Concert Katie

the same song over and over again

August 2025

Concert SK6ers

Stephen Kellogg and Javier Colon Old Saybrook, CT

Katie No Comments

Sunday night Stephen Kellogg brought his To You, Old Friend tour to The Kate in Old Saybrook, CT with special guest Javier Colon.  The two came out and shared a mic for “On the Road Again” and then Stephen explained that the two of them would be on stage sharing songs and stories and that the show was a middle-aged dream – starts at 7, no opener, and we have seats.  Javier Colon joked he’d be home in bed by 9:30 – and I was home in bed by 10.  I can’t complain!   There was a jar on the stage that held different prompts for songs they could sing so that the show would never be the same twice.

The first choice was “Sing a Longs” with Javier teaching us a part to “Raise Your Hand” that didn’t work out the last time he tried it – and Stephen told him it was probably because he was singing it too high and made him do a lower register as well.  Stephen told a story about why he wrote the song “Harbor” and that was his sing-a-long.

The next topic was “Family Songs”, Stephen debated which song he was going to do and ended up doing a medley of Four Kids and his songs for each of his daughters (who were all in attendance) Sweet Sophia, Oh Adeline, Noelle, Noelle and Greta Girl.  Javier hit back with Come Through For You which was written for his wife and daughters (but did mention he now also has a 12 year old son).

“Love Songs” lent us “Echo” from Javier and “It Goes Fast” from SK.  When SK finished, both of them were crying and Javier said that he needed to give him a heads up if he was going to sing songs that were going to rip him apart.  Stephen had mentioned he’d be bringing his daughter to college tomorrow and Javier would be in 6 days.

“Tell a story” had Stephen only telling a story about how someone bought a shirt from his merch store and he asked someone on the tour to bring it to the post office and instead he realized the house was closer than the post office so he delivered it to the house and the whole thing took about 23 minutes.  Javier opted to tell his story through song, Giant, which was about someone that he trusted that he shouldn’t have and they took a lot of money from him that he didn’t get back and had to write it off as a learning experience.

“Songs that made you realize you were a song writer” – Javier did “Ok Here’s the Truth” which was a song I was hoping wouldn’t make the set – but if you know the song you can see why it would fit into this category perfectly.  He had also said a country singer wanted the song and he told him no and he shouldn’t have.  Stephen had them turn all the lights off in the theater and sang “Almost Woke You Up” in the dark.

The final category ended up being “Travel songs”.  Javier did “Walkin'” which he said was about how he and his wife made a pact to never go to bed angry but that sometimes you just need to take a walk and cool down and figure out things later.  Stephen did “Kiss the Ring” which is on his album featuring Javier and it’s about a narcissist and Stephen got really into it, stomping along (Javier joked that there was now a hole in the floor) and at one point adlibbed in “TRUMP IS NOT A KING AND I WON’T KISS THE RING” which got the crowd going wild.

The two left the stage to a standing ovation and came back out to share the mic once again with “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “See You Later, See You Soon” which Stephen turned into a sing a long and told us that in the 3 more times we sing the chorus, if we put our all into it, maybe it will change the world.  It was only 8:40 and the show was over – but I appreciated the early night on a Sunday!

Stephen Kellogg Setlist The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, CT, USA 2025, Old Friends Tour

Banana Ball

Savannah Bananas in Chicago

Katie No Comments

Savannah Bananas at Rate Field | Chicago White Sox

This past weekend I headed to Chicago to see the Savannah Bananas and my first Firefighters game of the season. I left Thursday evening and got to my fancy pants hotel. While the room was labeled accessible, the door weighed a ton and I had to ask someone in the hallway for help getting inside. Fortunately that issue only was because I had luggage with me and I managed to get in and out a lot easier the rest of the weekend.

Friday I headed to the stadium a little after 1 and waited for the 2pm doors to open.  When I got in the Bananas were out signing, but KJ’s line was already what appeared to be 30+ minutes long and I didn’t spot anyone else out that I might have wanted to say hello to. I ended up sitting by the stage and then security came and told me they had a seating area in the shade that I could hang out in if I wanted.  The spot ended up being behind the stage and I made a friend to talk baseball with until it was time to go inside.

