Hanson at The View 6/13/24

Katie June 18, 2024 0Comment

Thursday I had tickets to see a taping of the view. We had to get up super early and take a 730 train into New York City. Then we grabbed a cab to go to ABC studios. The traffic was absolutely ridiculous, before we even made it one block our cab rate went from $7 to $14. We also almost got hit by a bus while in the cab. So that was fun but managed to get to the line to the view in plenty of time and were seventh and eighth in line for the show.

We didn’t really know if Hanson was going to be on or not. I had gotten tickets based on a rumor that I heard and everything was kept really hush-hush. But, once we got into the holding room, they told us that Hansen would be there for her performance, but that it was a surprise for Alyssa, one of the host’s, birthdays. We ended up filing into the studio and the guys instruments were all set up. The warm up comedian told us that they’d be playing 3 songs, but that Alyssa thought we were doing a segment on puppy adoption.  So once she was in the area, we had to not mention anything about Hanson and we’re just kind of going,  “Oh, look at the cute puppies” and stuff like that. Then a couple of the other hosts came out and introed the segment which we had to film twice. Because apparently we were clapping too loudly. We had to bring it down from a 10 to about a 4 and then they brought Alyssa in and Hanson was there and they sang the new Penny and Me Moonlight version and then went into MMMBop and then went into where’s the love.

They did a little interview with them afterwards and everything that Taylor said ended up getting cut and didn’t make it on to TV. I also barely made it on to TV, you can see the blue of my shirt for like a split second when Alyssa walks into the room. After Hanson was done, they reset up the stage with the table and everything and then we got to see them film, most of the segments for the view.

Before we went in, we were given a tax form that said there was going to be a giveaway where at least $75, and if it ended up being worth over $600,  we would have to pay taxes on it. We ended up getting 2 tickets to the Hanson show of our choice for their upcoming tour. Which I already have all my tickets so I’m going to be bringing some friends along, I guess. When we saw the show air they had another segment that was giving away some gifts. But we didn’t end up getting those. I don’t know if that would have put us over the $600 threshold. Or why they decided to film that segment separately. We never saw them film the segment with the gifts for Alyssa’s home.

After the show was done taping, it took a bit longer than we hadn’t anticipated, we got an Uber and headed back to Grand Central. He dropped us off in front of a restaurant, so we decided might as well stop and eat, then grab some snacks from Hudson News and hopped on the train home and ended up getting home about 6 PM – the train was on the wrong side of the track, so there was a giant gap which freaked me out on the conductor had to come and help me get off the train, but I’m hoping to figure out some extra accessibility for that for the future.  I think for tour it might have to be taken the train by myself.

It had been on my bucket list since I was about 12 years old and I wanted to see Hanson perform on a TV show in person. We’d always watch these shows from home in the summer and there’d be all these fans there and I was like, Why can’t we go New York’s not that far? So I was happy to finally cross that off my list and also see my 289th Hanson show and with any luck I should be hitting 300 by the end of this year!

Hanson Day 2024

Katie May 31, 2024 0Comment

I recently made my annual trek to Tulsa for my 14th Hanson Day celebration. It gets harder and harder to write about, especially since it is much of the same activities year after year. This year I went a day earlier than normal, to make sure I could attend Taylor’s Food on the Move lunch on Wednesday.  Monday when I was supposed to be packing I got the message that I and another friend were chosen to be the HTP Live Reporters.  No pressure!

Tuesday morning I left at 2:30AM only to find that the highway was a PARKING LOT.  I managed to get off an exit and do back roads to one more exit up – but it was still at a total standstill.  My flight wouldn’t board until 5am so I kept telling myself I had plenty of time – and finally the traffic started moving.  It was also my first time parking at a new lot as the one I used to park at closed abruptly earlier this year.  The flight was on time and I landed in Charlotte only to be told they had no wheelchairs and to wait.  We were waiting so long one of the flight attendants said “I guess they don’t want you to leave!”  Finally someone came with the chairs and pushed us to the top of the jet bridge.  Then we had to wait for someone else to come, who pushed us into a wheelchair pen.  I had a 3+ hour layover (on purpose for this exact reason) so they told me I’d be the last to leave but as people coming in after me were leaving before me I tried to tell them I was meeting friends for brunch and finally it was my turn.  My friends ended up taking over the pushing duties after we ate because I was told that they needed more pushers than they had available – and they kept firing people!

