I’m not really sure what I was thinking picking a 5am departure time to go to Iowa. I got to the airport before precheck was even open and of course my brace set off the scanner and I had to take it off to push it through the x-ray.  I had 2 young boys in front of me on the plane that honestly were not all that obnoxious at all, I slept through most of the flight but one of the boys said “sorry how we acted on the flight when you were trying to sleep” when he got off and I assured him he was fine. (I’ve had to put up with much worse!)

My layover was in Chicago and the gates were supposed to be directly across from each other but of course that was not the case by the time I landed and they also had no wheelchair waiting like I was told they would when we took off. It also made me do a sleepy double take when I was waiting on if I was going to get wheeled or walk and everyone was talking about Tulsa!  For once, I was not headed to Tulsa! lol I made it to my new gate and waited to board the tiny plane to Cedar Rapids. When they sent me down the jet bridge at first I thought a van was waiting at the bottom, surely it was too small to be a plane! But no, it was a plane.  Also strange was one of the guys on my flight out of Hartford was on the flight too – seated next to me!

Upon landing I found my friend and we were on our way! We made 2 stops in Cedar Rapids, the Czech bakery Sykora and a scrapbook shop. At the bakery I opted for a poppy seed kolache. They didn’t have any of the cookies like my Nana used to make, so I couldn’t compare, but the kolache was very good!  The scrapbook store was supposed to open at 10am but no one was there at 11 so we left, turns out they had a miscommunication with who was supposed to be working so we left for Dubuque before they opened at 11:15. Ah well.

In Dubuque we did the Fenlon Elevator which is the shortest and steepest of its kind. It is 5 steps up and out of the car and then 5 steps back down in to go down. I braved it and tried to take a video looking down (I don’t recommend doing that) but never actually hit record!  Figures… We also went to see the historic shot tower and drove around a bit to see the port.  After a 5am flight I was exhausted so most of the time was spent in the hotel. (And the 2 stops we did make were my only 2 on the ‘to do’ list anyway.)

Monday morning we got up and headed to Dyersville for the Field of Dreams.  We started with a tour of the house and then wandered the corn fields, ball field and gift shop. I loved the gift shop because it had a lot of “baseballism” shirts that would go over the head of anyone who isn’t a big baseball fan.   They were taking down the MLB field but we were told next year they’d play again and it would be the Cubs. While I enjoyed watching the game, I’m not sure if it’s something that should be yearly because it will kind of kill the thrill about it, but hey if it makes money MLB is going to be all about it.  There’s also a museum about the film but was unfortunately closed on Monday so we just took a photo of their mural on the side of the building.

Next up was Ames where we went to the gardens to see the butterflies and the world’s largest (concrete) gnome.  The butterfly garden was a lot of fun chasing the butterflies (and them chasing my cane) and trying to get pictures of them. The garden had an exhibit of origami statues so we tried to find all of them while making our way to Elwood (the gnome). I thought the admission prices were a bit steep, but it was a nice mile or so stroll through the gardens and they were absolutely beautiful so when you think about the cost of upkeep, that’s probably where most of the admission price is going to.  They also offered free scooter and wheelchair rentals which right there made the admission worth it for those who might need it – and made the gardens a whole heck of a lot more accessible for everyone and I certainly can’t be mad about that!

Then we made our way to Des Moines to get ready for the Iowa State Fair the next day.

We got to the fair about 1pm which was probably the hottest part of the day and started with some cookies and fried cheese curds.  We also had fried pickles and corn dogs and I had lots and lots of water.  I’d have wanted something stronger, but driving the scooter around all day with people who were freaking oblivious was not going to end well if I was a little tipsy.  (I am not sure why all the responsibility of driving it has to fall on me and no one else has to pay any attention at all and can be mad if/when I run into them – WHEN I HAVE NO BRAKES – but it is what it is.)  At one point we heard the Beach Boys start soundcheck along with John Stamos singing “Forever” and then we heard Hanson join them for Where’s the Love.  A bit later Hanson took the stage for their own soundcheck so we knew that Hanson would most likely be doing Where’s the Love with the Beach Boys and not part of their set.

Finally 7pm came and doors opened. None of the volunteers knew what to do at all… but we managed to get our wristbands and get the scooter parked and I got to my 4th row seat that was pretty much dead center.  Most of the people in front of me sat for Hanson and I was able to sit for the whole show and still be able to see!  I hadn’t used my camera in so long, it was nice to be getting some decent photos again.  I was surprised that Hanson didn’t play any of their 4 new singles – nor did they even mention that they had a new project coming out in November when they had a whole crowd of potential new fans in front of them… but it is what it is.  They also kind of seemed to mess up a bit during Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ but quickly found their groove.

For the Beach Boys set, I felt wildly out of place.  Most of my peers know the Beach Boys from their parents being fans, but my parents were not fans so the only songs I knew were the ones that were really, really big or covered elsewhere (or featured on Full House!) Even with the lyrics being put up on the big screen for a lot of the songs, I didn’t really sing along.  But the guy behind me was absolutely having the time of his life singing off beat and off key along to every.single.word.  I was also masked for the entire concert because despite it being outdoors, everyone was squeezed in a little bit too close for my comfort. So as long as I bopped my head along to the beat, no one really knew if I was singing along or not 😉  (There’s your pro tip for the day lol)

For the Beach Boys encore, Hanson came back out, as we expected – but Mike Love said that John Stamos liked to play Summertime Blues so they started with that song (one that Hanson knows well and has been covering on their tours on and off since 1998 – and was probably included in many of their pre-fame sets as well!) and then went into Where’s the Love as well as Fun, Fun, Fun.  It certainly was Fun, Fun, Fun to see everyone up on stage and having an absolute blast.  Despite surge pricing, I managed to find an Uber and get back home to the hotel just after midnight.