This game had a TON of fan catches. It tied the record of 6 in one game and 5 of them were in the first 2 innings.  It was wild to see. (Especially since the minor league stadiums didn’t have all that many because a lot of the foul balls went over the top of the stadiums.)  At half time, the special guest was Chance the Rapper who put on a performance for us all. (Do I get to count it as a concert now too?) Dalton Cornett’s Dad was in the White Sox organization and Dalton took an at-bat in his Dad’s jersey.  The special guests were AJ Pierzynski and Mark Buehrle.  AJ even stayed in the game to catch when Mark was pitching.  Peanut got hit by a pitch and was injured.  The bananas ended up winning.

Saturday was a totally different experience – we had VIB – we were escorted into the lobby via elevator and the AC was cranking.  We teased maybe we’d just hang out in there instead, as it was so hot and humid and gross.  (And they had the Mets on TV!)  We made our way out to the field and things were a little bit more chaotic than I had gotten used to with my Party Animals games in minor league stadiums.  We made our way around about halfway, then I realized RAC and some others had really long lines, so we snaked around them and I went to Noah Bridges as he is one of my friend’s favorite players and she had said she wanted a photo of us together.  I ended up mentioning that she could go to Yankee Stadium with me, but is a Red Sox fan and Noah said “let’s make her a video!” and took my phone and recorded a video telling her that he wanted to meet her.  So freaking awesome!  We ended up waiting for Stilts, RAC’s line was no one on our way out so I told him I appreciated how he handled his fall and that kind of reaction was something I needed as a kid having CP and hating falling in front of people and hopefully there are some kids like me out there who will benefit from it. He thanked me for telling him that and gave me a big hug.  I was glad that I saw KJ at the pre-game plaza because I’d have spent the whole time just waiting for him if not!  But that’s definitely something to think about for my future games.

Then when the pre-game stuff started, we knew a storm might be rolling through. Everything was still in pre-game mode and not rain delay mode as far as I could tell, but about 3 minutes in to the game (2 batters worth) the rain started coming down really hard and the tarp was put on the field and the rain delay show began.  It kept everyone entertained but then there was a lightning delay.  Fans were encouraged to go up to the concourse and that players and cast would join then there.  Our seats were covered, so we opted to not move unless staff told us that we HAD to because it seemed safer to stay in the seats than be in a crowd of people. (No one ever told us to leave)  Once the game got going again, the special guests were Ozzie Guillen to coach and Paul Konerko to hit.  With me starting to get into the MLB in 2005, I think this was the first time I knew of all the guests (and even guessed myself a couple that would show up!)  The bananas won once again, 5-2. RAC even had a home run!

I had scheduled an uber for 5:37am for an 8am-ish flight out of O’Hare.  It was making me nervous when it said my driver was running late, but he got to me just about on time and got me to the airport.  I made my way through security, got to the gate and worked on trying to finish my book as I waited to board.  There were a lot of people who had been trying to get on the flight and there was a line of 5-6 people by the time the gate agent showed up.  She let one of the flight attendants down the jetway (I had though the plane came in the night before) and then about 20 minutes before we were supposed to board, the monitor at the gate just changed to “CANCELED”.  What!?  The gate agent said it was due to weather on the way to Hartford.  I called about getting on a new flight and was told there was nothing until TUESDAY (it was Sunday morning) and that they could not get me a hotel or booked on another airline because it was weather related.  I checked my Southwest app too see if they had anything from O’Hare, and nothing was direct, but there was a 10am flight from Midway.  I bought it and hoped I could make it – and embarked on my very own version of “The Amazing Race”.  I couldn’t track down a wheelchair to leave, so I walked myself out (falling once and getting helped up by a couple of nice guys in the security line) got an Uber and made it to midway by 8:15, we’d be boarding at 9:30.  They told me wheelchairs were delayed about 30 mins but I had “plenty of time.”  At 9:10 I started to panic, and they finally bumped me to the top of the line.  Of course, there was a commotion at TSA with the wheelchair in front of us, and then I had to get a pat down because my crotch set off the machine. I could see a clock in the distance saying 9:24 and by the time we got out of the security area it was 9:30.  My pusher hustled us to the gate agent to get a tag for the walker and I ended up boarding between A and B groups instead of pre-boarding.  I was in the 9th row in a window seat but still not convinced we’d be leaving because of this “weather”.  (If it was cleared up by 10, why weren’t we just delayed? The flight paths couldn’t be all that different from ORD and MDW – could they?)   I also realized my seat was broken and knew I’d be the one to be bumped off the completely full flight so I didn’t say a word. (The button to recline was stuck in the pushed in position so any time I leaned back even a little, it went back the whole way)  The flight attendant did end up figuring out it was broken as we were about to land in Hartford – but at that point I had made it!  I ended getting home at 3:30pm, ordering some dinner and then going to sleep for the rest of the night.

