Concert

98° at Foxwoods

98 Degrees delivered an energetic and nostalgic performance Saturday night at Foxwoods, opening for Bell Biv DeVoe. While their set was shorter than their last Foxwoods appearance—likely due to their supporting role—there was no shortage of fan favorites, ensuring a lively atmosphere throughout.

The show opened with a mix of their own hits and well-chosen covers. “Can’t Get Enough” and “Heat It Up” set the tone, showcasing the group’s signature smooth vocals. A particularly fun moment came when they launched into their Bruno Mars cover of “Finesse,” which kept the crowd engaged and moving.

The performance seemed geared towards the 90s pop crowd, and the setlist confirmed this, with energetic renditions of classic pop songs. The loudest cheers came when the group paid tribute to some of the era’s biggest hits. Their covers of Britney Spears’ “Oops!…I Did It Again,” NSYNC’s “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” and Backstreet Boys’ “Larger Than Life” sparked waves of nostalgia, especially with fans singing along. These were standout moments, demonstrating that while 98 Degrees may have been the opening act, their influence in the pop world was undeniable.

They also took the time to sprinkle in a few of their own hits, including “Invisible Man” and “The Hardest Thing,” which held special significance for fans who have followed the group since the late 90s. The most surprising part of the set was their seamless mix of songs. They effortlessly transitioned from their own tracks to covers like Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name,” keeping the energy high and the crowd invested.

The cover medley that featured “Livin’ la Vida Loca,” “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy),” and “Thong Song” added a playful element to the show, with fans of all ages enjoying the throwback to the late 90s and early 2000s hits. The mixture of R&B, pop, and Latin vibes brought a nice variety to the performance, even though the setlist didn’t linger too long on any one genre.

After about an hour, the group closed their set with the iconic “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche),” which left fans satisfied but wanting more. Given the circumstances of them being an opening act, it was a solid performance that didn’t overstay its welcome but hit all the right notes for the audience. The upbeat nature of the show, paired with a nostalgia-packed setlist, made it a perfect opening act for Bell Biv DeVoe, and though we left early, the crowd seemed to appreciate the throwback to pop’s golden era.

 

98° Setlist Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT, USA 2024

Kris Allen at The Kate

Saturday night I went to The Kate to see Kris Allen.  Opening for him was Walker Burroughs, who was on Idol in Season 2019 – aka The Season I can’t Remember.  I was working full time and going to grad school full time and I was watching here and there but none of the contestants stuck with me at all and it’s probably the only season where my Mom remembers more of it than I do, but I’m going to see about rewatching it now.

Walker came out and introduced himself and mentioned how he had never been as high as Connecticut, he is from Alabama.  Immediately I found him adorable and hilarious.  He intro’ed his first song by saying that he was inspired to write it watching a tiktok about the proper way to eat peas – and sure enough the first line was something about not slurping your peas.  The second song was about how he grew up with a river in his back yard and now that he lives in Nashville there’s a highway in his backyard. (I didn’t catch the names of most of his songs, unfortunately) His third song was called Made to Me, The next one he did on the piano and it was a hilariously funny song about there being miscommunication between a couple – his comedic timing and delivery was just… spot on.  He also did a song about how he used to ask his mom for dating advice as a kid and put the advice in a song. He had also mentioned that she told him he should give the girl he liked a pencil but to make sure it had a good eraser and honestly – in 2nd grade that would have won me over for sure because I wanted to be a writer. (Except that when I was in 2nd grade, he wasn’t even born)  He also did a cover of John Denver’s Annie’s Song (aka You Fill up my Senses).  He then told us a story about some work he was doing outside in Kentucky and it was hot and there was a dog named Cooter and he wrote a song about him and finished his set up with his song Pretty Penny.

During the break between sets the guy next to me apparently crawled out from under a rock and was telling me how Kris beat Adam Lambert AND Danny Gokey.  As someone who is probably partially personally responsible for that happening – yes, I know, I was there lol.