 

My flight out of Des Moines was not until 4pm but hotel check out was noon so I got to the airport super early.  Despite nearly every piece of signage in the airport saying “mask up” the guy in front of me did not have his on and TSA made him put it on before checking his ID.  Then he took it off AGAIN to go through the metal detectors and had to pull out all his bags to find it again and he said he was told he could take it off.  (Uh, no, 3 people told you to put it on…)  Turns out that wasn’t their most problematic passenger of the day – I was.  My purse went through fine, my brace set off the metal detector (belts were setting it off too so it was on a higher setting than I’m used to) so while I waited for a female assist, I saw my bag get pulled off the line.  They started saying something was stuck and my cane never made it through so I had to show them where it was and get one of the agents to retrieve it off the conveyor belt.  My suitcase apparently had something “bad” in it, but the 2nd agent said he didn’t see anything and was giving me it back. This set off a wild afternoon where: a guy walked into the ladies room just ahead of me and panicked and ran out when I walked in, I got bitched out by a lady who thought I was cutting her for the elevator when she was in a wheelchair and had no one to push her, watched a lady have a meltdown in the bathroom about needing to wear a ‘face diaper’ until January, tried to avoid getting touched by the way too many children at my gate who were fascinated by me, fell out of a wheelchair and watched a guy walk through the McDonalds drive thru.  But I made it back to my own bed by 2am only to awake to pouring rain from a Tropical Storm.  Maybe someday I will be caught up on my work emails…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanson has been hosting a “Summer Concert Series” at their local Cain’s Ballroom in their hometown of Tulsa, OK.  In addition to being in person shows, they also are streaming them online.  For July, I had bought streaming tickets only.  (holiday weekend flight prices were IN-SANE) For August, it was a good friend’s birthday, so I decided to make the trek to surprise her (plus, I hadn’t been able to see her since May 2019!)

The flights there went well, on my first flight, I met a little girl who also had CP and also wore a brace on her left leg.  Her Mom and I chatted a bit about different surgeries we had each had and what ones she had upcoming.  When I landed in Atlanta, they asked us to wait as they needed *8* wheelchairs for the flight.  Good thing I had a long layover to get myself to the next gate! Many were worried they’d miss their flight while waiting for someone to push them.  While I was waiting to board the flight to Tulsa, a little girl came and circled me, inspecting my brace from every direction.  I guess it was to her satisfaction as she then decided she would sit next to me, never saying a word to me at all.

After landing in Tulsa I picked up the rental car, headed to the hotel, ordered dinner and managed to get all settled with 10 minutes to spare before Big Brother was on.

Friday I decided to check out the new Greenwood Rising. It had just opened earlier that week and tickets were free.  Tours are guided (or you can go off on your own, but the guides unmute all the video content) and in groups of about 20.  I was glad that most of my group were wearing masks.  There are several different rooms that show you how Greenwood was growing and prospering.  Then of course, there is the massacre.  There is a video that is played with the story of some of the survivors.  If you think it may be too emotional for you, they have an emotional exit to skip that part of the exhibit and go right ahead to the next section.  I didn’t end up skipping it, but I was glad they had that option for those who might not have been able to handle it, so they could still see the rest of the exhibit.  Every other room it seemed had a spot to sit, which was very nice for me to take a break in between looking and reading the exhibits and checking out the artifacts.  I think that given the chance, I would go through again self guided now that I had seen all the video content, so I could fully read everything in the rooms without being blocked by the rest of my touring group.  The video effects are pretty cool, so I don’t recommend doing self guided for the first time through.

Friday I was also playing secret squirrel for a friend who decided at last minute she was going to show up and I was frantically tracking her flights to see if she’d make her connection in time or not.  She did end up landing just before 6 and made it down to the venue just before doors to surprise everyone! I was also pleasantly surprised that the venue put together such a nice ADA area right in the front with chairs for everyone.  The Friday night show was ATW + Underneath, Underneath being Hanson’s 2004 release – their first independent album after leaving their record label.  From where I was positioned I couldn’t see Isaac and Zac was blocked by his cymbal, but it was the Taylor show. (And Zac did come over to the piano to sing one of my favorite songs, Broken Angel.)  The guys had been saying they’d play “select songs” from the classic albums during this concert series but they played everything from Underneath except for the bonus track, Lullabelle.  They also threw in a couple of covers from that touring era and all 4 tracks off their new project, Against the World.  After the show I got to hang out with the Birthday Girl for a bit and then headed back to the hotel for the night.  I heard 1 new song during the show – Only Love. (The other 3 new tracks I had heard previewed on the Wintry Mix tour)

Saturday I took a ride down Route 66 and went to the Goodwill because they were giving out free totes with some goodies in them to the first so many people who showed up.  The store was mostly clothes and I wasn’t sure how much room I’d have in my luggage so I didn’t really check anything out.  I also tried to get to to the Kendall Whittier area of Tulsa to check out the bike racks that are all “KW”s (my initials) but they were having some sort of block party so I didn’t get to drive past and wasn’t up for finding parking and walking in. It was H-O-T all weekend.  After the scenic route of the Tulsa highways (I missed an exit) I went back to the hotel and took a trip to Antoinette’s bakery for some treats!