My next trip is to Pittsburgh and I have layovers to get there, but I am hoping Southwest will come through for me once again.  Now to just hope my travel insurance will ALSO come through for me with having to had purchase that last minute flight home!  And I canceled my upcoming flight with American when I got home as well.  I do have one I *have* to use them for, but I’m hoping for a better outcome.

 

Concert Hanson

Hanson in New England

Katie No Comments

Hanson did a whirlwind 3 shows in New England this past week.  Our trip started on Wednesday, when we took the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket.  Hanson would be playing the following night at a very small venue that held less then 400 people (including staff).  It was nearly sold out despite the high costs of staying over night on the island for fans. We did a bit of exploring and went to the Shipwreck Museum and the Whaling Museum before heading to Muse for the show.  I have never seen a smaller stage and Hanson’s heads were practically touching the ceiling with them just standing there, and I am not sure at all how they fit the 3 band members plus Andrew and Dimitrius plus 2 techs.  I ended up in the front right by where they had to enter/exit and was able to get high fives from all of them as they left the stage.  The locals were incredibly rude and yelling that they only came for MMMBop and they should play it and mocking the fans who traveled for the show wondering “why?” when they just jogged there from their house, as well we screaming “the 8 year old is singing!” when Zac moved to the piano for Juliet. Afterwards was Taylor’s dance party that went until about 12:30am.  The locals seemed to clear out after MMMBop (which I kind of wish they had played earlier in the set) and while a few did hang around a bit for the afterparty, it seemed to be mostly fans left by the end of the night.

There once was a fan in Nantucket,
Who’d driven for hours to pluck it.
The night felt so near,
With her favorite band here,
She thought, “This is my shot — better luck it!”

The next morning when we got to the docks to catch our ferry back to the mainland, we ended up bumping into Hanson. Taylor said Good Morning and we realized we would be on the same ferry back.  Zac came and chatted with us a bit about the casino show coming up and I was able to tell him about the Comic Con that was going on as well.  Once we got back to my car in Hyannis we headed to the Providence airport to pick up a friend and made our way to my normal stomping grounds, Mohegan Sun.  I opted to rent a scooter for our 2 days there which was probably one of the best ideas I had ever had.  Friday night we scoped out Sun Patio and watched the 52nd Street Band – a Billy Joel cover band for a bit.  I ended up leaving around 11, but we had spotted Isaac at the bar and my friends stayed to chat with him for a bit.

Saturday I was splitting my time between Hanson and Comic Con so after we ate lunch I made my way to the con – while the scooter was super helpful for my legs, it was super chaotic navigating it through the con.  I ended up immediately waiting for Ke Huy Quan who was on a break for another 15-20 minutes.  Once he came back, Brian Posehn was waiting to greet him and then the line got moving.  He chatted with everyone for a bit – I got to tell him that I am an engineer partly because of Data and he asked if I liked doing that I said yes, that I worked on making helicopters and he seemed very impressed.  He was as sweet as could be and I was so glad that things worked out so I could meet him!  After I went to see Carl Palino who made the Hanson clay puppets for “Celebrity Death Match”  He had a photo of Hanson v the Spice Girls so I had him sign it for me and let him know that Hanson was there.  He said he wasn’t sure he would recognize them now that they were grown men but told me if I saw them to tell them to go see him.  I mentioned I had previously told Isaac and Zac he would be there but weren’t sure if they’d make it to the con or not.  After I finished there, I went to hang out with my friends for a bit, before heading back up for my photo op with Ke.  The photo op was scheduled for 6:30pm and Hanson was set to hit the stage at 7pm so I knew I would have a fangirl 5k to do once the photo was done.  Fortunately the photo op people were awesome and let me go through the line first.  Ke was incredibly sweet and helped me off the scooter and walk over to the photo spot and then helped me back to the scooter after.  As I was leaving, they announced it was 6:40pm and the con would be ending soon.  I ended up making it to the spot my friends had saved for me at the show by 6:55pm!! What perfect timing. (To see one of the other reasons I am an engineer)

After having a great day, everything went downhill when we entered Avalon for the After Party.  I won’t get into all the specifics but Mohegan Sun struck again with not knowing how to deal with those who have disabilities.  I gave Taylor until 11 or the end of the Savannah Bananas game that was being played to come out – and he did not – so we ended up leaving because the club was not at all our scene and not at all what we were expecting from a Taylor after party.  We ended up bumping into Isaac on the way out and I gave him the signed photo I had gotten from Carl of the Celebrity Deathmatch scene.