Our second flight seemed to be diverted due to weather (it was absolutely POURING on and off) and then they told us they’d be getting us a new plane.  Somehow the plane that was now circling the airport landed just before the new plane arrived at the gate – go figure! We ended up a little bit delayed but honestly, that’s nothing compared to other flying issues I have had!

That evening we ended up going to the Tulsa Drillers game since tickets were discounted to $9.18 and it was $2 Tuesday for hot dogs, soda and other items.  We left early since we were all exhausted from travel and the team was playing like a bunch of little leaguers. (They ended up losing, 6-3, when we left it was 6-1 so maybe we should have left sooner?)

Wednesday we headed to Taylor’s Food on the Move lunch where we had some home grown greens and locally sourced chicken sandwiches.  Taylor and his team spoke a bit about what they have been doing (LOTS of changes since we were on site last year) and what they are hoping to do in the future to help bring fresh produce to the community.   After the lunch there was a pop up registration which I worked after hitting up the store and spending nearly $400 on new merch.  For dinner we went to Cabin Boys which unfortunately was nothing to write home about, which is sad because it’s so close and convenient but even with us all getting different food, no one was really impressed with anything.  That evening we had to cram watching the EP Listening Party to come up with 6-8 questions for our interview the next day.

Thursday morning I worked registration again, watched everyone set up chairs for HTP and we formulated a plan to get me on stage.  I’ve been dealing with a lot of mobility issues and in Feb/March was unable to go up and down the stairs at my house – even with a railing on either side.  So the fact that I made it up there with no railing (but with 2 helpers) made me realize just how far I had come since then.  We hit up Mexicali’s for lunch and a pre-interview drink and then it was time to freak out for HTP.  We were given seats off to the side to get us as close as possible to getting on the stage, which meant we couldn’t see much due to a monitor on stage. This may have worked in our favor because by the time it was our turn I wasn’t really nervous anymore. It was kind of hard to hear the guys answering on stage, but from everyone coming up to me afterwards, we must have done a good job!

That evening it was time for karaoke, we hit up Empire for some pizza first and then hung out for about an hour of the karaoke before calling it a night.  Younger Hanson brother Mac was cohosting with Isaac.  Isaac kept saying he couldn’t sing with everyone because he had 2 shows to perform – but also couldn’t seem to stay away from singing with almost everyone.  Karaoke was at Cain’s for the first time – and while I liked that we had a lot more room – I do wonder if those performing were more nervous to be on such a big stage in a big room or not.  (I know that was a concern of mine with HTP! But with the way the chairs were situated, I could just look at Hanson and not have to look at the crowd, which I think helped!)

Friday morning we went to Pinot’s to paint our version of a Zac Hanson original.  I do wish they told us before we bought tickets which painting it would be – but it is always a fun time even if it’s not always something we would have chosen to paint.  This was my 3rd time and while I’m not sure it is an every year kind of activity, it is fun every now and then.  After we went to Yokozuna for Sushi.

Friday night was the paid add-on concert – Beyond Perennial.  They had made a few comments that they had named it wrong – but it was about a 50/50 split of what was on Perennial and what was not.  Rarest song award(s) goes to: Happy (1) and I’m Ready (2). Better Man and Grace Unknown full band are also rarer as they are typically done as solos.

After the show we went to a new restaurant – Fixins – for some chicken, cornbread, biscuits, etc. It was pretty good! But any time I have a large jug of Sweet Tea I am happy.

Saturday evening was the Members Only concert – which turned out to be a bit more Underneath than I would have liked.  The guys also announced a fall tour is coming that will hit 13 cities for 2 nights each and more info would be coming out in early June.  The highlight was of course hearing the new EP for the first time.  All the points taken away from Taylor for last second switching his solo from Be My Own to With You In Your Dreams. The other highlight for me was them doing a bit of Thunderstruck.  Wednesday night they had been in Oklahoma City to play at the half time of the Basketball Playoffs game for the Thunder and we couldn’t figure out a way to make it there – and once I saw they did Thunderstruck I was bummed – so I was happy that they included it in the show! But I found this setlist to be too festival-y and not enough member-y – even if the whole night before was all* members songs. (* technically not Nothing Like a Love Song)

For dinner we hit up Antoinette’s for pie night and then got ready for the space / star wars / y2k themed dance party!  I dressed as an Alien and dressed my walker as Buzz Lightyears Space Ship.  yay to Disney Store for not only having wheelchair costumes – but for putting it on clearance and allowing it to be cheap enough for me to do a “let’s see if this works” and it did!  We weren’t sure if Taylor was going to stick to a Y2K play list or not – turns out he did not – but it was still pretty decent.

