Concert

Underneath Experience Baltimore

Baltimore October 11

The Baltimore Underneath Experience show was a bit similar to Minneapolis, but they decided to add in Madeline and A Minute Without You.  Isaac and Zac’s solos were different – Isaac did River with his Only Wanna Be With You cover and Zac did the members only song Good Days.  Taylor didn’t end up having a solo – they did an acapella rendition of Change in my Life which was an unrehearsed audience request instead.  Taylor was late to the show and missed the Meet and Greet because his bus had a flat tire.  He seemed to be a bit off – tripping over things on the stage, flubbing lyrics more often than usual – he must not have had enough time to get his head in the game so to speak.  I’m glad at least that the songs were in addition to and not removed, but they wouldn’t have been my first choice to put back into the set.  I was bummed that they still didn’t bring Matthew Sweet out for Underneath – Taylor had said in MN that they likely would – but now Matthew has unfortunately had to cancel his remaining dates on the tour due to illness.

Baltimore October 12 

Night 2 was an interesting one for sure.  We last minute ended up bringing a friend of a friend to what we found out was her 2nd Hanson show (she had gone before in ’98) so we spent a lot of the car ride filling her in on things.  4 songs into Hanson’s set and a bunch of people were pointing to something in the crowd.  Taylor noticed and stopped and asked what was going on, called for security and they jumped over the barricade to help a girl that had passed out get out of the crowd.  Zac was teasing that it was Taylor’s voice that made her fall over. (I don’t think he knows how to handle stuff like that and instead chooses to crack jokes)   Compared to MN we lost “World Goes Around” and got “Waiting for This” instead – total downgrade. They took out the weird acoustic bit of Never Let Go and I Will Come To You – but instead Taylor solo’ed Never Let Go and then they did an acoustic version of Weird.  (So would that still make it the weird acoustic bit? I guess so) Before that started, there was more commotion in the crowd and it seemed like someone may have vomited as the girls around the hole that had formed in the crowd were shouting something about needing something cleaned up.  Later I found out that someone had a nose bleed and it was a lot of blood on the floor.  I can’t recall seeing a show stopped due to 1 crowd emergency, let alone 2. (And this was my 296th Hanson show!)  They also pulled “World’s On Fire” from the set and we ended up with a Get the Girl Back / If Only / Fired Up / In The City / Lost Without Each Other last handful of songs – I guess they thought Baltimore wanted a festival setlist inspired work out?  This setlist also ended up being longer than MN but I’d prefer quality over quantity. AND STILL NO PINK MOON.

 

Pop2000 Tour at Foxwoods

Saturday night, O-Town brought their POP2000 tour to Foxwoods.  On the bill for the night was Ryan Cabrera, LFO, O-Town and Chris Kirkpatrick, Founding Father of *NSYNC.

Ryan opened the night and even though he did do a “new” song his setlist doesn’t really seem to change at any of these Pop2000 shows. He was hosting an event at 9pm elsewhere in the casino so he was done with his set by about 8:25, went to merch for some photos and I assume left shortly after that.

Then it was time for O-Town – I hadn’t seen them I think since my birthday last summer, so I was quite happy to see the changes that they had made to their set.  Brad from LFO joined them as usual, but things with him seemed off. But he did rewrite his little speech into a poem which was fun. But his whole bit seemed a bit awkward.  To finish up their set they brought out Chris for some *NSYNC songs. Or N-Town, if you will.  They finished out the night asking if we were drunk enough to sing at the top of our lungs.. oh, I can do that 100% sober – and we sang All or Nothing – with Brad and Chris joining in at the end.

After the show we hung around to talk to Chris Kirkpatrick… nothing really exciting to report but when I said *NSYNC was on hiatus and that’s why I was going to see Hanson he said “…maybe”… is he messing with me or not? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

O‐Town Setlist Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT, USA 2024

Hanson Underneath:Experience Tour – Minneapolis

Thursday and Friday I was in Minneapolis, MN to see Hanson kick off their Underneath:Experience tour.  For this tour every city gets 2 shows – with night one being acoustic and night two being electric.  Opening for the tour on acoustic night is Matthew Sweet, who co-wrote Underneath with Hanson and opening on electric night is Phantom Planet – their bass player Sam played bass on Underneath.