Saturday Night’s show was ATW + The Walk.  There were a couple of long shot songs I was hoping for that I hadn’t heard off the Take the Walk EP and I was sad to see that Isaac had initially listed one (Lay Me Down) as his solo on the setlist, but opted to do A Minute Without You instead.  But here’s the thing – before I saw the setlist – I thought Isaac’s solo was absolutely amazing.  He had the crowd sing the “Oh Yeah”s that are usually Taylor and Zac’s parts and when he finished the song the crowd absolutely erupted! It was the first time hearing a large crowd like that in quite some time for me and was awesome.  So while, yes, I would have loved to hear Lay Me Down, I’m not sure I would have traded that solo for it.  I also had scooted up in my seat a bit so I was able to see Isaac and Taylor for most of the show and Zac only when he went to the piano for The Walk and up front with a guitar for Fire on the Mountain.  Also interesting was that many of my friends had never heard “Your Illusion” live, it had only been played about 20 times before this show – yet some how I managed to be there for 8 of them?  Pretty wild.  In the end, no new songs for me on Saturday, but it was a really fun, high energy show.  After the show, we headed to the back and while I missed Isaac, I managed to get photos with Zac and Taylor that look like we are in jail.

 

Sunday afternoon I returned the car and headed to the airport and was there pretty early.  We were supposed to take off at 3:42 but at some point it became 5:20.  I had about a 3 hour layover in Atlanta and was keeping an eye on the incoming flight which kept saying it would take off in 5 minutes, and then reset the count.  The later it got, the less likely it would be that I would make the connecting flight so once things started getting iffy I asked my friend who was staying in Tulsa another night if I could crash with her (she said yes) and called the hotline to be put on the earliest flight out the next day.  If I stayed the night in Tulsa or Atlanta, I wouldn’t get home until the same 3pm flight, so it made more sense to stay where I knew people.  I did end up having a Hanson sighting as they left the Nightcap recording so I guess that was my silver lining.

Monday morning I left the hotel at 3:30am, got through security without a problem and managed to switch my middle seat on Flight #1 to a window seat.  I wasn’t sure if I had ever had a middle seat before and I don’t think I am suited as a middle seat flier (but if it was that or nothing, I’d put up with it for the 2 or so hours).  My 2nd flight I was #1 on standby with 19 available seats so I figured I’d make it on, and I did, but another window seat.  I tried to switch it and couldn’t, but wished *really, really* hard… and after pre-boarding and my aisle seat mate showing up we started wondering if our window seatmate would even show up.  It was almost time to take off and 3 more people boarded… We figured our luck was up, but nope, the door shut and no one showed up for the window, so I took it!  And fortunately I have a very understanding work manager and was able to work some magic so I don’t have to make up any hours this weekend when I am supposed to be volunteering.

Now to unpack and repack to head off to Iowa in just a couple of days.

Thursday night was my first full capacity not socially distanced show since I guess February 2020. (Although that was Jamaica and is a bit different, so it may have even been December 2019 – either way it’s been a LONG time) February 2020 was also when I bought the ticket to this show and it had gotten bumped a few times before being rescheduled for a year after the initial June 2020 show date.  Stephen Kellogg got the honors – after he was also a staple of my 2020 online concert going experience having to pivot his book tour to a fully online production he put on from his home and eventually extending it to special shows throughout the whole year.

I won’t lie and say I was fully excited about going to this show.  Being in a full room of people, masks optional if you’re vaccinated, was a scary thought.  I was nervous. I was surprised I knew where my ticket was.  I forgot my earplugs.  I couldn’t figure out when doors were. I opted to wear my mask because having a neurological disorder, it seems like an easy way to bring my risk down a bit more even though I am now fully vaccinated.

Stephen came out solo to start the show, a big smile on his face, happy to see a room full of people and started with “On The Road Again”, no doubt an ode to being able to be back out in front of humans and not just staring at a camera projecting to us via computer screens.  Then his band joined him – this was his first full band show in many, many months!  His older 2 daughters also came out to sing for a couple of songs and the younger 2 joined them to lead the dance moves to “Big Easy”, it’s always great to see the girls and how happy Stephen always seems when they are on stage with him.  When I first started going to SK6ers shows, his oldest daughter was just a baby!

I thought the setlist was a great mix and my 2 favorites back to back ended the main set so that had me pumped!  When Stephen came out for the encore he asked if there was a certain person in the audience and then he asked his date to marry him! She said yes! What a way to kick off live shows again! (He also said someone else emailed offering $500 if he’d play a specific song – and he denied the request)

After the show, my cousin was invited backstage and I got to tag along.  It was crazy and hectic and everything that I imagined backstage would be, but it was nice to say hi and chat a bit with Stephen as well as Eric who played guitar during the show (and co-wrote many songs with Stephen on his latest release!)

Overall the night went well and has made me feel a bit better about re-entering the world (albeit slowly and still masked for a bit longer)  But my body was not used to being out so late and socializing and I totally had to take a 2.5 hour nap today because of it!  Hopefully I haven’t lost my concert stamina forever and it’ll come back like riding a bike! 😉

Last weekend I made my 16th (?!) trip to Tulsa, but my first since being vaccinated.  Despite all airlines going back to filling the planes entirely (the fall concert series had open middle seats on Delta each time) there was a sense of relief knowing that I had the extra protection of being vaccinated (and I stayed masked up, as required, the entire time.)  I was a little bit nervous about my 6:45am flight as I knew I would want to sleep and wasn’t sure how sleeping in the mask would go as it didn’t go all that great on past trips, but that turned out to not be the issue so much as the very, very loud children several (?) rows behind me screaming “EIGHTY! EIGHTY! DOUBLE Q!” at 7am.  (If you’re half asleep and your name is Katie W, Eighty Double Q sounds oddly similar)  Despite being shh’ed the children didn’t really shut up or turn the volume down so sleeping turned out to not be an issue.  Upon arriving in Dallas I headed to my gate and got some Dunkin Donuts (which tasted nothing like it does in New England) and finally arrived in Tulsa after a gate change and a minor delay.