Sunday I lounged around and updated my website and then we made the trek to Nothing’s Left.  For dinner we hit up the Tavern and I opted to not pack until Monday morning which I was pretty mad at myself for not even starting.

Monday we headed to the airport around 1 – as I was walking to get to my gate, Zac was coming through security and said safe travels and he will see us when he sees us… The first flight ended up taking off a bit late due to there being an automated power issue so the engines needed to be turned on manually, and then off again once we landed.  The second flight ended up being slightly delayed waiting for passengers luggage to get there.  Again, I’ll take it. Not bad at all!

And I may have booked another trip to Tulsa for December while I was there…

Hanson in Escanaba, MI

Katie November 8, 2023 0Comment

Back in May Hanson announced what ended up being their last shows of the year in Escanaba/Harris, MI in the upper peninsula.  We bought tickets and booked our flights. The airport there is tiny and there are only 2 flights in and out each day. Delta couldn’t get their act together and here’s what happened from the emails I saved (and who knows if I actually saved all of them)

May 17:
Hartford (9:35am) Detroit (11:29am)
Escanaba (4:00pm) Minneapolis (7:55pm)

May 24:
Hartford (6:00am) Detroit (8:54am) Minneapolis (1:45pm)  
Escanaba (4:00pm) Minneapolis (7:55pm)

May 24: (I made this change to not have so many flights)
Hartford (9:42am) Detroit (1:55pm)
Escanaba (4:00pm) Minneapolis (7:55pm)

July 3:
Hartford (9:42am) Detroit (2:37pm) 
Escanaba (4:00pm) Minneapolis (7:55pm)

August 28:
Hartford (6:00am) Minneapolis (10:25am) 
Escanaba (1:31pm) Minneapolis (8:00pm) 

September 23:
Hartford (6:00am) Minneapolis (10:01am) 
Escanaba (1:08pm) Minneapolis (8:20pm) 

September 30:
Hartford (6:00am) Minneapolis (8:50am)
Escanaba (11:52am) Minneapolis (12:47pm) Atlanta (9:40pm)

September 30: (I made the change to not have so many flights)
Hartford (6:00am) Minneapolis (8:50am)
Escanaba (6:01pm) Detroit (9:55pm) 

In the end, that September 30th email & update stuck, but I did get a couple more emails from Delta confirming it with what appears to be all the same info. (Maybe flight numbers changed?)  Of course, I bought a ticket to see David Cook the night before when I thought I had a 9am flight, but a 6am flight meant I had to miss out on the show.  Fortunately I was able to sell my ticket and meet and greet to a woman who really seemed to appreciate me helping her out, so that helped lessen the blow a bit. (She sent me her M&G photo with a “thanks so much!” message the next day and it melted my cold, dark heart.)

Based on the August changes,  I had been totally willing to wait the 8 hours in MSP if I needed to (I have friends there, they could have taken me and brought me back later!) but Delta was treating it as if it was 2 separate flights and not connected and I wasn’t sure what kind of issues that might cause or if it really would be as simple as just checking in 2 different times.  When I contacted them via the chat they told me that it was either the extra Atlanta layover (please, no!) or going to Detroit instead.  As we were trying to get that all settled… Pet Assistance joined the conversation? They asked if I’d be traveling with a dog, cat or bird.  Just get me to Escanaba and back, I’m not bringing a pet!

After the show we hung out in the hotel since the 8 of us wouldn’t fit comfortably in either of our hotel rooms. We did a snack run to the gift shop in the hotel, which somehow was incredibly cheap and had some pickle flavored chips and “Yooper Bars” which were just chocolate bars with the upper peninsula on them. (I stuck with my baked lays and cream and dr pepper soda)

The next morning we had a late breakfast and just hung around doing more nothing. My friend did contact the GM of the theater and was told I could keep the walker with me for the 2nd show so I was already feeling a bit better about how it would go since I’d be able to have a bit of a barricade around myself.  Isaac had posted on instagram they’d be mixing the setlist up, which we did figure would happen to some extent – and we thought they might go all out being the last show of the year, but also didn’t want to get our hopes up.  When we finished eating a late lunch/early dinner we heard Hanson doing soundcheck of With a Little Help From My Friends and we hoped they weren’t just teasing us.  Some other fans nearby informed us that World Goes Around was sound checked earlier and the day before.  Then they went into Give a Little and I Don’t Want To Go Home but we still weren’t sure if they had plans to put all those songs in the setlist or not.