I hadn’t seen Kris with a full band in a while and we were the last show of the tour and it seemed like he was having just so much fun and he was VERY chatty. He even mentioned it himself when the band left him to himself on stage for a few songs, saying that he’d bring the band back out after a couple of songs because he decided he wanted to just keep telling us stories.  He did a lot of songs off of his new album, Pole Vaulter, which I haven’t had a chance to listen to in its entirety yet, but a lot of them he had been doing when I had seen him live before and had been sort of releasing them one by one and was finally able to put them all together so I think there was only a couple that I didn’t fully know and then one had had written while he was on a music cruise full of people that didn’t know him to introduce himself. (Which he stopped part of the way in and told us a story about Reba – I told you he was chatty..)

The Meet and Greet for this show I had purchased ended up refunded and they said he would be staying after the show to meet everyone, so I tried to be last in line thinking we would both be chatty, but 2 groups didn’t want to cut me so they insisted I go in front of them… and we were pretty chatty but it was nice to catch up with him!  I also got to meet Walker and tell him I thought that he was really funny and he was very humble and was asking me where I lived and trying to figure out where Connecticut was in relation to New York so I got to teach him some geography as well (go figure, I’m not so great at that but I do know that New York City is south of me, at least)

For a show only 45 minutes from my house, I somehow ended up getting home at 1am… I guess because Kris was so chatty! ha. Good thing it was a Saturday 🙂  Always a lovely time seeing Kris and I’m always so thankful he continues to play shows in CT!

Pentatonix Hallelujah! It’s a Christmas Tour

Thursday night, Pentatonix kicked off their Christmas Tour at Mohegan Sun in the Arena.  The whole band seemed to really love the venue and talked multiple times about how much they enjoy playing there and should include it on all of their tours. Since it was their first show of the tour I tried to keep really good notes on the setlist since I had nothing else to base off of and I wasn’t sure it anyone else would keep track.  It was a good thing that I did because while someone did get to setlist.fm before me, they were a bit off with what was sung.

I have seen a lot of memes about how “My Favorite Things” and “Hallelujah” are not Christmas songs – but both of these were in the set.  They did say that “My Favorite Things” was more of a spooky Christmas song before playing it.  (And an also completely not Christmas song, which they admitted, was Wicked’s “What is this Feeling” was done in Act 2)

Another fun part of the show was the WHEEL! OF! CHRISTMAS! Which they spun 4 times – which got them to sing mini arrangements of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Sleigh Ride, Just for Now and Making Christmas. (Another spooky one)

There was an approximately 20 minute intermission.

My favorite Christmas song to sing, by far, is Carol of the Bells, so I was a little bit bummed when they started out their set with it.  BUT! Then Scott came out much later in the set and said that he wanted to record a TikTok with us – and it was Carol of the Bells! He split us so the sides were doing ding dongs and then the center was the BOMMMMmmmm…. Then he decided it would be really cool if we could also make our phone lights go on/off based on when we were singing so we could visualize the bells and that’s where he lost me – apparently I can’t sing AND cover and uncover my flashlight at the same time.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it came out.

The B-stage was pretty close to me so I was excited when they made their way out there for 5 songs and then all made their way back up through the crowd during O Come All Ye Faithful.  Scott teased that it was nice to meet everyone when he made his way back to the stage.

There were a couple of moments where they made me feel really old though – Kirsten mentioned that she was loving Wicked since she was 10 – I saw the Original Broadway Cast when I was in college (20yrs old) and then Scott talked about freaking out over getting a game cube for Christmas when he was 8.  I think I was gearing up to graduate high school or thereabouts when that one came out.  I may have even been selling them at Toys R Us when they first came out… (insert grandma emoji here)

After they left the stage, before the encore, it was the most people leaving the venue I had ever seen.  Unfortunately that meant when they tried to do a more traditional acapella song for the encore with just a mic in between them all, there was a LOT of noise coming from the concourse.  They did a medley of Pure Imagination from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory mixed with Peanuts Christmas Time is Here, which seems like it would be a bit of an odd pairing, but somehow it worked!  And they finished out the show with Joyful Joyful.