Thursday night we went to check out a Tulsa Drillers game against the Wichita Wind Surge.  Though we left before the end, the Drillers went on to win 4-2 and despite it looking like it might have gotten rained out before we arrived, it turned into a pretty nice evening. (As evidenced by the gorgeous sunset pictured above.)

This trip made for a lot more down time than the typical go-go-go of Hanson Days past. I tried to enjoy it and take it all in, because I know just around the corner I will be figuring out our schedule for a long weekend full of events and constantly asking “but, when will we eat!?”

 

 

 

 

Friday night was the 20th +1 anniversary show for Hanson’s 2nd album, This Time Around.  They did acoustic, stripped down versions of the album and played them in order in its entirety.  They did an encore of 2 of the B-Sides that were released as bonus tracks with the album.  Although there were a couple more songs I wouldn’t have minded them adding in (Bridges of Stone and I Don’t Know) it turned out to be one of my favorite shows of theirs.  After the show we hosted a few friends in our room to enjoy Taylor’s after party. (The band had videos and activities going on for fans via their website that had started on Monday night to help celebrate “Hanson Days” which was a fun way to bring everyone together)

Saturday Night’s show was the “HDay Concert” and for me it was a big miss.  I know they had to do a lot of rehearsing and rearranging for the Friday night TTA show and all the activities earlier in the week, but when a Hanson Day show kicks off with Waiting For This – it ends up feeling more like an every day festival show than a special yearly celebration.  I was less than impressed with this setlist and was not quiet about that. I’m not exactly sure what I was looking for instead, but it seems like last year’s EP Continental Breakfast In Bed is going to fall into a black hole never to be heard from again and I really like a lot of those songs.  (Zac did do Good Days as his solo, at least)  I also was extremely disappointed with Taylor’s choice of a solo of With You In Your Dreams.  It wasn’t a bad show and I was happy to be there and would want to be at a mediocre Hanson Day show than anywhere else (and I know so many others could not get there and not for lack of trying) but it just fell flat for me and I feel like they were/are capable of so much more – especially after having the last year of nearly no shows – it could have been a big special celebration making up for the past year.  (Or maybe I am just a spoiled brat. I don’t know.)  It also being the last distanced table show – a set up that actually allowed me to see all 3 guys at once while seated with my friends and not shoved in a corner by myself maybe able to see one of them like it is at a typical show for me, may have also had something to do with my disappointment.  (And when I was raging after the show about how mad I was about the setlist, a friend decided to tell me that Bridges of Stone was indeed on the setlist for Friday night as an encore and they skipped it!  I was glad to find this out on Saturday instead so I had 24 hours to be happy and in love with that show before some air got let out of my balloon!)  I was also happy when we went to get drinks after the show, I was able to see some of the fireworks from the Drillers game that we had missed seeing the night before due to somewhat hiding out because of it raining.

Sunday there were a bunch of street closures for the Ironman competition.  Just thinking about swimming 2 miles, biking 112 and then running a full marathon made me tired – but there were something like 2500 athletes in Tulsa who came to do just that.  I wish I could have seen more of the race to cheer them on, but after brunch we had to make our way to the airport to head home.  And of course, after getting to Dallas and finding my gate, the gate was changed and then boarding delayed.  They were offering up $575 to several people who were willing to bump off the flight and either spend the night in Dallas or the night in Charlotte.  I would have stayed in Tulsa another night since a few of my friends were still there and I had been actively trying to change the flight but they wanted $600 from me, but I wasn’t going to jump at missing a day of work to get stuck somewhere else alone.  After a maintenance delay that delayed boarding, we were on our way.  Or so we thought.  We ended up getting back an hour later than scheduled because there was a computer issue and it would not reboot and the captains needed to get help from maintenance once again.  Fortunately after that the flight was uneventful.

There are probably a few more trips to Tulsa this year in my future… but I am looking forward to 2022 when I can TRULY say “All my friends are here, I don’t want to go home”

(PS this coming weekend is 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre and I am incredibly saddened and disappointed to hear that a lot of the activities have been canceled because of the threat of problems from white supremacists. It’s been 100 years and nothing has changed. We need to do better.)

With this year being so weird for concerts, I started to keep track of virtual shows I went to, which I typically didn’t do in years past.  (I’ll continue to keep track in 2021 as well until things hopefully get back to normal, then I’ll stop including them as they will hopefully go back to being few and far between again.)  I was surprised to see that I had spent almost $600 on virtual concert tickets this year – especially when I was doing “pay what you can” on StageIt and paying $5-$10 there.  But I did go to quite a few – a number that made a bit more sense to me for a total for a year – 37. (So 52 for the year, which is about average for me when you add on in person) Including virtual concerts also helps me keep my streak alive of 1 concert per month – which started in January of 2009.

Most expensive show: Stephen Kellogg + M&G was about $55 [it was supposed to be in person when I bought tickets, but switched to virtual]

Least (not free) expensive show: I did a few “pay what you can” tickets to StageIt for $5

Free shows: I only did a couple free streams this year – Kris Allen and Stephen Kellogg (x2?)