When they started the show, they mixed it up by starting with Fired Up but then did 2 repeats – A Minute Without You and Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ so I wasn’t really sure where we were headed. But from there things went off the rails, in the best way possible. Instead of an acoustic set we got a solo from each brother and all the sound checked songs made the cut.  In the end we had 44 songs over 2 nights and 39 of them were unique – and I had thought they’d be pulling from 35 that were rehearsed!  Except now that we know they are capable of doing such a massive shake up and not at a members only event, the bar has been raised!

After the show we got a boozy ice cream drink and hung out for the time change. On top of the daylight saving time confusion, the casino was situated right smack in the middle of the Eastern and Central time zones. The airport was in Eastern and the hotel operates in Eastern so I had forced my phone to not auto update. For some who didn’t make that change, depending on where they were in the casino, the time would change back and forth. We made it to 2nd 1am but didn’t last much longer than that – and the delirious giggles had hit most of us at one point or another.

Sunday all my friends were on the MSP flight and I was alone on the DTW flight so I stayed in the room as long as I could before check out, took myself to breakfast at the restaurant in the casino and then hung out in the lobby watching videos until my 3:30 shuttle.

The Escanaba airport was so tiny, yet has 5 TSA agents for our flight. We ended up having to board the plane using the stairs which did not go very well for me (I’m ok, just a skinned knee) but it was smooth sailing and no flight issues. If Delta wants to just keep up with the drama before the actual travel days, I’ll take it!

Hanson at Parx Casino

Katie July 27, 2023 0Comment

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!

Hanson at Foxwoods

Katie July 27, 2023 0Comment

When Hanson added a show at Foxwoods, I was beyond excited!  They were last in Connecticut in 2019 for a radio Christmas show and before that they hadn’t done a full show since 2016.  The on sale for this show was brutal.  When it first went on pre-sale, only a handful of single tickets were available.  An hour later, the whole 2nd row opened up and I managed to snag a pair on Taylor’s side and then an hour after that, the whole freaking place opened up and I managed to snag FRONT ROW tickets.  I sold the Taylor pair and my heart rate was through the roof for the rest of the day.

Before the show we stopped at Guy Fieri’s for dinner, and then made it inside for the show.  I had kept psyching myself out saying that the seats were too far over to be any good, but once we got there, they weren’t so bad.  And then the girls next to use asked if we would scoot over more into the middle so they could all be together so we ended up a couple seats closer.  When they first came out, Zac had on a jean jacket and after a couple of songs he took it off and was already really sweaty.  When they got to the acoustic set and there was no “Go” and had also not been a “Don’t Let Me Down” I started to think that Zac might be sick and they adjusted the setlist accordingly to remove his leads.

Even though I was front row at the CT show in 2016, being front row at a seated CT show was a whole different thing and I kept thinking about how when I was 12, that would have been all I wanted! And now I had it!   Well, that was until a small child decided to pop up in front of me and try to wave and give Isaac a card.  I think he ended up in front of me for like 4 songs – and even his mother came down at one point.  Absolutely ridiculous to take advantage of the fact that I couldn’t stand a whole show due to my disability and get in front of me – and security didn’t bat an eye when I pointed out they didn’t belong. (But when I finally stood for Lost Without Each Other and A Song To Sing security was quick to come tap me on the shoulder and ask where my seat was.  Um, you’ve jumped over me and my cane no less than 17 times tonight and now you don’t recognize me because I am standing?)

My suspicions were confirmed when before the encore Zac announced that he had been diagnosed with strep throat 12 minutes before they took the stage.  That didn’t stop me from trying to shake Taylor’s hand at the end of the show (and being successful).  Guess who’s sitting here with a sore throat nearly a week later?

After the show we stopped by the newly opened Hell’s Kitchen for a night cap – pretty cool looking restaurant but very pricey! Very good desserts though!