Unfortunately about halfway driving up to the casino I realized my camera was sitting on my desk… so I was stuck in the back of the arena with just my phone’s camera.

 

Nick Carter Who I Am Tour

Saturday evening was time for Nick Carter’s Who I Am concert.  For this tour Nick did some Backstreet Boys songs, some of his solo songs and some of his favorite cover songs from watching them on TV as he was growing up.  Ironically enough, he also chose to do Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which was one that Hanson had just introduced on their latest tour as well. He did several wardrobe changes and had a screen behind him with different graphics and/or music videos depending on what song he was singing.

For some of the songs he played acoustic guitar and some electric.  He had Nick TV guitar picks, similar to the MTV logo to go with the theme of watching the music videos on TV and I was lucky enough to grab one!

He did some new arrangements of some songs too – one song started out sounding like it was going to be some Ozzy Osbourne – but it turned out to be Shape of My Heart? (I think that’s what it was anyway – my memory is fading)

He even tried to write a boyband love song to Connecticut. It didn’t roll off the tongue as easily as he had hoped, but he was just trying to show how easy it was to write a love song with just a few key words.

*Not sure if this setlist is totally accurate – it is the one that was on the stage but I question if he did Do I Have To Cry For You or Superman and seem to recall him doing a cover of Sharp Dressed Man and Made for Us that isn’t on the list. (I believe they were sometime after Wanted Dead or Alive)

Nick Carter Listening Party

Saturday I had to get up super early for the Nick Carter listening party I had gotten myself tickets for. I really didn’t know what i got myself into and certainly didn’t realize it was going to start at 11am. (At least I had Friday to sleep in after all my trips?)

Once I arrived we were informed that they were going to rig everything up to the house speakers but apparently hadn’t thought of that sooner so we had to give them some time to get it set up.
Nick came out and did 3 songs acoustic for us – Larger than Life, As Long as You Love Me and Help Me. (Which he is re-recording and said it is easier to sing if he is standing)
Then they took our phones from us and Nick played several potential tracks from his new album. Some were done, some weren’t the final arrangement and some were demos. We had to rank them from 1 to 10 and after each track we were able to ask questions. He wanted some immediate feedback and asked if anyone rated a song 5 or below not to raise their hands and then he found out almost everyone just gave everything all 10s. I was actually critical and had no 10s, but nothing 5 or below either.  Some of the songs were written by him, some weren’t but they resonated with him and one was a cover.
After the listening and rating we got our photo with Nick and then were able to get our phones back.  We got to keep our sheet of paper and then got sent a link to digitally submit our rankings.

Cyndi Lauper Farewell Tour

After all our Hanson adventures we went to see Cyndi Lauper’s farewell tour at the Bridgestone Arena. It was so fun to see everyone all dressed up in neon and I wish I had brought my tutu!

Opening for the evening was Elle King, who is pregnant and I had thought was canceled by Nashville after a show at the opry but it seems like all is well as she was given a standing ovation at the end of her set. When she did xs and os in the middle of her set, I realized what it must feel like for people who go to see Hanson only for mmmbop and they play it relatively early on.
As soon as Cyndi came out she set off a rainbow burst of confetti, to make sure we knew we weren’t at a predators hockey game – you know like when you get on a plane and they tell you where it is going?  In between songs she talked a bit about the different chapters in her life and how this isn’t a farewell all together but that she is probably going to focus less on live performances and wanted to focus more on Broadway.
I thought I’d know maybe 3-5 songs but ended up knowing more like 7 which was half of the set.  She changed her outfit (and hair!) Several times throughout the set and talked a lot about women’s rights and who came before us to make sure we could have credit cards or go to college.
She had Elle king join her for “time after time” and during the encore had Hayley Williams from Paramore join her for “girls just want to have fun”
Even not knowing all of her music it was a really fun show and I’m glad I got to see her! I also had been talking to some friends about how I had never seen anyone sneeze while on stage and she did blow her nose once and step aside for throat spray – but not a sneeze. Seems like she too was getting over the cold we all seemed to have too.