After a whirlwind trip to PA for the P!nk show, I headed up to the airport and was absolutely ready to nap on the plane.  This plane had a closet on board for mobility devices, so my walker (toaster) got to ride on the plane with me for the first time! Plane napping didn’t go so well as I had a too tall guy in the seat next to me and couldn’t really get comfortable with us battling for space.

I arrived at the hotel, got dinner and was ready to fall asleep. I started to watch The Masked Singer episode but fell asleep about halfway through.

Thursday morning I had a lazy day until I decided to get in line for the show.  Please note that the rest of this review is going to have show and setlist spoilers so if you’re looking to not know what is happening this tour, you probably should X out and come back later.

For the Thursday show I was triple booked – I “had” to watch the Savannah Bananas draft to see what cities they’d be going to in 2025 and then I “had” to keep an eye on the Mets game as it was a do or die game for the wild card.  The bananas stream went into Matthew Sweet’s set, but it was so mellow I was glad to have a bit of a distraction.  When I was looking at the Mets score, it was 0-0 for a long time, and then I saw the Brewers go up 2-0 and I figured it was over (even though it was the 7th) but then my app just kept showing the Mets scoring runs in the 9th and they ended up winning.  (Seriously if you don’t want show spoilers – leave!)

After Hanson’s Church show over the weekend, I figured that about half of that set would make its way into the acoustic set – and it did.  I absolutely love the slowed down acoustic Runaway Run so I am very glad that it made the setlist.  They also brought back solos – Isaac did Hand in Hand, Zac did The Walk (which is one of my favorites but also timed itself poorly with the baseball game so I was distracted) and Taylor did Every Word I Say which a couple of my friends had asked him to play.  I on the other hand asked him to NOT play a song – and am happy to report he did not.  Will it stick for the rest of my shows? We’ll see.  Highlights included Teach Your Children with the 3 of them with Isaac on guitar around the center mic, Cory Wong joining them for Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ and I Was Born being acoustic.

Once the show was over it was time for DJ Taylor and the after party.  Doors were supposed to be at 10:30 and it would start at 11, but due to technical difficulties it didn’t start until closer to 11:30.  I didn’t last very long – the room seemed crammed and after a few songs I made my way to chat with some people in the back and then headed outside as my friends said they were going to grab some pizza.  I could hear all the songs from outside and couldn’t see Taylor even when I was inside so pretty much the same experience, but with friends!

I had found out that Hanson was going to be on the radio at 8:30am Friday morning.  I set my alarm, it went off, and next thing I knew it was 9am and I had missed it.  I guess I was tired?

I got in line for the show early-ish and was very much so looking forward to Phantom Planet’s set.  I recognized more songs than I thought I would (ie more than just ‘California’) and they were a lot of fun and seemed really impressed with the crowd interaction and the singing that they had us do.

Then it was time for the electric set! I had a new spot for this show, so the setlist was not below me.  I was glad that I didn’t see anything ahead of time because the setlist was full of surprises and when I am 🫨 multiple times during a setlist you KNOW it’s good.  They opened with Optimistic, which I expected based on the church show.  Minus points for Taylor being on the acoustic guitar during Dancing in the Wind and not electric to throw it back to 2004.  There also seemed to be a bit of a “World” theme going on with the show – Where’s the Love – it makes the world go round and round – World Goes Around… later in the set we were treated to a cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World (sort of a medley/mashup with Crazy Beautiful – which Isaac later told us was somewhat inspired by the Tears for Fears song) and World’s on Fire.  I also liked how they did the “old” penny and me – sort of tweaked it with the emphasis on the “Singing along to Feelin’ Alright” like they do in the new version – and then went into a cover of Feelin’ Alright so we really WERE singing along.

The only part I would have maaybbbe changed was the “acoustic” set within the electric set – Never Let Go and I Will Come To You.  We’ll see how they switch things around.  Overall throughout the 2 nights they did all of the main songs from Underneath with the exception of Misery and Lullabelle.  I would not be surprised to see Lullabelle pop up as a Zac solo when he starts doing them again (he skipped them in Chicago in Detroit).  Of the bonus tracks, there’s still 3 more that need to find their way into the sets and I’m hoping they will at my future shows.