Hot Springs, AR July 2023

Katie July 11, 2023 0Comment

At the end of 2021, I decided to go to Arkansas to see Kris Allen thinking that since Hanson had never done a proper show in Arkansas before, it wasn’t likely they would.  However in February they announced a July 1 show in Hot Springs, AR at a water park.  It seemed like a fun idea at the time, I snagged some tickets before my friends could even agree to going or not as I was in whether they were or not.  Of course once the time rolled around we realized the temperatures were high and we would be in for a H-O-T weekend.

I headed up to the airport at 2:30am, only for the valet staff to welcome me back and comment that I was there all the time and offer me a VIP parking spot for my next time there lol (Which actually won’t be until November, as of right now anyway, so I’m sure they will forget!)  The airport seemed especially busy for 4am, but I made it to my gate and to Charlotte without a hitch. There was no wheelchair in Charlotte but fortunately the gates were close so I didn’t need to flag anyone down and I made it to Little Rock on time.  My friend’s flight was supposed to be coming in a bit later and ended up slightly delayed, so I waited in bag claim for her to show up. We teased we should stay there all day instead of out in the heat (It was “feels like” 114!) and see if we could spot a Hanson, but opted to get the rental car and find a quick bite to eat in Little Rock before we headed to Hot Springs.  (Funnily enough they posted a video of them arriving taken not too far from where I was stationed waiting for my friend to arrive.)

We ended up going to Freddy’s, which had a sign on the door that said “Just so you know, we have no soda”, we went in anyway to find a sticky note over the lemonade that said “Don’t Work” and tried to get Diet Dr Pepper and it worked, so just so you know, you do have some soda.  The bathroom was also barricaded off, but once we finished eating it no longer was so we tried to go down the hallway to use it only to be told it wasn’t actually able to be used. Get it together, Freddy’s!

There was no real plan for the day, but we had a list of a few things we might like to check out so we started with driving by Bill Clinton’s childhood home which was not too far out of the way from where we were going.  My friend asked if Spotify had a playlist of Bill Clinton playing Saxophone, but when I went to search I instead found a playlist called “Songs Bill Clinton would bop to” that we found to be a pretty decent playlist that we used for the weekend. (We also tried “Songs Bill Clinton listens to in the bath” but couldn’t get into it)  We did end up finding the childhood home pretty easily.  It’s a cute Tudor house.  The neighborhood was strange as some houses were gorgeous and some were boarded up and then there were some adorable cottages too.  There’s one main drag in Hot Springs that has all the bath houses and tourist attractions.  We drove down it a few times but parking was scarce and walking in 100+ degree temps didn’t sound like any fun.  We ended up going to the Mountain Tower next and despite the heat went up to the top.  Fortunately up so high there were some winds which made it seem not as bad as it really was and we were able to scope out the theme park from up above. I also got myself some pennies.  When we were leaving we spotted someone left their wallet outside, so my friend ran it back in and we joked that was our good deed for the day and hopefully it would get us some good karma.  Leaving the mountain tower and on our way to the hotel we spotted one of the fountains to get spring water from, which were incredibly popular and we figured we had to try the water. The fountains filled the bottles VERY fast and the water wasn’t really anything to write home about.  Once we got to the hotel room I ended up shooting it out my nose.  Do not recommend.  After settling in a bit and decided we’d go try to find a few murals (there was a baseball one and also some wings – as much as I’d have liked to be in the one with the wings, it was on the side of the building on a steep hill so we opted to just take a photo out the car window instead.)  We then decided depending on parking we would either go to an Ecuadorian restaurant to see my friend’s friend performing or we’d go to a brewery in one of the the bathhouses, because where else could you do that?  The Ecuadorian restaurant won, but once we arrived we realized it was up a ton of stairs.  One of the guys working sent us to a different set of stairs that weren’t quite as scary and when we made it to the top, he was performing a Taylor Swift song.  The trifecta was complete – hot hot heat, tons of stairs and Taylor Swift – welcome to HELL.  (I did enjoy the rest of his set a lot though, it was mostly 90s covers)