# artists seen: 37
# unique artists seen: 5, but no one new.
# shows seen in CT: Technically all were most likely from my bed
# of shows out of state: None (Though I did watch the Hanson stream repeats in OK, I don’t have those listed in my spreadsheet as I was there in person, too.)

Show farthest away: None
Closest show: All
$$ spent on tickets: ~$600 [Damn!] Miles traveled: 0

Top 6 shows of the year? Very hard to rank these.

Total number of shows in 2020? I did 37 virtual shows

First show of the year? Jon McLaughlin

First show with actual tickets: None

Last show of the year? David Cook

Most surprising show? It was surprising how much I ended up enjoying all of  them, honestly. And I really liked when the setlists were themed.

Most disappointing? None

Farthest traveled? None

States attended shows in? All CT. In bed.

Venue most visited? My bed.

Band seen the most? Since I seemed to see the same guys over and over let’s break it down:

Jon McLaughlin – 12
Stephen Kellogg – 12
David Cook – 7
Kris Allen – 3
Matt Nathanson – 2

Best new discovery? I mostly stuck with what I knew this year 

Bands seen this year that also broke up this year? None

Friends made at shows? The floppy bunny that lives in my bed.

Band members met? I did 1 zoom M&G with Stephen Kellogg – I had bought M&G thinking it would be in person but they did pretty well converting everything to virtual.

Best souvenir from a show? None 

Longest time in line? None 

Shows seen from the barricade [front row]– Technically all, I guess.

Most shows in one month? 

March – 1
April – 9
May – 6
June – 5
July – 1
August – 3
September – 3
October – 5
November – 1
December – 4

Most shows in one week? Probably some of the April shows 

Biggest crowd? I have no idea, for me they were all crowd of 1

Any drunk encounters? Definitely not! lol one major perk to watching by yourself from the safety of your own bed.

2020 stunk for concerts, at least in person.  I somehow managed to do every Hanson show they did (appropriately 13 by my count but 16 for others) and I think my list of who I saw in concert more accurately represents what people think I do concert wise.  In normal years I typically go to 2 non-Hanson shows for every 1 Hanson and that was not the case this year.  The only 2 non Hanson shows were the special guests at their Back to the Island Event and the extra night from the band who did the event before them. So still, Hanson adjacent.  I ended the year with a total of 660 shows attended, 229 of which have been Hanson.

Most expensive show:  Back to the Island

Least (not free) expensive show: Basically all the other shows I did were about the same price and pretty much every show was Hanson… so yeah.

Free shows: None

# artists seen: 17
# unique artists seen: 2
# shows seen in CT: 0
# of shows out of state: 15

Show farthest away: Jamaica is slightly further than OK
Closest show: Oklahoma. LOL!
$$ spent on tickets: $4200
Miles traveled: 13,700

Top 6 shows of the year? I only went to 15. Hard to pick, especially since the Hanson ones were similar.

Total number of shows in 2020? 15

First show of the year? Anders Osborne & Vince Herman at Ramble on the Island before BTTI kicked off

First show with actual tickets: NO shows had actual tickets this year.

Last show of the year? Hanson in Tulsa

Most surprising show? All the Hanson shows to finish out the year in Tulsa

Most disappointing? All the canceled and postponed ones, even though it was for good reason.

Farthest traveled? To Jamaica

States attended shows in? OK & Jamaica

Venue most visited? Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa

Band seen the most? Hanson – I saw *every* show they did in 2020.

Best new discovery? None 

Bands seen this year that also broke up this year? None

Friends made at shows? None – stay 6 ft away!

Band members met? Hanson

Best souvenir from a show? Not sure I got anything this year 

Longest time in line? Like 30 mins

Shows seen from the barricade [front row]– Some of the Hanson shows at Cain’s.

Most shows in one month? 

January – 2
February – 4
October – 3
November – 3
December – 3

Most shows in one week? BTTI was 6 shows 

Biggest crowd? BTTI

Any drunk encounters? I don’t think so!

Early December Hanson continued their Cain’s Ballroom residency with a series of Christmas themed concerts. With the coronavirus spiking, I was a little bit hesitant to be there in person, but we took all the same precautions and also limited our time maskless outside (eating).  Going into the shows there were 4 songs I was hopeful would be played – Happy Christmas as they managed to play it only on the Finally it’s Christmas tour at shows I was not at (and I did a majority of them!), My Favorite Christmas Sweater as they only did it several years ago and never when I was there, Christmas Ball, a song never previously played but the name of the concert series and the Silent Night Medley for my friends who didn’t manage to see it on the Finally It’s Christmas tour.

The trip got off to a bit of a rocky start – 2 of us were supposed to land first, with the 3rd of us arriving just about an hour later and the rental car was in her name.  With about 20 minutes left of waiting at the airport – we get word that she had been diverted and had no idea when she would be arriving.  Fortunately, the car rental place was good about switching things into my name instead.  We had tickets to the Festival at the Philbrook that evening, so we anxiously awaited to hear when our friend would be arriving and if we’d have to try and adjust those tickets or not.  Fortunately after the diversion she got on another plane and ended up only about 3 hours late. (“only”)  However – in the time it took for us to get to the room and decide we wanted food – the elevator at the hotel went out. I decided I would go down the stairs once – to get out – and then we would stay out as long as possible in hopes that it would be back up and running upon our return.  It wasn’t fully running when we got back, but they managed to have a work around at least so we didn’t have to do the stairs back up (this time with our friend and her luggage!)  The hotel bathroom also seemed to be flooding from the room above us and when we were packing to get ready to leave, the power went out for just a couple of minutes. Thank goodness – because down those stairs with luggage was NOT going to be fun.