We once again did not get Pink Moon – Zac said Taylor wasn’t really liking how it was going but it WOULD be coming during the tour. I told him I’d be going to half of the shows and he promised I would hear it.  He did end up doing in Chicago, so I am optimistic. (no pun intended)

After the show we waited by the bus for what seemed like forever (it didn’t help that I was in shorts and the temperature dropped a LOT from when we went into the show until we got out) but Zac and Isaac came out and we were able to get photos with them and chat for a bit.  Taylor had left earlier in an uber with one of his daughters and just waved to everyone.

I am a lot more excited about this tour now than I was – I said I would only allow duplicates of Penny and Me (Moonlight one night, OG the other) and MMMBop and that was the only duplicates they were.  A lot of covers, even though most were throw backs and a good mix of songs in the setlist. It’ll be fun to see how the setlist evolves (or not) over the course of the month at the rest of my shows.  (I have not yet decided if I’ll be doing separate reviews or putting them all into one catch all at the end… we’ll see how I’m feeling and if I have a lot more to say or not!)

P!nk Summer Carnival Tour

Tuesday I went to Hershey to see P!nk and her Summer Carnival tour. We will ignore the fact that it is no longer Summer.
Opening first was Kid Cut Up, a DJ, typically I am not a fan of DJs as openers but I really liked the mix he did of a new song over layed with and older one.
Next up was The Script which we had seen and met at Hershey 10 years previous. They put on a decent set but I think Danny was having issues with his in ear monitors.
The DJ came back out in between and then it was time for Sheryl Crow. She did most of her hits including Real Gone from Cars. My friends sons love the movie so we face timed them and it was so fun to see their faces when they figured out what the song was!
Of course, just as P!nk was scheduled to come out it started the rain. Her start ended up being delayed, but it seemed like she was getting a kick out of getting rained on and it didn’t seem to deter any of her acrobatics. She also said we should take in her makeup now because it would be gone soon and if she happened to fall, we should all laugh at her for a very long time.
P!nk is a phenomenal performer and the fact that she can sing, live, while catapulting through the air is very impressive.
We opted to make a break for it before her encore of So What, but did take a look behind us to see the acrobatics going on. We made the right choice because we got out of the parking lot in record time! Others reported getting stuck for almost 2 hours after.
The next morning I had to wake up early and drive home and then to the airport to kick off my Hanson adventures.

Hanson at the Church Studio

Friday I made another trek to Tulsa, this time for a special, limited, members only event. They were returning to the historic church studio where they recorded underneath acoustic 20 years ago.

Hurricane Helene was disrupting a lot of travel plans (and ended up doing a lot of destruction and my heart goes out to all of those who have been affected, the footage from it is just unbelievable) but fortunately with a layover in Chicago on the way in, I made it with no issues. While I still made it with barely any time before boarding the 2nd flight it was a lot less close than it was last month. Still, not sure I’ll do a layover that short again.
Upon my arrival we had dinner at the Tavern and hit up Antoinette’s for pie night. After our silly and delirious hit us early, we figured it was best to get to sleep early.
Saturday we were in the first session of the shows and it was weird to be up and getting ready for a 1pm show.  The staff at the church studio & museum were so wonderful.  When they saw I had my walker (toaster) and knew there was equipment on the path from the elevator to the room the show was in, they measured toaster and then the hallway to make sure id have space and not have to formulate a plan b.
We ended up 2nd row by Zac (ear plugs IN even it was supposed to be mostly acoustic). They did a mix of songs from Underneath and not, some throwback covers and despite what Isaac may have said – no songs they hadn’t played before.
The 2nd half of the show, after annoying us all with with you in your dreams, was more electric with Zac “promising” to play the drums lightly (is there really any such thing?)
After the show we went across the street for some BBQ and we may just have to add that to our regular rotation as it was delicious!
We then wandered the neighborhood a bit – there was a quirky crafty shop and a record store. A woman had come by and asked us to visit her hippy boho shop which I was ready to do – until we saw it was closed.
By the time we finished that the 2nd show was getting out so I was able to find out if both sets were the same (they were). Taylor came out and was taking photos so I asked him “still no pink moon?” And he said there was some curve balls that morning and they’ll do it on tour. I also asked if he could please cut with you in your dreams from the set and just replace it with pink moon. He seemed surprised to hear me say that and I’m not sure my opinion holds any weight, but you never know.
We went back to Antoinette’s to see if they had funnel cake (they did not) and instead got some snacks (I got a brownie) before heading back to the room.
Sunday we had a lazy morning as we all had booked later flights. When we arrived at the airport, Taylor came in shortly after and told us safe travels home – to which we said… and same to you.. but not home? To New York? And he said yes to New York.
Well, turns out to New York was through Washington DC and they all 3 were on the same flight as me and then were at the gate next to mine back home once we landed there.  Here’s hoping their ride was a bit less bumpy than mine was!