Cyndi Lauper Setlist Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN, USA 2024, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour

Underneath Experience Nashville

Nashville October 30

We weren’t sure what we were going to get going into this show, and Hanson was coming off a long run at Disney and then a trip up to New York City. They had never played this venue before so we didn’t know the ADA set up either.  Well, it ended up right up front to the left side of the stage and was roped off at an angle so we would actually be able to see the stage and not be blocked by the standing fans. It sounds like anyone behind about 3rd row couldn’t see much at all due to how low the stage was to the ground so it was a bit of a role reversal and of my friend group I was the only one happy with the venue.

Zac came out wearing glasses, which I think were Ray Bans with cameras in them, so who knows what all he ended up recording.   We had a surprise for Taylor’s solo which was a request for 2 bad ass individuals in the building – Lost Without You! (But still no Pink Moon).  During Cecilia we tried to mimic Zac’s hand claps and I think he saw us failing and laughing at ourselves. The pattern (still) makes no sense!

We went to Taylor’s after party for about 45 minutes and then ended up getting some late night Taco Bell.

Nashville October 31

For Halloween we weren’t sure if Hanson would dress up or not, but most of my group did (I went as Hanson’s character on The Masked Singer – a Russian Doll) but I was happy to see that Phantom Planet all came out in Skeleton shirts and gloves!

Honestly this set was exactly the same as most of the rest – NO PINK MOON – no Taylor solo at all or even on the setlist and they seemed to fly through it.  The show was super quick and really nothing of note to mention except that they were late to the stage perhaps in part due to the fire alarms going off.  Security did nothing when the lights started flashing and the music turned off and then the lights stopped flashing.  Maybe this is a common false alarm that happens there? I was surprised they didn’t even have Halloween shirts or attempt a Halloween-y song during the set.

Pre-show we had done VIP with Phantom Planet and Alex mentioned that most of the band and crew as well as himself had some sort of illness going on, but afterwards we decided to try our luck at meeting the band anyway to try and get photos with them in our costumes.  Venue security was absolutely over us and said they would not come out and kept trying to kick us off the property.    We opted to leave and go to Cook Out for some food before they decided to call the police.

Underneath Experience Atlanta

Atlanta October 21

I flew to Atlanta after work and everything went fine until we landed and they said we needed to stay seated for paramedics to arrive. Then they started having us get off because they weren’t there yet. When it was about to be my turn, they said the paramedics had arrived and we needed to sit and wait again. Then they had gotten rid of all the wheelchairs and I had to wait for them to track down new ones. Once that was done, I waited for my friend at baggage claim and then we realized Uber was a liar and the times they quote are way off.

Atlanta October 22

The first show in Atlanta was Zac’s 39th birthday.  We had intended to get there a bit earlier to trade bracelets in the line, but all the uber wait estimates were lies, so we ended up getting there a bit closer to doors than we actually wanted to.  About halfway through the show I found myself zoning out, wondering why I was even there (aside from it being Zac’s birthday)  the cake after Zac’s solo seemed a bit anticlimactic, but considering it came during the show and not at the end it probably was in their best interest NOT to smash it in his face and make a mess of the stage while they were still needing to use it.  Then, Taylor’s solo kind of turned everything around for me. (No, it wasn’t Pink Moon) We were hoping when he sat down at the piano it may be “The Luckiest” which has been on setlists and constantly skipped and my friend had asked him about it in Pittsburgh – but it was not. He ended up saying, “You won’t get this from Taylor very often. The three of us fight all the time. Like a lot. But that doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. Cheers to all the people that drive you crazy that you love. If you get to have anything with anybody for more than 3 decades, it’s worth fighting for, even if you have to fight over it. Cheers to everybody that is putting in the time for the fight” and went in to A Song to Sing.  Isaac joined him for a verse and then Zac, but for whatever reason they stopped singing and the crowd took over and it was like nothing I had heard before. I’m not one to get goosebumps but WOW.  After the show people closer to the front were mentioning that Taylor may have been crying during it. He was pretty sappy, and also informed us that the reason Matthew Sweet was no longer on the tour was that he had had a stroke.  There is a GoFundMe out there to help raise money for his medical and recovery expenses.  After the solo I was re-invigorated, but the rest of the set was more of the same.