The Festival at the Philbrook was so pretty. They had a constant changing set of lights on the building and we wandered around checking it out from every angle.  We also got to see Santa and make s’mores!  In addition we opted to add the “take and make” to our tickets which was a sky gem – but decided to take them all the way home first as we weren’t sure how the finished gem would handle being packed in luggage.  After we left, we drove around some of the nearby neighborhoods to check out their Christmas light displays!

With temperatures getting colder, we spent a lot more time in the hotel than out and about exploring.  This also included getting our table decorations ready for each night of the show.  We had on Holly, a menorah (as one of our table mates is Jewish so we needed proper representation!), snowman who changes color when you bopped him on the head and some stockings with our and some of our friends who couldn’t make it to the shows names on them. Not knowing how long it might take us to set things up, we tried to get to Cain’s for doors – only for everything to be running about 30 minutes behind.  And did I mention, it was COLD? (Just about as cold in OK as CT which is not the norm.) Decorating ended up taking about 15 minutes and we modified it slightly for the shows the next day.  I wasn’t sure if the show was going to be 100% Christmas or a mix – and was pretty convinced it would be a mix so I was pleasantly surprised when it was 100% Christmas songs.  We took a photo of the setlist before the show, friends did not want to be spoiled but I skimmed looking for the songs I wanted to hear.  With so many songs having “Christmas” in the title – I completely missed that the 2nd song said “Christmas Ball” and so even though I looked at the setlist beforehand I was still confused and surprised when they started playing it.  For the first show we went for “funny” but the guys went for “dressy” – I guess we should have consulted each other before planning outfits 😉 I had made an ugly sweater tshirt special for 2020 and had a Santa mask and headband to go with it. During the show, Taylor had started “Someday at Christmas” but after singing the first line and playing with the keys a bit, ran his hand along his throat to let the others know that no, that song would not be happening that night.  Zac joked as they got ready for Joy to the Mountain that “Someday at Christmas they would play Someday at Christmas”.

‘Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year

During the shows, there seemed to be a lot more chatting amongst band members than there usually was.  They mentioned how they often confuse “Please Come Home for Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” which I knew they did, because in NYC on the Finally It’s Christmas tour there was a major flub that went down (despite one being a Zac lead and one being a Taylor lead and Taylor playing the piano for one and tambourine for the other!)  They mentioned that they refer to them now as “Zac Please” or “Taylor Please” so they know which is which.  With all the songs having “Christmas” and keeping track of a setlist I ended up adopting this strategy too.  (I ended up with a strange “fridge magnet poetry”esque setlist after this show –  Baby Ball Means Nick Wonderful/Come Zac Please Time At Someday Joy FIC Peace Wine Please Taylor Rockin Blue Run Want Til Happy Sweater, Everybody!)  We also took a photo of the setlist before this show – and “White Christmas” was supposed to be included in the acapella section with Joy to the Mountain, but they last second decided to cut it.  For this show we also went silly/casual (I wore an elf hat and a “gangsta wrappa” shirt)  Also during this show Isaac did an epic photobomb on some of the girls who were in the front row trying to take pics with the stage behind them. I hope the photo came out because it was an awesome moment.

We decided that with a pretty decent table for the last show, we would go with the “ball” theme and dress up.  Of course, I can never fully commit to dressing up so I ended up wearing a Rudolph mask and antlers along with my fancy dress.  Zac and Isaac wore sweaters again, but Taylor got the memo and dressed up. For this show, we got the Silent Night medley, at least in part, so all of our Christmas song wishes ended up coming true.

On the way home, I had a 5 hour layover in Atlanta – which was the long layover I had needed in October when I ended up getting stuck in Tulsa due to delays due to a tire change.  This time, we were on the plane and supposed to leave at 12:15, only for 12:15 to come and go.  Finally we were told that there was a potential issue and they needed maintenance to look at it, but since it was Sunday they were ‘in the field’ or ‘on call’ so they had to track them down – which delayed us to 1:15 and then 1:45.  It turned out to not be an issue at all in the end (phew!), but my 5 hour layover ended up more like a 3 hour layover in the end.  (Delta, the only thing you’ve currently got going for you is that you’re blocking middle seats…)

Overall it was a fun trip despite sticking to the hotel a lot more to avoid the public. I tested negative upon returning home and as always – this post and I have completed our 14 day quarantine.

Hope next year we all will be together
If the fates allow

 

November was Hanson’s 2nd set of streaming concerts with “Limited In Person Tickets”, since things went smoothly last month, we decided to try again.  This month’s theme was from their newest release “Perennial” which was a compilation of 20 previously Members Only tracks and 1 brand new track.  Nearly every year since 2003, Hanson has released 5 tracks to their fanclub as a thank you for their membership. (7 tracks this year!)  Members who join now can purchase or stream the back catalog if they wish, but anyone who has not been a member has not had access to these 80 or so songs.  Whenever the talk of themes comes up, “Members Only” is one that fan club members would like to hear so I think in an effort to make that happen without completely isolating anyone who may be a more casual fan and hasn’t had a membership, they put together a few of their favorite “flavors” and released it to the general public. Perennial = continually recurring, just like the fanclub EPs.