Andy Grammer Greater Than One Man Show

Thursday night, Andy Grammer took to the Ridgefield Playhouse stage for the second night in a row for his “Greater Than” one man show.  The show was billed as an ‘intimate set of songs, storytelling and poetry’, I am not sure I put much thought into that before we went and wasn’t able to find a setlist from anyone else before either, so I went in not sure what to expect.  When we entered the theater we were given a pen and a card. On the card were 3 prompts. Once I started reading I said ‘Oh no, what have we gotten ourselves into?!’  The first prompt was: Write the name of someone you deeply loved and who meant a lot to you who has passed away. Followed by Write an act of service you have done for someone else.  And finally, Write the name of someone who has saved your life – physically, mentally or spiritually.

As the show began, Andy’s creative director came out and talked to us a bit about the cards and said we didn’t need to participate if we were not comfortable doing so and the more you write the better experience you will get out of it.  I decided to opt out of participating.  He also warned that there has no been a night of the show yet where he hadn’t cried.

Andy came out – and most of his talking to the audience about his life were actually a series of poems.  The idea of the evening was that he had heard that if you did acts of kindness for others, in the name of your loved one who had passed, it is like sending them a gift to wherever they are. After his Mom passed he wasn’t sure what to do with himself and he ended up offering to write songs for others and was getting all these stories about people going in for surgery or in comas and he quickly would send them a song video and realized that this all could be bigger than him.  He also had a few weird coincidence stories that were absolutely wild but it does make you think there may be some other force going on.

As he told his story, he also discussed what things were greater than others, for a bunch of objects that he had on the stage. Each of those items were also connected to one of his songs that he ended up singing for us.

He went through the cards – first the who saved my life and had the people come up to a phone and talk to him a bit about the person and why.  For the acts of service, he said if you do it and record it to broadcast it, it loses its appeal, so to keep things anonymous he just quickly read through several of the cards.  The one that didn’t remain anonymous? “I didn’t kill my daughter when she stole the BMW”  That Dad proudly raised his hand.

At closer to the end of the show he had the people come up to discuss someone they loved who passed and asked them a series of questions that he wanted them to answer as if they were talking to their loved on.  When they think of them, what they’d thank them for, etc.  He also sort of explained the concept of the phones as part of the show because a man in Japan lost a loved one and set up a phone in his garden to call his loved one and have one sided conversations.  A year later there was a tsunami, and people who lost loved ones would come to his garden to use his phone.  Then the lights went dim and he moved the phone that was on the stage to the center and called his Mom and answered all the questions he had asked the audience to answer about her.

After the show we got to say hey to Andy and get hugs and photos! He is always so sweet, with his family there (we met his wife too!) We weren’t sure if he’d come out so we were very happy when he did!

Festival Preview: Soundside Music Festival Bridgeport CT

For 2024, the Sound on Sound Festival has rebranded as Soundside Music Festival.  The lineup is pretty stacked, but unfortunately I won’t be making it this year.  But I figured I’d preview some of the artists I have seen before.  I was very happy to see that several of the more main acts each day will have an American Sign Language Interpreted set – if you remember last year I had some issues with figuring out how accessible they would be (although there still seems to be no accessible markings on this years map) I am happy that they are stepping up for those who may be hard of hearing and need the interpreter. (I also find them really fun to watch!)

Saturday September 28

Rijah
Madi Diaz
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Thee Sacred Souls
Grace Potter
Boyz II Men
Fleet Foxes
Goo Goo Dolls
Noah Kahan

Sunday September 29

Darren Kiely
Hurray for the Riff Raff
The War and Treaty
Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
Gregory Alan Isakov
Norah Jones
Teddy Swims
Bleachers
Foo Fighters

On Night 1, I have only seen Boyz II Men (6x) and Goo Goo Dolls (1x).  Boyz II Men are always a lot of fun and put on a great show and have some great harmonies! For some reason I thought I’ve seen Goo Goo Dolls more than just once, but while they aren’t my favorite they put on a good show.  Lisa Loeb, Grace Potter and Noah Kahan are all artists I’d have enjoyed checking out, Noah is a New England guy and his show at the Amp in Bridgeport last year seemed like a good time – most of the videos I saw the crowd was singing even louder than he was and were really into it.  Since he’s headlining, I’d expect a lot of those fans to try and come out again.