The next day we got up and got ready for the park and headed down to the breakfast area. We didn’t realize that we probably should have lined up earlier for the omelet station as it ended up taking nearly an hour.  Magic Springs was not far away, we parked, made it inside and were able to rent a scooter.  We started to do a loop of the park and decided to ride whatever we saw on the way.  First was The Gauntlet – a roller coaster.  We got the scooter inside and were told to stay there as the exit was stairs.  My friend helped me into the seat and we were off.  This was one that you knock your head around on a lot which wasn’t fun, but I was glad that the motion sickness medicine did work and the ride was fun.  But when we got off I could barely stand up I was so dizzy!  Next up we drove the old timey cars because they were shaded and then we ended up riding on a train roller coaster called Big Bad John.  Even though we took a shaded water break (where I ended up caving to peer pressure from American Airlines and paying to change my flight from a layover in Charlotte to a layover in Dallas) the heat was getting to us.  At this point we decided to take a break and hit up the ice cream shop that was airconditioned and get a dole whip.  I think we waited too long to take this break and after we finished our dole whip we decided our next stop would be the air conditioned Mexican restaurant which we ended up staying in for most of the day as once that peak afternoon sun hit we were miserable.  At 3 we ended up getting VIP passes to enter the concert area early but they weren’t giving away any more M&Gs and then we decided it was time for icees.  (I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so many ice cream and frozen treats in one day before and it was not at all how young me would have envisioned it)  We ended up heading back to the Mexican restaurant for a snack and to have our icees until it was time to head to the concert area.

I was surprised when I showed up with the scooter no one had any idea what to do with it.  Surely I wasn’t the first person to ever show up for the show in one?!  But we got that settled and got to our seats and not so patiently waited for the opening band Huckleberry Jam to take the stage.  We were so miserable this was going to break or break the evening, but they were decent which was a plus.  Before Hanson even took the stage, we were wanting the show to be over because we were just DONE which had absolutely never happened to either of us before.  Several times I counted how many songs they had done to figure out when they would be finishing up and was disappointed when I only counted 10 meaning we were only about halfway through the set.  Will I say no to outdoor summer festival type shows in the future? Probably not.  Should I?  Probably.  Also it is worth noting that somehow Isaac wore a denim jacket the entire show.  I had a fan blowing on my face for half the show and was still overheating. How did he do it?!  The only time I ended up standing for the show was when they appropriately did “Roller Coaster Love” for the encore.  Yes, I did feel the heat on the rise and I didn’t love any part of that.

After the show we wanted nothing more than to get back to the hotel.  We ended up hitting up the gift shop and getting some vitamin water (needed to hydrate!) and some Reeses’s ice cream only to be pleasantly surprised while we were snacking to see Zac walk in! He gave us a wave and then other fans went to talk to him before he went upstairs.  Isaac came through next and we debated going to try and get a photo with him but we weren’t sure he actually saw us.  Taylor ended up coming in last and so we did end up getting a photo with him and chatting for a bit about how miserable the heat was.  Guess we did get some good karma from returning that wallet? Also thank you to that hotel for being the only one that wasn’t off the wall expensive that had an ADA room available!

The next day we were going to take the Trolley tour, but since I now had an earlier flight out that got scrapped and we got breakfast and headed to Little Rock to the airport.  I got to Dallas without any issue and found out that my flight to Charlotte from Little Rock had been delayed by 1 hour so I thought I had made the right choice, but once I got to Dallas and started tracking the incoming plane I realized it kept getting more and more delayed.  We ended up delayed about 30 minutes and then the time we were taking off and the time the incoming plane was coming in was getting to be very far apart.  When we had a gate change from A to D I realized they must have snagged us a different plane but getting assistance from A to D was difficult and fortunately I had several hours to get there because the cart drivers didn’t really care at ALL that people had places they needed to be and were just doing whatever they wanted despite being asked several times to take the people waiting.  In the end, we were delayed leaving about an hour and I ended up landing about 15 minutes before the flight from Charlotte would have so it was fine except that I was out the extra money I had to pay to change the flight because it was only free to switch if I stayed in Arkansas an extra 2 days which I was definitely not going to be doing.

In the end I didn’t get a new overall state but I did get Hanson state #31. And we survived, but only just.  And now I bet they’ll add Arkansas as an indoor venue on their next tour, right? That’s how it always seems to go. (But if you’re going to do that, please add Montana too?)