We took all the same precautions as last time, trying not to slack off because things went smoothly last month especially with cases spiking across the country.  We got in later than last month, so it was time for dinner (or way past it, actually) once we landed so we ordered curbside pick up from Kilkenny, an Irish pub and basically went to sleep.  The next morning after brunch we did some sightseeing and went to the Golden Driller (seems like big men in Tulsa wear masks) and the praying hands at Oral Roberts University that somehow I had never gone to see before.  Since the Arkansas River actually had water in it, we went down to the River Walk to hang out for a bit as well.

That evening was the first show.  While the first month’s shows seemed to focus on songs from the first 3 albums and nothing else existed, this month’s shows focused on the last 3 albums and members only songs.  I was surprised they did not play MMMBop for the casual fans watching at home, but not too sad about it.

Friday we picked up some snacks and sweets from Antoinette’s and took some photos at the wall in our Potterhead Running Club jackets. Then it was time for the matinee show!  Last month, this show was a bit of a flop for me – but this month it was FULL HIGH ENERGY and whew. I was exhausted.  “Georgia” was a nice surprise, and had been a topic of conversation a lot that day as in between our sightseeing and concerts we were maybe obsessively checking election results. (Some of us more than others.)  I have to say, I was glad to be in a mask for these shows because the Members Only songs I don’t listen to as often as the album tracks so there were several that not only did I not know the words, I sometimes didn’t even know what song they were singing until they hit the chorus and sang the title.  I know, I’m such a terrible fan.

 

These setlists had a bit less variety than last month’s, but I think it is probably due to the fact that they also probably didn’t remember all the words when they started rehearsing and it was a lot heavier on songs they rarely/never do.  (Just don’t listen to Isaac when he says they have never or rarely played something, he’s never right! :-P) Overall I thought they mixed them up really well and I was only sad once I saw the setlist for the last night that “Sunny Day” was missing and Taylor’s solo was going to be “All I Know” but he changed it to A Song to Sing (which was great and I love it, but man, would have been nice to see All I Know!)  I think I only ended up with 2 new songs heard – Zac’s solo of Good Days which was on the member’s EP for this year (normally debuted at their Hanson Day concert in May, but it has been postponed to 2021) and the new track “Nothing Like a Love Song.”  I was not into this song at all when it was debuted during Taylor’s after party last month.  When I played it after it made it’s debut on Hanson.net, I still wasn’t fully sold on it – despite waking up with it stuck in my head on a couple of occasions.  But live, it totally won me over.

While at the airport waiting on our flight home, we found out that the election had been called for Biden.  After some celebratory shots (at a bar with a lot of not very happy dudes) I realized that I would miss the President and Vice President Elect’s speeches because I would be in the air.  But as luck would have it, my plane had TVs and I was able to watch most of it as we made our descent back into Connecticut.  Definitely a really surreal experience.  I may have also seen one of the cutest puppies ever.

By now, you’ve probably heard that someone at the shows tested positive for Covid a couple of days later.  As a precaution, I got a test (it is hard to get one here unless you have symptoms or may have been exposed) and the results came back negative.  I’ve kept this post in quarantine, like me, to add in any relevant updates. My 14 day quarantine is now up and I have been symptom free.

 

In September, Hanson announced they’d be doing a streaming series with “Limited In Person Tickets” which at first, seemed a little bit scary.  Did I want to risk it in the middle of a pandemic?  I talked with some friends and we formulated a plan on how we thought we could do things as safely as possible and decided to try for tickets. We were able to get tickets for all 3 shows so our planning began.

To try and limit my interactions with others, I decided to park at the parking garage at the airport rather than my usual valet shuttle.  While AA flights were half a much as Delta, I opted to go with Delta because they were keeping middle seats open.  We rented a car so we wouldn’t need to uber/lyft.  Upon entering the plane, hotel room AND the concert we wiped everything down with disinfecting wipes.  We wore masks the whole time (even the concert when it wasn’t “required”) unless outside and able to stay a distance away from anyone else. I did no indoor dining, instead a mix of outdoor seating and take out.

Wearing a mask on the flight there was not my favorite thing, which kind of made me nervous for the rest of the trip, but I think I just had too many layers on my face and when I woke up I panicked and couldn’t breathe. I wore a different mask on the way home and things were fine (or I had just gotten more used to having a mask on for hours at a time at that point.)

We landed, picked up a car, checked in at the hotel and got to sanitizing. We ordered lunch and decided to check out the Gathering Place a new-ish park that we had never gotten a chance to check out on earlier trips because Hanson activities had kept us far too busy. While wandering around, I spotted who I thought was James van der Beek.  Turns out it WAS indeed him and his family on their trip to TX and we chatted for a bit and took a photo. (He is originally from CT so that was our topic of conversation) After that we found a penny machine so I was having a pretty great day.  It was SUPER hot, so we jumped back in the car and headed to Buck Atom’s because I had donated for a brick for their neon sign and wanted to check it out – plus Buck was rocking a face mask so I had to see that as well! Of course, Route 66 was being all dug up and we had to go all around to get there, but figured it out.

Friday we did more exploring, this time at the Philbrook Museum, another spot we never had time to visit before (and where Isaac got married!) Masks were required at all times inside but outside only if someone you didn’t come with was nearby.  There were not many people there at all. But it still was H-O-T so we didn’t last outside very long.  We were all pleasantly surprised they had some pennies on display too!