Night 2 features one act I have seen before – friend of the blog – Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. They just released Strangers No More Volume 2 quite recently and while I haven’t had a chance to take it all in yet, if it’s anything like Volume 1, I’m going to love it.   For Sunday’s set I’d have liked to see Norah Jones, Teddy Swims and Foo Fighters.  Bleachers were a last minute addition when Queens of the Stone Age needed to back out, and while I haven’t seen them specifically, I have seen Jack Antonoff in one of his previous bands, Steel Train, when they opened for Hanson back in ’09.  A lot of people are complaining that they aren’t a good replacement, but I think many will be happy with the addition.

For those of you who may be fans of some of the other acts I am not familiar with – what can you tell me about Rijah, Madi Diaz, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Thee Sacred Souls, Fleet Foxes, Darren Kiely, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The War and Treaty, and Gregory Alan Isakov? Any songs of theirs I may know and not realize it? Who should be on my radar?

Anyone going to the festival – who are you most excited to see?

Hanson at TN Valley Fair

One day I had decided I was going to really focus and get all of my work done early. And then I realized that a new Hanson show was announced at the TN Valley Fair in Knoxville, TN and then I realized that I had just spent $700+ on 6 front row seats before asking any of my friends if they were even interested. Turns out most of them were in, and plans commenced.

I flew in to Nashville Thursday afternoon, which when I got to the airport it had no gate listed, but eventually some staff members came and realized the mistake and the screens were corrected and the flight was otherwise uneventful. My friend picked me up at the airport, we got lunch and then went back to her place to decide what to do in the evening and opted to check out a nearby resort and ended up seeing a Halloween light show, having dinner and riding a boat ride that doubled as a silent disco. It was my first time doing a silent disco and it was a lot of fun and definitely something I’d consider doing again. Later in the evening the rest of our crew arrived, we made a rough plan for the next day and went to bed.

Friday we headed from Nashville to Knoxville with a stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch and of course Buc-ees to load up on snacks. We then made our way to the fairgrounds, which apparently was built on nothing but hills and they had no accessible parking spots anyway. When we kept asking, every lot near where we wanted to be was for vendors. Finally we found a lot that said the giant concrete hill was “accessible” because it was concrete and not grass.  I think they missed the part of ADA where the parking spots are supposed to be flat? We slowly made our way to the stage, finally finding a first aid golf cart that was willing to give me a ride the last bit of the way there.  We ended up bumping into Taylor and chatting for a bit and getting a photo and then headed inside to our seats.  Apparently none of the ushers/security there knew how to count… but after some drama turns out, we were right and knew better than they did what seats were sold.

Before the show we had made a mock setlist and we were pretty close, but they did end up throwing in a few surprises – Look at You, Can’t Stop and Hey that we weren’t expecting.  The show was a lot of fun, the crowd had a ton of energy and all the ridiculousness we had to go through to get there was forgotten.  After the show we waited over by the van, but it was straight up teeniebopper land with people screaming for ‘Zachary’ – when he came over he quickly did some photos and I was able to snag him for one – but he didn’t stick around for very long.  I’m not sure if anyone else came out as they were closing the building we needed to exit through so we got told to leave – but we did manage to get someone to track down the first aid golf cart again and get us back to the car.  I wanted to take a picture of how ridiculous the “accessible” parking was, but I had forgotten.

Sunday night I ended up returning the rental car, “stealing” a car with a staff member, getting dropped off at the terminal, grabbing a wheelchair and heading to the gate. But not before my Buc-ees snacks needed an extra inspection… Upon arrival at the gate I was told that the plane held 175 people but would only have 23 on board and that we’d all get our own row (and then some) and we had to make sure to spread out for weight and balances.

Hanson at The Big Dam Party

 

When I was doing some Hanson concert math, I realized that if I added in this one off show in Tulsa, my 300th show would be Zac’s birthday on tour, provided they didn’t add any other shows in between.  Then they did end up adding a show in between and well, at that point I had already booked this trip and while I could have backed out – once you’ve given yourself a Hanson concert, can you really take it away from yourself?