While we had tickets to Taylor’s dance party, we opted to not go.  We waited outside a bit to chat with some friends (one of which was also having a birthday!) and ended up calling an uber right around when Taylor took the stage for his DJ set – as they were piping some of the music outside.  Keep in mind if you’re going to a future show – check if there is No Re-entry – it seemed like there were several girls who left and couldn’t get back in. (This is probably due to the fact that they don’t want to reset the security checkpoints) We had also seen this at some previous shows as well.

Atlanta October 23

For the electric show I was a bit worried going in as we had 2nd row balcony instead of my preferred first and the girls in front of us stood for a lot of the acoustic show and we assumed the electric show would lead to even more standing but to my surprise it was way more chill and I had a great view.  Again – nothing really different in the setlist.  Taylor did no solo (still no Pink Moon!) and the setlist didn’t even have a spot for it this time so maybe we freaked him out mentioning Pink Moon / The Luckiest to him.  I have one set of shows left.  Will I hear it?  For the encore, all of Phantom Planet joined Hanson again for Lost Without Each Other and it looked like they were having a lot of fun.

After the show we opted to not wait by the buses as we decided we needed to be up at 5am to get me to the airport in time for my flight.  While waiting in the hotel lobby for our DoorDash to come (another app with time estimates that were mostly lies) Phantom Planet ended up checking in so that was pretty cool.

Underneath Experience Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh October 18

In the morning, I hopped on a train at Penn Station to Harrisburg, PA.  My friend picked me up and we headed to Pittsburgh.  Since we had been driving in day of, we relaxed a bit and got to the venue during John Calvin Abney’s set since all of us had already seen him at an RGB show (and me a couple of nights before).  While the setlist said Isaac’s solo was going to be Hand in Hand, he ended up doing River because Pittsburgh has a lot of rivers.  Zac did Broken Angel and Taylor disappointed me once again by playing Save Me.  Again, it was a very similar setlist to previous shows.  (It may be harder to mix things up as much as they’d like because it’s 2 nights and twice as many songs to remember?)   Zac once again was annoyed with Isaac needing to tune and started to go on about how it would be if drums needed tuning and if he just tightened them before songs.

After the show we went outside to wait for the after party, saw Isaac and Zac get on the bus and waved.  Zac ended up leaving and we weren’t sure what happened to Isaac as we went inside for the party but Taylor has been playing the same DJ set pretty much every show so I am not sure we will end up going to the other 2 that we have tickets for… Once again we left before 1am. (We are OLD Taylor… how do you do it?!)

Pittsburgh October 19

Night 2 was a special one – it was my 300th Hanson show!  On the train on the way to PA I ended up ordering 3 0 0 balloons to hold up during the show.  I ended up deciding to do it during MMMBop because I knew that one was going to for sure end up played.  However, I could have really had my pick as the setlist was still pretty similar.  We DID get an additional Isaac solo where he called a “special guest” – a guy came up from the audience and then Isaac called his girlfriend on stage as well.  I’m sure you can guess what happened next – he proposed and she said yes and Isaac sang For Your Love for them.  I think that is the first time I’ve witnessed an engagement during a show – but there was another one I think before they hit the stage in DE?

