Great Divide
Hey
Cant Stop
Been There Before
Crazy Beautiful
Hole In My Life
Ive Been Down
Go
MMMBop
Strong Enough To Break
Never Been To Spain
Blue Sky
Minute Without You
Runaway Run
Got a Hold On Me
Penny and Me
Running Man
Let Love Rule
This Time Around
Lost Without Each Other
Something Going Round
Encore:
If Only
The Ugly Truth
Great Divide (acapella)
Recap:
For the show in Baltimore we first did The Walk which was a 1 mile walk before the show with Hanson to help raise awareness and raise money for Africa. My friend Erin was nice enough to push me in a wheelchair since there was no way I could keep up for the walk on foot so I could experience it. For the show we were in the front row. This is the show where Taylor fell off the stage during The Ugly Truth. After the show, Erin got one of Zac’s drumsticks. (That was our goal for the weekend – for us each to get one.)
Then it was time for the final night and final show 🙁 Again we weren’t sure what to expect but ended up getting another mix of rarer tracks and fan club songs with a few singles thrown in for good measure. Although none of the full band songs got me anything that I hadn’t heard live before I did think that they were some pretty solid setlists. I think that this was the best year yet, but I can’t exactly tell you why. Maybe just the overall feeling, the new resort, etc. And you can’t accuse me of saying that every year because last year I came home not sure if I ever wanted to go again. This year I am all ready to book whenever it is announced! (Not that there ever was a doubt I’d have ended up there this year…)
Tragic Symphony
Thinking Bout Somethin
And I Waited
Man From Milwaukee
Runaway Run
Already Home
Watch Over Me
Call Out My Name (acoustic)
Never Let Go (acoustic)
A Song To Sing (acoustic)
Yearbook
Musical Ride
Great Divide
Minute Without You
Scream And Be Free
Cut Right Through Me
Penny and Me
Get The Girl Back
MMMBop
Fired Up / In The City
Roller Coaster Love / Whole Lotta Love
One of the exclusive events at Back to the Island is that each band member does a solo show performance. Isaac has had the best set (in my opinion) the last 2 years running so I was interested to see if he would win again this year. At first, I thought he did, but now that I have had some time to sit back and take it all in, I am giving the title to Zac this year.
Zac was up first and seemed to have grown a lot over the past few years with his solo sets. The first year was a bit awkward but he seems to be able to hold it on his own now. He did need to google some lyrics – which made everyone laugh because he was on Isaac’s case so much last year about messing up! He also came on stage with his hair down but half way through his set decided it was too humid and he had to pull it back. I was impressed he lasted even a few songs, I wouldn’t have! A highlight was Zac playing Lucy – something he had never played before. He has sung it, but never actually *played* it.
Give Me Your Best Shot
Juliet
I Am
Broken Angel
Lucy
Bittersweet
On and On
No Sleep For Banditos
Get So Low
Up All Night
Taylor had the 2nd solo set and was probably my 2nd favorite. (Maybe even close to a tie with Zac?) While his set was not funny, or goofy or full of mess ups, he had a solid setlist. I liked that he played Take Our Chances – a song he said was 10 years old but still relevant. Having him do Look At You solo was really fun to hear as well. And Weird is one of my favorites so I loved that he included that in his set as well! He did start Voice In The Chorus and then decided to not play it and the setlist also had One More on the list and he opted to not play that either.
Every Word I Say
Kiss Me When You Come Home
Crazy Beautiful
Take Our Chances
Look At You
Dying To Be Alive
Weird
Ive Been Down
Sunny Day
Isaac was the last of the solo shows and he came with no setlist and was instead taking requests from the audience. I loved this approach, even though he did not play what I had yelled out. Maybe next year? Some say that this made him come off as unrehearsed – but I am not sure how he could have rehearsed every song, ever and still took requests so he would come off as polished. He also decided to play a song that he wrote when he was 14 that had never been recorded or played live before. (That was my ONE for the week!) I am pretty sure this is the song that the instrumental is played during TTMON. It was called “A Life Without You” and he said he wrote it about 2 weeks after More Than Anything for the same girl. Another highlight of his set was playing Smile and Sometimes again – since that was the mess up from the year before. He explained that we say one song and his brain thinks we said another and that it happened again when someone requested a song (Lonely Again) and his brain decided we wanted Leave the Light On. The worst part about Isaac’s set was that he was very, very late to start (I think by an hour) I thought this may have been due to the photos running over – but I hear they were done by 4pm and his set wasn’t scheduled to start until 5:30pm. Guess we can blame Ike for Hanson time.