I had hoped to fly Southwest both ways, but they didn’t have any flights to get me home so I did a Southwest/American split.  I took an afternoon flight to Chicago, which had an hour and 20 minutes for a layover.  Except no wheelchairs came and by the time they did show up, I had 30 minutes to get to the other gate and then I was left up at the top of the jet bridge and by the time a pusher actually came, she said ‘oh girl, you don’t have much time’, I mean… I know but is there anything I can do about it when I’m at the mercy of other people and there’s no one nearby to even flag down to call someone to help me? We got to the gate for the connecting flight to Tulsa with *9* minutes to spare and no chance to stop for food or the bathroom.  For the most part, the flight was otherwise uneventful but we did have to wait for lightning to pass once we landed because the ground crew had taken cover.  Uber wanted $50 to get me to the hotel and Lyft wanted only $20, so for the weekend my allegiance was with Lyft. I also ordered door dash to show up shortly after I thought I’d be checked in and settled and they didn’t bring half of my order so that was fun. (We have the worst luck with DoorDash/UberEats in Tulsa!)

Saturday morning I was pretty lazy, but ended up heading outside to hit up Ida Red for some Hanson merch and Antoinette’s for some snacks and to also see just how hot it was and how long I’d want to sit in it at the park before the show. I also ordered some lunch and timed it out perfectly to do it all in one trip.  I ended up deciding to try and get to The Gathering Place around 4.  I was hoping I could convince my Lyft driver to break the rules and drop me off in a closer parking lot than the designated drop off, and he agreed!  As soon as we spotted the largest rubber duck he went into the lot and I told them I was just hopping out and no one had a problem with that.  I found the stage and realized it was down a giant hill so I parked myself at the top because I wasn’t sure I could make it down on my own, and once I found out it might start raining I didn’t want to end up stuck down there if I had to run for cover.

At 5, Joleen Brown took the stage.  She had won The Big Show Off that happened earlier this year and Zac Hanson was a judge. She did a 30 minute set and I think the weather was really messing with her – the sun was bright and shining right at the stage, but she powered through!

It then started drizzling and I debated if I should go find a tent or stay where I was, and once I committed to the poncho it started coming down a lot harder and I was mildly regretting my decisions but had to stick it out at that point.  I also somehow didn’t put the poncho on right and my left leg was getting soaked but my right was fine?  I think it was because I tried to hide my arms inside as well.  Fortunately my new shorts that I was hoping would dry quickly, did.  At 7 when it was still raining (and some thunder and lightning too) we were told that the show was going to still happen but would be delayed.  The rain seemed to let up a little bit after 8 and the stage started to get set up for Hanson.  I took my poncho off, but it ended up starting to rain again and the radar was showing until 11 so I kept it on – but was hoping I’d have enough breaks in the weather to get some photos! (Which I did, but haven’t gotten them off the camera yet)  I also found out that having a cosmic brownie in the middle of a Hanson concert takes it to a whole other level, thanks to my friend Keena and her daughters who decided to share a snack with me.

The setlist was a bit of what I was expecting for a festival show with a couple of hometown covers thrown in – Livin’ on Tulsa Time and Never Been to Spain.  I do think some of the set got cut short due to the delay, but I unfortunately haven’t seen a setlist from the stage to know what was missing.  I thought that they might have finished with If Only – and was a bit surprised it was Get the Girl Back (unless it was a last minute change due to a wet stage?)

After the show I met up with my friends Jon and Adam, got to see the giant duck from the front and they walked me to the parking lot which was FOREVER away, so I am glad that I got my Lyft driver to break the rules! Jon ended up driving me back to the hotel because the spot to wait for ride share was very dark!

Sunday I woke up, ate the rest of my snacks, packed, and then grabbed a Lyft to the airport.  As soon as I entered the airport, I got an alert that my flight was delayed by about 15 minutes. I had a decent layover in Charlotte, so I figured if it stayed that way, I should be fine.  At the gate they told us it was a small plane and all roller bags would need to be tagged and if you had less than 30 minutes of a layover, they would check it to your final destination as waiting for the bags would hold them up and the bags would move to the plane much faster than the passengers would.  The gate agent also thought we’d be able to make the 10 minutes the flight was late up in the air.