During MMMBop I ended up holding up the balloons (with a little help from my friends) and it seemed like it took forever for anyone to notice – but once Taylor did he pointed and gave me a thumbs up and then a salute.  We were pretty excited and then before If Only he actually said to give it up for 300 shows and pointed me out in the balcony and said something about how he didn’t even know if he had been to 300 shows.

After the show we waited by the bus and I was able to get photos with all 3 of them and my balloons. The highlight though was Taylor telling me he uses my site (hansonstage) to see what he’s played before and also just said “wow”.  But still no Pink Moon.  I requested it to Taylor via bracelet, he said they were having some issues putting it together… I’m not hopeful that I’ll end up hearing it.

Underneath Experience New York City

New York October 15

We got into the city the afternoon before the shows and ended up wanting to get Italian and decided to go to Becco, owned by Lidia and Joe Bastianich. The food was absolutely delicious and to our surprise, Lidia herself was there and dining as well! We had hoped to continue the celebrity sightings and were not disappointed as the days went on.

New York October 16

Before the show we ended up going for Italian again, since we weren’t able to get any pasta at Becco. This time we tried Carmine’s and got some pasta and chicken parm.

Then it was time for the acoustic show. For this show I opted to sit in the ADA section once I saw I’d be able to have a pretty decent view of Zac due to the acoustic setup.  Shortly after Hanson’s set started I saw Kate McKinnon make her way up to the balcony and join 3 friends. The venue was a service black hole and somehow the only message that came through was that Liam from One Direction had died. Not sure what to do with myself I ended up just watching Kate enjoying herself.  I had gotten a lot of questions about if she really was a fan or not and based on how many songs she was singing along to, I would say that yes, she is legitimately a fan. Hanson added “Go” to the setlist for her after she had mentioned on the Today show it was her favorite song of theirs.

This was also John Calvin Abney’s first show subbing in for Matthew Sweet who couldn’t continue the tour. He joined the guys on harmonica for Dressed in Brown Eyes. The set was pretty similar to Baltimore – but Zac solo’d Broken Angel and Taylor solo’d… Crazy Beautiful? Which was an odd choice since they’d likely be playing it the next night.

After the show was Taylor’s after party where they left me in ADA all alone and were actually telling my friends they couldn’t stand with me. I’m all for following the rules but… for the after party? We stayed for almost an hour and spotted Natalie Morales. We hit Times Square to see the 11:57-midnight art gallery which was pretty cool! There also seemed to be way more people around late night than on our afternoon pass through.

New York October 17

For the electric show I decided it would probably be best to sit in the seat I had paid extra for. Except no one knew how to work the lift. (Might I add my seat was sold as being “accessible”) one of the staff carried Toaster up the stairs and told me to “sit anywhere” by the time Phantom Planet was over, another staff member told me I needed to be in my assigned seat – which I had asked about when I was told to sit anywhere! I also got asked 4 or 5 times if I wanted to go to ADA. If the platform didn’t completely block my view of Zac when they are in their traditional set up maybe I would have considered it.

Before Penny and Me, Isaac needed to tune, and I think Zac is getting a bit fed up with it so he started singing “The Tuning Song” while Isaac tuned his guitar.  Again the setlist was pretty similar to Baltimore – but for the encore they added a mic to center stage and taped down some lyrics.  I got excited thinking it would be something new, and technically it was, as they had all of Phantom Planet join them for Lost Without Each Other – the lyrics were for Alex.  Also of note, Andrew from Phantom Planet played Zac’s left handed drums even though he is a righty and the bass player that I had seen previously, while at the show, was not playing, they had Sam who played bass on Underneath performing with them.

After the show we waited outside for a bit, saw Zac leave and get on the bus, then we believe attempt to open the bus window, which led a guy near us to immediately put his phone up by the window and the window then closed.  We left before anyone else had come out.  Then I had a strange encounter with a man in a red Elmo skin jacket who came up to me with his arms out and then started blowing a whistle.  Only in New York…

Oh! I almost forgot, I had another celebrity sighting – Mark Hudson!  AND STILL NO PINK MOON.

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