Sunday morning we left for Maine, found somewhere to eat and then paid for close parking ($60!) to the On the Ocean festival.  The staff was very accommodating and brought us right to the ADA area which we decided to stay in for the whole show.  We didn’t bother trying to get to the other stage and only saw Joy (who was a lot less annoying than when she opened for John Mayer, which we decided must have just been nerves) Hanson and Guster.  Guster also had a B-stage that was right in front of the ADA area so that was pretty fun when they came out and did a few songs back there.

Guster Setlist On The Ocean 2025

I had debated leaving before Guster’s set was over but didn’t want to have FOMO if Hanson came out and did something with them.  It ended up that they didn’t, but the show was over by 9 and I was able to quickly get back to the car and ended up making it back home by 1:30am.  There was some construction delays and the GPS decided to route me to closed gas stations 3 times… but overall it was not a bad drive at all and I was hoping to be home by 2am, which I was.
It was a crazy weekend but I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Banana Ball

Party Animals in St Paul

Katie No Comments

I kicked off August with my last 2 Party Animals games of the season.  Friday night we opted to show up a bit later as the air quality was terrible because of the smoke from the Canadian wild fires.  We got in, went to the KClub entrance and hung out in the shade until it was just about time for gates to open.  When I decided to start making my way closer to the main concourse, the whole team walked by giving us all high fives as they went.  Despite having VIP tickets for the following night, we had pretty awesome tickets for this game – front row behind home plate!  Andy Cosgrove made an awesome catch over the dug out on the first batter of the game and Noah Fisher fouled out to a fan in the first inning as well.  Tailgaters were out to an early lead, but in the end the Party Animals won, 2-1.

Saturday we got there just as the plaza party was starting and made our way in to the team store to look for book stamps (they were not there, we had to go to fan services) and then checked in for VIP.  We had some time to kill before we needed to head down the field so one friend who wasn’t with us Friday hit up the merch line and then it was time to be escorted to the elevator.  We waited for the go ahead in a tunnel, which a lot of the players went through on their way to the field so we got some early high fives and hellos and we also got farted on by Pharty. (His farts DO smell like cupcakes!)  We finally made our way out to the field and had figured out who we wanted to prioritize and then made our way to as many of the other tables as we could.  I think we ended up only not having time for 1 table.

Our seats for the next game were between home and third and a few rows up, which actually ended up being a bit better of a view overall as there weren’t as many cameras blocking us when there were celebration dances happening.  Cole Kitchen for the Tailgaters pitched 3 really solid innings, Reece Hampton ended up fouling out to a fan in the 8th inning (who are you rooting for fans, Party Animals or Tailgaters? lol) There were no homeruns and the Tailgaters took the early lead again – but Party Animals still ended up getting the win.

Of note: when we got up to Baber at VIP he was saying he didn’t want to be crawling on the ground and he would do it once during the game. We laughed that we popped in at that part of the conversation – but once the 5-2-2 (I think it was the 5th) happened to “Disco Snails” and we saw what he had to do – we realized why he didn’t want to do it anymore than he had to and would be able to do it during the game without practicing it.

After the game we ended up hanging around the party plaza and getting some photos with more of the players as a group and also asking them the very important question – *NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?  In the end it was split, 3-3.  And Vava informed us that he had tried to talk about Hanson in the clubhouse, but everyone is so young they had no idea who he was even talking about. Considering I tell their ages by saying ‘I have Hanson CDs older than him’, he’s not wrong.

I do still have some bananas games coming up, but I definitely will miss my Party Animals!! Here’s hoping I can get back to Savannah before the end of the year to see them, but if not, there’s always the cruise!

Concert Hanson

Hanson in Seattle & Minneapolis

Katie No Comments

Last week was a whirlwind trip to Seattle and then to Minneapolis for back to back Hanson concerts on very little sleep. Tuesday night I flew to Nashville, had what was supposed to be a 4 hour layover but my flight ended up over an hour delayed.  Good thing for that long layover!  Got there, met up with a friend excited that they had Wow Bao in the airport now – only for it not to be taking orders. We went to a sit down restaurant instead and then found that our Seattle flight was delayed as well.

We made it to Seattle, waited forever for our bags and then went to grab the rental car.  We were told we were all set only for me to get an email while we were driving that they could no longer hold the car for me… making us think we stole the rental.  Customer Service the next morning assured us it was a glitch.  We also got to the hotel to find out my credit card was declined so we were off to a rough start.