Best of Times
Two Tears
A Life Without You
So Lovely
Leave the Light On
Next Train
Being Me
Grace Unknown
More Than Anything
Smile
Sometimes
River
Hanson Show #2 was originally billed as an acoustic show but rumors started swirling it would instead be a covers show. I had figured that some of the covers from the Roots & Rock N Roll Tour would make their way into the sets but didn’t realize it would be an entire set. I was worried that 2 of the 3 shows would turn into a Roots & Rock N Roll Tour – Jamaica – so I thought this was a happy medium so those of us that did go to the tour didn’t feel like it was the same thing over again, but those that missed the tour still got a taste of it. They did throw in a couple songs they didn’t do on the tour – like starting the set with Gimme Some Lovin which was awesome.
During I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Zac climbed up the stage rafters right over the handicapped section which was awesome! Of course, it happened so fast and unexpected that I didn’t manage to get any photos of it. (And I had started recording video and then stopped, which I am of course now kicking myself over!)
(This set also got bumped a day because there was a pretty bad rain / thunderstorm going on. At first we thought we’d just enjoy the show in our bathing suits, but once I saw lightning I had a feeling that was going to put a stop to things. Zac ended up coming to the stage to talk to those of us who were already waiting and let us know that it was canceled and they were working on a schedule for the next day.)
Gimme Some Lovin
Twist and Shout / Shake a Tail Feather
I Want To Take You Higher
Hold On Im Coming
You May Be Right
Movin Out
Remember the Time
I Want You Back
Oh Darling
Teach Your Children (acapella)
Change In My Life (acapella)
In A Little While (acoustic)
Thinking Out Loud
God Only Knows
Stand By Me
Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
Cecelia
Chain of Fools
Signed Sealed Delivered Im Yours
Dancing In The Streets
Desire
I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Encore:
Kate
Its a Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll)
The first night of the event was the Welcome show. I managed to get front row for this show and had no idea what to expect. In the past we had been given themes for the shows or we were asked to vote on songs we would like to hear, but this year we didn’t have any of that so it would be a surprise. The set was a mix of Members Only songs and some of the lesser played Hanson songs as well. The set had almost no covers which was a bit of a surprise – but the reasoning behind that became obvious a couple days later 😉
The guys are a lot more loose during these events that are for Hanson.net Members, they goof off and make up silly songs and this show was no exception. Hand In Hand went from “I’m not going to sit around just waiting for you to get over this all” to “I’m not going to sit around just waiting for you to see star wars” and Isaac may have mentioned a few spoilers before they sang it. I haven’t seen it yet but I probably won’t realize what he spoiled until I do get around to seeing it.
Since last year we had “Sand In My Crevice” this year they mentioned it was nice to not have that problem but somehow I think the made up song turned into something about Zac’s butt crack? I’m not really sure. It was hard to hear some of the vocals due to where I was sitting at times.
Overall I thought that this show was a nice mix, a little bummed it had nothing I had never heard in it, but thought it was a great welcome to the island show.
Back To The Island
Dance Like You Don’t Care
Waiting For This
Heartbreaker
I’ve Got Soul
Been There Before
Underneath (acoustic)
Love Song (acoustic)
Go (acoustic)
Strong Enough To Break (acoustic)
Tonight
Juliet
Got a Hold On Me
Hand in Hand
You Never Know
You Cant Stop Us
Tearing It Down
If Only
Lost Without Each Other
Sound of Light
Headliner: Hanson
Opener(s): The Cringe
Venue: Toad’s Place
Cost: $28
Setlist:
Great Divide
Been There Before
Lost Without Each Other
This Time Around
You Never Know
Georgia
Go
Dying To Be Alive
Ive Been Down
The Walk
Blue Sky
Wheres The Love
Running Man
MMMBop
Penny and Me
Feeling Alright
Your Illusion
Tearing It Down
Something Going Round
Watch Over Me
Rock N Roll Razorblade
Recap:
This show was part of a small preview tour promoting their album “The Walk” before it was released. This was also one of the few shows they had performed “Tearing It Down” at live, that is until it was brought out of the vault on the Roots and Rock N Roll tour this past fall. These are probably some of the most The Walk heavy setlists they have ever done, since as of late they do very few songs from this album live. I remember being very excited that they did Feeling Alright during this show.
And it must be noted that the opener wins for worst Hanson opener – EVER. The Cringe lived up to their name. This is also Rachael Ray’s husband’s band. I think they were originally supposed to be playing in a smaller room at the venue but for whatever reason ended up getting added as Hanson’s opener instead.