I was optimistic until we were getting ready to land and were told that Charlotte airport had instituted a ground stop and we were unable to land there and they wanted us to circle until 6:45pm.  The captain said we didn’t have enough fuel to do that so we were going to circle for 10 minutes and see if we could land then or we would have to divert to Columbia, SC.  After the 10 minutes we were told the ground stop was until 7:30pm and we’d need to divert to refuel.  They had us stay on the plane for a bit, and told anyone if they got off they were terminating their trip and would have to find their own way back. A few people opted to try and get rental cars to get back to Charlotte.  My 8pm flight to Hartford got pushed to 9:30 so I figured I’d still be ok and would wait it out.  They then told us the ground stop was extended to 8:30pm and let us get off the plane. Of course my walker was nowhere to be found so they got me a wheelchair to get inside.  I was able to see some fireworks while we waited.  There were several other diverted planes, one of which got canceled until the next morning, but eventually we were told we would be boarding again.  Of course, there was no one around to push the wheelchair so I had to steady myself with my suitcase and slowly make my way back out to the plane.  It took a bit for us to finally take off, but in that time my flight got pushed to 10pm and then 11pm.  I got to Charlotte around 10pm and by then, my flight was going to take off at midnight and get me back to CT at 2am.  Most of the food places were starting to close, but my wheelchair pusher told me what ones were open 24 hours so I could get some dinner. (or lunch? I don’t even know)

The gate agent ended up giving me an upgrade to the extra leg room seats and I ended up having the row all to myself.  The captain thought we’d land earlier than 2am and make up some time in the air, but even though he did get us on the ground at about 1:45am, the grounds crew was not ready for us so we had to wait.  I got the valet shuttle to my car and got home around 3am – with a stop for McDonalds… for… dinner?

Fortunately I had Monday off due to the Labor Day holiday and was able to sleep in (I don’t think I actually fell asleep until around 5am) and not have to worry about doing much of anything.  It’s always an adventure… and now I am trying to wrap this up and get it posted before I head out for my next trip…

 

Avril Lavigne Greatest Hits Tour

Wednesday night I made my way to Hartford for Avril Lavigne’s Greatest Hits tour.  I’m not the biggest Avril fan, but Simple Plan was opening and I absolutely love them and don’t often get the chance to see them.  I also ended up jumping at the chance to get a VIP Pre-Show Pizza Party with Simple Plan.

For the pizza party we got let in a little early and were able to eat pizza and have drinks before the guys came in. They said they’d “talk to everyone” which based on other similar events I’ve gone to I didn’t think would happen but I managed to talk to each of them and get selfies. Seb and Jeff sat at the table with me but I had to track down Pierre and Chuck since they were in one spot and had everyone going to them.  We also got a group photo taken with our device of us with the band and then a big group photo of everyone. We also got a signed laminate, signed poster and a clear tote bag.

Once we were done, the doors to the pavilion still weren’t open. I took a quick look at merch and there was a shirt I wanted but I didn’t want to wait in the line. Once I got in and to my spot, I saw they were doing mobile order and pick ups at the merch booth so I ordered it that way, knowing I’d be leaving before the show was over and could quickly grab it on my way out.

The first band went on at 8 and was called Girlfriends so I was a bit surprised to see 3 men walk out as the band! They sounded like a lot of other pop punk bands but weren’t bad.

Then it was time for Simple Plan! They had a decently long set and I haven’t seen them in so long I was just so happy to see them again! Also – my new earplugs are awesome! (Even if I did drop one mid set and had to get security to help me recover it)  They basically did all their hits and the crowd really seemed into it.

Avril didn’t hit the stage until 10. I knew she did a song with Simple Plan so I was going to stay until then, but as the set went on I decided I was leaving at 11, Simple Plan or not. I’m getting old and it was too late for a middle of the week show lol.  Fortunately for me, Simple Plan came out at 10:53 and finished at 10:59.

I grabbed my merch, headed to my car, and was on the main road by 11:16 and home just after midnight.

I’m still not the biggest Avril fan but fortunately with a greatest hits tour I knew most of the songs simply from listening to the radio for the last 22 years. (The fact that both Simple Plan and Avril have singles that are 22 years old is mind-blowing to me)

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