I had wanted to hit up the Mariners game on Wednesday afternoon but didn’t want to drive into Seattle by myself and Ubers were almost as much as tickets were and I also was still trying to get all the car and card drama settled so I ended up not going.  We ended up hitting up Pike Place for lunch, getting Beecher’s Mac and Cheese (And I also got a Breadzel which was delicious and I wish I had more!) which we had missed out on getting the last trip. We also got to watch them making cheese through the windows.  Then my friends went to explore and I found myself waiting next to the Giant Shoe Museum and a magic shop that had a penny and medallion machine.  I limited myself to just 2 pennies because they were 75cents each, but got all the medallions with the help of my credit card.   We had parked in the world’s most expensive garage (probably not, but it sure seemed like it – everything else was full when we arrived but not full when we were leaving so we just timed things poorly) and headed to a seafood restaurant for lunch (Rock Creek) so everyone (but me) could have oysters.  I managed to find a Shrimp Roll I would eat.   We then walked a few blocks to get gelato – I got the “Razzle Dazzle” flavor.  The Razzle was Raspberry and the Dazzle was a hint of citrus.  We ended up having an early night because everyone was exhausted from the travel and a bit thrown off with the time change.

The next day we found out how those little reflectors get added to the road when we got stuck next to / behind a truck that was doing it. We then made our way to the Space Needle – and were pleasantly surprised that Mt Rainer was visible – the elevator attendant told us that it’s only visible 90 days out of the year AND that earlier it was too cloudy to see it so we had some good timing for once!  We went around the viewing platform taking photos at various spots and then decided to brave the revolving floor which actually turned out to be pretty cool!  In the store I ended up getting just 1 pressed penny (and not even of the space needle – of the market go figure) and tried my first mold-a-matic to get a space needle made.  It ended up getting stuck but after a few minutes it must’ve cooled off enough and released itself.  I also got myself one medallion, some stickers and a space needle shaped rice krispies treat.

After we hit up the MoPop museum which was something I had wanted to go to last time but we didn’t manage to have time.  There was a section for horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy that I think are their rotating exhibits? Then the rest of the museum had Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, video games, and pop culture areas to check out – that were formerly part of the “experience music project” which it was branded as initially when it was first opened.  Since I was subjected to seafood for dinner the previous night, I got to pick dinner and picked burgers at a place that also had boozy milkshakes.

Friday we went to Snoqualmie Falls – where the pennies cost $1 to make but I ended up getting them all and some more stickers.  I just went to the lookout up top, but my friends did the entire steep hike to the also view the falls from the bottom.  The falls and the nearby lodge are apparently parts of the show Twin Peaks.

Then we made our way to the casino for the Hanson show! We had dinner at their Asian restaurant and I saw one of my favorite slot machines and ended up getting myself a players card (I decided I’d get one at every casino of this ‘not a tour’ and see how many I ended up with at the end) which ended up awarding me $5 for my birthday and $5 on another promo so I was able to play for a bit on house money – but didn’t end up winning anything or hitting the bonus round.

The Hanson show was a lot of fun – we thought we had really far front row but the whole set up was so tiny it wasn’t as far over as we thought at all. The backdrop with the mountains and the clouds had to have been one of the prettier Hanson shows I have been to, unfortunately the sunset was behind us and I never really turned around to see that.  Although the setlist was a bit predictable, the show was a lot of fun!

After the show we went back to the hotel to change into our plane clothes and see how much sleep we could manage to squeeze in before getting up at 2am to hit the airport.  We dropped off those checking bags and then went to return the rental car (which seemed to go smoothly?) and then got in the massively long security line.  One friend did not have pre-check and we were worried it may take her longer to get through – but we were all pleasantly surprised when we got to the gate she had beaten us there!

I slept as much as I could on the flight, we landed around 11 MN time, I snuck in another nap but still was ready to fall asleep before/during/after the MN show.  You could tell the guys seemed a bit tired too – but they still put on a good show. Something got messed up before Cold as Ice though and they had to restart the song – which isn’t something I’ve seen them do too many times at a “public” show.  After we saw there was another song on the setlist before Cold As Ice that was skipped and may have been cause for the mix-up.

After the show we went to find food in the casino, I bumped into Taylor on the way to the bathroom and then we ended up chatting a bit with Isaac at the bar before heading out to get some real sleep!

 

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