We were pretty nervous walking to the first show as we had no idea what to expect. And while I would have preferred to have more people wearing masks, I wore mine the whole time and the tables were about 8 feet apart and everyone stayed at their spots.  The theme was “Live & Electric Revisited” which was released in 2005 and recorded during a show on a 2004 tour in Australia.  I wasn’t quite sure what the theme meant – but apparently it meant nothing released after 2005 existed.  Which was weird, but also a little refreshing.  When you have such a large catalog, trying to pick a 25-ish setlist is probably a difficult task.  Cutting it in half-ish (Underneath was their 3rd full length album, they have released 6) probably helps narrow things down a bit more.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the setlist, but they did a pretty solid job. A new cover of “It’s Your Thing” was a pleasant surprise as well! And “Love Me” is my favorite Taylor solo, ever. (Broken Angel is up there as well. Being Me… well, not so much, but you can’t win them all.)

When we left, there were fireworks! The ballpark had a concert as well and I guess they had fireworks once the show was over. It was nice to see them but unfortunately they set a nearby building on fire so not sure the ball games will be getting anymore fireworks now.  Taylor did a virtual DJ after party we watched in the room – and he debuted a NEW Hanson dance track!  I’m still on the fence about it, maybe I need a few more listens for it to grow on me.

Saturday was TWO shows – and let me tell you – 8 months of no shows and doing 3 full-length (or maybe even longer than usual) Hanson shows back-to-back-to-back in 28ish hours was BRUTAL.  I am so out of concert shape it isn’t even funny.  While the beginning of the setlists were similar to the night before, there were 6 different songs show #2 and 8.5 during show #3 (extra verse to A Song to Sing I am counting as a half)

Sometime after the first show, a water main broke across the street from the venue.  By the time it was time to head down for the second show, we found the real life “Hanson Stream” – opting to NOT ford through ankle deep rushing icky water, we had to go alllll around the block but made it with plenty of time to spare – and there even was a scare that the venue would have no water and the show may not be able to go on.  After the show we were going to just walk through it since we could dry everything off back in the room – but it was still rushing and we fortunately had a friend willing to give us a ride back up to the hotel. Cue the Oregon Trail jokes about fording the river.

Sunday I was happy to head home.  My buttocks set off the scanner at the airport and after my first airport pat down in I don’t even know how long, we got to the gate and waited to board.  Finally on the plane, I was ready to sleep, but the pilot said that there was an issue with a tire.  Of course, it ended up needing to be changed which would cause a delay that would make me miss my layover in Atlanta.

I ended up getting off the plane and calling to try and get a new flight out the next day and stay another night in Tulsa.  Except the Delta app was only letting me change my 2nd leg from Atlanta to the next day.  I was told they could get me on a flight out the next day but I was considered “boarded” on the original flight and they couldn’t get me off.  I was on hold to the point that the flight started re-boarding when I finally asked to speak to the supervisor directly – who told me all I needed to do was walk up to the desk and ask them to “de-board” me. 2 seconds later, everything was all set for my 6am flight out the next morning (ughhh) and Delta gave me a voucher to stay at the Hilton on the airport grounds.  So much for not dealing with a shuttle or Lyft – I had to do both to get to/from the hotel… you know, best laid plans and all.  Fortunately the flights out were uneventful – unless you count Taylor’s daughter and wife being on one with me.

Despite not being home to grab tickets for November’s shows, we did alright and will be heading back again.  We will be doing all the same things as this trip, I think it is important to not let our guard down just because we had done the trip once successfully.

This post had been quarantined, like me, for 14 days.  I am and have been, symptom free.

 

I thought that I wouldn’t be in school in March-May, so I jam packed my schedule with concerts.  I had made a New Year Resolutions of sorts to only try to do concerts during the weekends (Thursdays of Off Friday weeks count as weekend) as leaving work early to get up to shows was getting harder and harder to do as my responsibilities at he job increased.  The only exception was that shows in Fairfield could be done any day of the week because it is so nearby.  Despite these restrictions, it seemed like every show I wanted to go to was on a weekend! So I filled up my plate – and then realized that the final course I needed to graduate would NOT be offered in the Fall – and SURPRISE! March 16 – May 4th I’d now need to spend on research for a 15 page Capstone final paper.  :-O  (I think the Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone “AHH” gif was most appropriate)  But I had managed to finish course assignments at airports and on the beach in Hawaii and Jamaica so I wasn’t going to let a few concerts stop me.

Well, I guess the Universe had another idea.  I had 13 concerts scheduled from March – May.  Here’s a breakdown of where we are at now:

1. March 11 – John K radio show – canceled due to health concerns the afternoon of the show
2. March 28 – Mandy Moore – venue closed to end of March, Mandy postponed tour
3. April 2 – BBMak – rescheduled to October 2020
4. April 4 – Dashboard Confessional – DC says tour is postponed.  Venue/ticketmaster say nothing
5. April 18 – Stephen Kellogg – going virtual, I can watch from my living room
6. April 19 – Stephen Kellogg – going virtual, I can watch from my living room
7. April 28 – David Archuleta – tour postponed, venue closed until end of April
8. April 30 – Eric Hutchinson – venue closed through May
9. May 1 – Niall Horan – no news yet, but this will probably be the next cancellation
10. May 10 – Ben Folds – venue closed through May, postponed
11. May 15 – Hanson – postponed to 2021
12. May 16 – Hanson – postponed to 2021
13. May 17 – Hop Jam – postponed to 2021

My one concert a month streak – which I started in January 2009 came to an end in February 2020.  I guess it will have a * now, as you can see, I should have had shows in March, April and May.  It also seems like my fall is going to end up pretty jam packed, but that’s ok because I will be graduating in August! (Although the graduation ceremony was supposed to be in May and is now TBD)