managed to get a shower chair which made all the difference!
The hotel was just across the parking lot from the casino and the parking lot was PACKED! We ate at the Beer Garden and then headed over to the XCite Center. We had front row once again, only these seats were designated ADA seats. They took my walker from me upon sitting even though there would have been plenty of room in front of us. We also were told that no one could go right up against the stage, but I had intended to once again sit for most of the show since the stage was level with my eyeballs anyway so there was no way I could really stand in front of it with nothing to hold.
After looking like a mountain man the night before, it appeared Taylor trimmed his beard before the show. Early in the show Isaac asked if there were any Hanson.net members in the crowd and said that this next song would go out to them, as it was from their Continental Breakfast In Bed EP. I had no idea what song from that EP they would play, as really only 1 had regularly made it into their sets and they typically only did it if they had someone with a harmonica to join them – which I didn’t think they had. Well, they ended up going into Don’t Ever Change, which is from Against the World. Isaac did however correct himself after and say that it was from Against the World and the last few years had been a blur.
I was pretty pleased with how varied the setlist was from one night to the next with them being so close and a lot of the crowd going to both shows. Before Write You a Song Isaac started talking again, this time saying the song was written in 2022 to which Zac interjected a “stop stop stop, don’t use dates OR album titles” and suggested he be more vague with his stories. With Zac sick and Taylor sounding a bit scratchy apparently all the on stage banter went to Isaac and he needs a fact checker. (I am available.)
They ended up not doing an acoustic set and not bringing Zac up to the front and commented that he was on a lot of steroids due to the virus he had. They ended up doing I Will Come To You and dedicating it to Cynthia – the co writer who had recently passed away. During Been There Before when trying to get us to sing the “na na”s Isaac made a comment like “I am 95.9% sure you can sing ‘na na’, even babies go ‘na na na na'” I don’t know if I enjoyed the Isaac banter show or not – but most likely due to time constraints they ended up cutting 2 songs from the main set (Watch Over Me and Get The Girl Back – I did see Isaac mouth something to Taylor about Get the Girl Back and him agreeing) and they changed the encore. During Andrew’s Cold as Ice solo he ended up playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” which I’m not sure I noticed him ever doing that before!
Speaking of the encore. The security guy who WAS up front in his chair disappeared and then my nice, safe, I can sit, ADA seat got me BURIED in women. Several tripped over my cane while I was trying to situate myself and they were bum rushing the stage. I honestly thought I was going to have a panic attack because of how crowded in I was. I really do wish that they gave me a heads up – and didn’t essentially take my legs away by not allowing me to have my walker at my seat. (Although I probably would have been fighting the crowd to even attempt to get out so I think where I was probably WAS the safest even though it was not a great situation.) It also turned out that the encore was not supposed to be In The City – it was going to be Taylor soloing Truth into A Little Help From My Friends! But I do think they needed to be off the stage at a certain time and that was why they switched everything up.
After the show the beer garden was hosting an after party but we walked by and decided it was not for us and decided to leave instead. We found where they might come out and just missed Taylor due to being indecisive and watched him mingle with the rest of the crowd before being told it was time to go. (Isaac had apparently come out before we got there.) It’s kind of wild that the next show won’t be until NOVEMBER after last year it was nearly every weekend we had jam packed with shows on tour!