Hanson Riverside Iowa

Katie May 25, 2023 0Comment

After getting home from Tulsa on Monday, and going to a baseball game on Wednesday night, I ended up getting a room at one of the airport hotels. I decided to stick with Hilton to try and get my status back and booked through their website using my work discount page. Upon my arrival the computers all went down at the front desk and then I was told that the manager didn’t know how I had booked an accessible room – but they were all out. I could either stay in a 2 queen regular room or I could cancel at no charge. It was nearly 11pm, I had a 6am flight. I asked to keep the room and get a shower chair – of which they apparently also had none left. Way to go Hilton, maybe I want to just boost my Marriott status instead… Thursday AM I left bright and early to go to Minneapolis. My friends met me at the airport so we could pick up a rental car for our road trip to Iowa.

We hung out for a bit while a friend finished working before heading out for the 4-ish hour drive to Riverside, Iowa for our next Hanson adventure.  We weren’t sure we wanted to do the show with it being so close to Hanson Day, but after we managed to snag front row tickets in the pre-sale we couldn’t pass it up.

When we saw a road side sign for Iowa’s Largest Fryin’ Pan, we had to stop and take some pictures because is it really a road trip if you don’t stop at a tourist trap on the side of the road?

Because of a lot of events going on at the casino including a wedding, most of the hotel rooms were booked up so we ended up getting a Grand Master Suite which was all the way at the end of the (long) hallway so after checking in and dropping off our stuff we decided to wander the casino. We did see Isaac out and about but opted to get snacks in the cafe instead of spending any time in the (smoky) casino.

The next morning we had breakfast at the restaurant in the casino and ended up spotting all 3 Hansons wandering around, though only Zac stopped very briefly to say hi.

The cafe also had a cotton candy zephyr, which we decided was some sort of donut/creampuff combo and since I am nothing more than an overgrown 5 year old, I had to try it. It did not disappoint.

That night we went to the show and I was very happy to sit and be able to see everyone for most of the show. (It was a tight squeeze so occasionally a friend would block a view, but leaning forward or wiggling to the side usually brought all 3 brothers back into view.)  For this show their usual bass player, Andrew, was not there because he and his wife just welcomed a new baby (Congrats!) and they had a bass player named Aaron filling in, who I realized had also filled in back in 2016 at Hanson Day! (and played on Loud/Play)  The show was a ton of fun and I was very impressed when Zac’s snare needed to be replaced in the middle of a song and he absolutely handled it like a pro. (While singing lead!) Taylor’s harmonica case also went flying off the stage at one point as well, so no, every show is not the same and you never know what might end up happening.

The next morning we went to another tourist trap, the future birthplace of Star Trek’s Captain Kirk.  The story was that he was born in a small town in Iowa, but it wasn’t specified where.  A fan living in a small town in Iowa decided that it should be HIS small town and so he made it so.  I think it’s actually now been mentioned in one of the movies as well and they yearly have a fan festival in town for the past 30 or 40 years!

We stopped for lunch at a brewery in Cedar Rapids (and also another really good beer flight I was very happy with my choices on) and then dropped one off to fly home from Cedar Rapids before continuing our drive back to Minneapolis.

On the way back we were following a hearse with the license plate “after lyfe” and ended up passing it only to find out that a skeleton was driving the car.  WHAT?!

It was nice to attempt to get a decent night’s sleep on Saturday into Sunday, but even with sleeping in I still did not want to wake up to get to the airport for my 2pm flight.  We ended up being delayed 5-10 minutes to do something being fixed on the plane, but otherwise the flights were uneventful.  I made it home in time for the American Idol finale and still absolutely need to catch up on sleep after diving back into work on Monday!

Hanson Day 2023

Katie May 25, 2023 0Comment

This year I had an early flight to Chicago, followed by a flight to Tulsa for Hanson Day 2023.  My friend had landed about 20 mins before me so she waited for me so we could uber to the hotel together.  Upon putting her suitcase in the trunk we realized it had been absolutely torn apart at the zipper and upon arrival at the hotel we found that the handle on mine was damaged!  Cue us comparing notes on how absolutely differently Southwest handled both of our situations for the rest of the weekend. (I ended up getting a $75 refund on the bag that had cost me $77 and I will see if the manufacturer can fix the handle or if I have to buy a new bag entirely)

After checking in to our hotel room we ordered some drinks for the weekend from instacart and then headed out to an event Taylor was having for Food on the Move to talk about some new pods they were growing produce in.  The area the event was at was very rocky and gravely and even with my walker to steady me I ended up falling – right in front of Taylor.  He came right over and asked if I was ok and him and my friend helped me back up which I don’t think could have been any more embarrassing, but it did answer the question my friends and I would often ask – if I fell and a Hanson was around, would he help me up? So I am glad that the answer was yes.   Taylor then ended up announcing a pop-up registration at the Fairfield happening at 3, so my friends and I left a bit early so that we could help out.