I had promised to post some more of a breakdown of my stats from the shows I went to on this fall’s Hanson tour – and here it is! All stats are courtesy of the database at hansonstage.com, which also happens to be my website 🙂
I learned over this tour that their definition of “rare” and mine differs. While they did throw in some songs that they don’t play very often live, other than the covers, they didn’t throw in any originals that I had never heard before.
I did 6 shows:
October 16, 2015 New York, NY Irving Plaza
October 17, 2015 New York, NY Irving Plaza
October 22, 2015 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
October 23, 2015 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
October 24, 2015 Dallas, TX House of Blues
October 25, 2015 Dallas, TX House of Blues
I heard 151 songs live
I heard 60 unique songs live
(14 new songs I had never before heard)
Middle of Nowhere
7/13 tracks
This Time Around
4/13 tracks
Underneath
6/14 tracks
The Walk
3/13 tracks
Shout It Out
5/12 tracks
ANTHEM
7/13 tracks
Roots and Rock N Roll EP
5/5 tracks
Sound of Light
Roller Coaster Love – 3
Cover
God Only Knows – 3
Kate – 1
Love Me – 1
Teach Your Children – 2
Signed Sealed Delivered Im Yours – 3
Desire – 3
Never Been To Spain – 3
I Want To Take You Higher – 3
Cecelia – 3
Hold On Im Coming – 3
Twist and Shout – 3
Dancing In The Streets – 3
Stand By Me – 3
Whole Lotta Love – 3
You May Be Right – 3
Movin Out – 3
High Voltage – 1
Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard – 3
Chain of Fools – 3
Delta Lady – 1
The last of the picture posts is the first of the concerts. New York City. Lighting wasn’t the best but here’s a few that came out a bit better than the rest!
The final set of shows was in Dallas, TX. Hurricane Patricia was making its way to Mexico and Texas as well and there was talk of Dallas being flooded. The House of Blues also had no power the night before, but we found out it was not weather related. We left at 4am and made the 8 hour drive (well, I was copilot when not napping) with a few pit stops along the way.
We wandered around a bit to find something to eat and ended up at TGI Fridays and got sweet tea! yay! I also found it funny that the valet told us that we should bring a jacket because it was cold. Being from CT – I didn’t think it was cold. And Sunday I had shorts on half the day while everyone else was freezing. (It ended up getting windy which was making me cold so I ended up putting long pants on before the show.)
I had bought balcony seats for this show – 2nd row. But did not realize that first row and second row are on the same level floor, there’s no incline. The chairs are higher so if you are seated you can see over the people in front of you, but if they are standing you are SOL. Especially when you’re not all that tall. So we spent most of the night swaying to find a view. I could see Ike and Zac most of the show, Taylor was the problem. At the end of the night there were more girls than seats and when my friend went to complain they ended up moving us – alllllll the way in the back – we might as well have been on the moon. The next night we tried to make things work out a bit better and for the most part we did. But just a note if you’e going to HOB Dallas and 2nd row balcony is available in row BB (the middle section is fine) you might want to reconsider unless you are tall.
For this set of shows there was nothing “new” – but there were some fun bits of songs the second night that I enjoyed – Taylor’s solo was A Song For You and a guy yelled out that he loved him in the middle of the song – and Taylor worked it into the song and made it pretty funny. One of my travel mates, Rachel, captured the song on video so that is below. Also before Isaac’s solo of Hand in Hand (I always want to type “Hanson” after I type “Han”) he made up a couple of songs which was pretty funny – I found a video of that on YouTube. (Thanks to Lisa L for uploading that!)
Before the second show they had another walk. I once again worked the walk table. We had 286 registered walkers (2nd or 3rd biggest of the tour) and a lot of kids which was really awesome. And one of Isaac’s sons even took the walk – and kind of stole the show afterwards! They also did an acapella Great Divide through their megaphones which was pretty cool!
After night 1 I got a pic with Paul McDonald and got to talk to him a bit. It was funny he introduced himself to me and I had to tell him I had met him before – waaay back on the Idol tour!
After night 2, we ended up in the elevator with him. I think he was trying to talk to us to try and get away from a couple of drunk girls – but I was on a mission to get to the bus and didn’t feel like saving him.
The bus was a bust – Isaac came out early but we were about 6 people back because the barricade was very, very small. Zac tweeted and said he wasn’t coming out because he had family there and then Taylor came out at midnight – but we left after Zac’s tweet. We thought we’d have no chance even if Taylor did come out because of the barricade, but it seems like he came outside of the barricade. Ah well… 2 missed opportunities for pics with Taylor.
Katie 