I ended up working registration to give out raffle tickets for the record player that two lucky attendees would be able to win. I also got a golden ticket to the store, so between 4-6 I was able to go in and order the items I wanted (but hadn’t had any time to pick out what I wanted! Yay impulse buys!) and worked the door of the store for a bit as well hole punching the tickets so they couldn’t be used again.

Thursday we did the HTP recording which had Isaac in rare form and making himself laugh so hard he cried over fart jokes?  While the whole thing was a bit unorganized and no one really seemed to know what they were doing it was a lot of fun and my friends got to be the reporters for the event so it was fun to see them on stage too!

After HTP was our 2nd pizza stop of the weekend and then we got ready for Karaoke.  When we arrived there already was a pretty long line, so we just waited on the corner for everyone to go inside.  Isaac kicked off the evening by singing Two Princes by the Spin Doctors and joined a lot more groups to sing with than usual, which made it for an interesting night.  We ended up being a bit too tired to make it all the way to to the end this year and it seemed like it ended up going longer than scheduled. (Though it did start a bit late)

Our big event for the next day was the Underneath Acoustic Revisited concert which was done in a horseshoe with the guys on a riser on the floor.  I thought this setlist was pretty much perfect – they did the entirety of Underneath Acoustic – including my first time ever hearing ‘Love Somebody to Know’ full band as well as picked some nice ‘extras’.  If I was in charge of the setlist I probably would have skipped This Time Around for Every Word I Say and added in some solos since that was the tour they started doing them on, but honestly as it was, was pretty great.

After we had the Street Team Leaders dinner, which was a good time but the guys couldn’t stay very long due to an early sound check the next morning for the main show.

After the dinner, I got “kidnapped” by some friends to check in on Hanson.net for more pins and to do the in-person scavenger hunt. My other friends had scooted to the locations as the furthest was a mile out and I couldn’t walk that far and I can’t scoot, so it was fun to see the locations and do the hunt again by car.

The next day was time for Isaac’s Grace Unknown lecture which was very interesting and helpful in helping you process events in your life and not at all what I was actually expecting it to be.

The main show was …good? But not the setlist I would have chosen for it at all.  I would have gone for more Members EP songs that hadn’t been played – especially since they skipped the entire EP last year due to it being the unofficial kick off for the RGB tour and their selection of Anthem tracks for the anniversary weren’t quite what I would have picked either. (Already Home? Screen and Be Free? LOST WITHOUT YOU?!) After the great setlist selection they did at BTTI and even the show the day before, it was a bit disappointing, but I’d still rather be at a Hanson concert than anywhere else, I was just hoping for something a bit more special for their fanclub event.

After the show we went and got a quick dinner at The Tavern, my friend who I was staying with all weekend told me to get back in the elevator because I wasn’t supposed to get off at her floor (cue giggle fit), and then changed into as much NEON as we possibly could for the Dance Party.  I was happy to see some black lights included, a balloon wall for photo ops and everyone absolutely buzzing like neon, neon.  We had a lot of fun dancing around – until the end when I almost got stampeded when Taylor decided to jump off the stage and walk through the crowd.  Nothing like getting your heart rate up to end the night.

Sunday we ended up making a stop at Nothing’s Left Brewery for lunch and trying the new Hanson collab – it was an IPA so I didn’t think I would like it (I am a sour and stouts girl) but wasn’t expecting to dislike it as much as I did.  However the other 3 beers I chose for my flight were excellent. You win some, you lose some.

Monday it was time to leave and I was hoping that my luggage would make it home and I could fix the handle once I got home, but unfortunately it seemed like everyone decided to hold it by the half broken handle which broke the metal piece and rendered it useless by the time I got home.  Fortunately my trips for the foreseeable future appear to only need a carry on so I have some time to see if it can be fixed by the manufacturer before having to buy a new one entirely. (That being said any brands of checked bags you recommend that can last more than, oh, 4? trips? Would be appreciated!)