Concert Katie

the same song over and over again

Concert

American Idol Concert

Ruben Studdard at The Kate

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Thursday night Ruben Studdard came to The Kate.  He played for about an hour and a half doing 10 songs.  Most of them were covers.  Almost all of them got a story about why he was singing it, and most of those stories went back to his Mama.  After the first 2 songs he said he was not used to being the one having to carry the whole show lately as he had been on tour with some legends and he just had to come out, do his song, have the crowd go “Was that Ruben? It looked like Ruben” and get off the stage.  He also said he was feeling every minute of his 47 years and had woken up at 6:30am.  He seemed a bit annoyed when the crowd didn’t stand when he told them they could – then said he gave instructions that weren’t followed and said that we all were like “Thanks for the suggestion”, but by the end of the show he had most of the crowd up and dancing.  He went off on a couple of tangents – one being about how he wanted some Air Jordan shoes and once his Mama saw the price she said no way – which he looped back into a story about how he was supposed to be babysat by his cousin so his Mama could go to a concert and his cousin had a date so poor little Ruben got dragged to see Luther Vandross.  I found him to be very funny with his stories and understood most of his references from growing up – but it seemed to fall flat with some of the rest of the crowd and he kept saying he was done with us all and shaking his head.  Overall the show was a really fun night, I think he ended up only playing 1 original song and mostly Luther covers, but he did a great job with all of them!

Ruben Studdard Setlist The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, CT, USA 2025

Concert SK6ers

Stephen Kellogg and Javier Colon Old Saybrook, CT

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Sunday night Stephen Kellogg brought his To You, Old Friend tour to The Kate in Old Saybrook, CT with special guest Javier Colon.  The two came out and shared a mic for “On the Road Again” and then Stephen explained that the two of them would be on stage sharing songs and stories and that the show was a middle-aged dream – starts at 7, no opener, and we have seats.  Javier Colon joked he’d be home in bed by 9:30 – and I was home in bed by 10.  I can’t complain!   There was a jar on the stage that held different prompts for songs they could sing so that the show would never be the same twice.

The first choice was “Sing a Longs” with Javier teaching us a part to “Raise Your Hand” that didn’t work out the last time he tried it – and Stephen told him it was probably because he was singing it too high and made him do a lower register as well.  Stephen told a story about why he wrote the song “Harbor” and that was his sing-a-long.

The next topic was “Family Songs”, Stephen debated which song he was going to do and ended up doing a medley of Four Kids and his songs for each of his daughters (who were all in attendance) Sweet Sophia, Oh Adeline, Noelle, Noelle and Greta Girl.  Javier hit back with Come Through For You which was written for his wife and daughters (but did mention he now also has a 12 year old son).

“Love Songs” lent us “Echo” from Javier and “It Goes Fast” from SK.  When SK finished, both of them were crying and Javier said that he needed to give him a heads up if he was going to sing songs that were going to rip him apart.  Stephen had mentioned he’d be bringing his daughter to college tomorrow and Javier would be in 6 days.

“Tell a story” had Stephen only telling a story about how someone bought a shirt from his merch store and he asked someone on the tour to bring it to the post office and instead he realized the house was closer than the post office so he delivered it to the house and the whole thing took about 23 minutes.  Javier opted to tell his story through song, Giant, which was about someone that he trusted that he shouldn’t have and they took a lot of money from him that he didn’t get back and had to write it off as a learning experience.

“Songs that made you realize you were a song writer” – Javier did “Ok Here’s the Truth” which was a song I was hoping wouldn’t make the set – but if you know the song you can see why it would fit into this category perfectly.  He had also said a country singer wanted the song and he told him no and he shouldn’t have.  Stephen had them turn all the lights off in the theater and sang “Almost Woke You Up” in the dark.

The final category ended up being “Travel songs”.  Javier did “Walkin'” which he said was about how he and his wife made a pact to never go to bed angry but that sometimes you just need to take a walk and cool down and figure out things later.  Stephen did “Kiss the Ring” which is on his album featuring Javier and it’s about a narcissist and Stephen got really into it, stomping along (Javier joked that there was now a hole in the floor) and at one point adlibbed in “TRUMP IS NOT A KING AND I WON’T KISS THE RING” which got the crowd going wild.

The two left the stage to a standing ovation and came back out to share the mic once again with “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “See You Later, See You Soon” which Stephen turned into a sing a long and told us that in the 3 more times we sing the chorus, if we put our all into it, maybe it will change the world.  It was only 8:40 and the show was over – but I appreciated the early night on a Sunday!

Stephen Kellogg Setlist The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, CT, USA 2025, Old Friends Tour

Concert Hanson

Hanson in New England

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Hanson did a whirlwind 3 shows in New England this past week.  Our trip started on Wednesday, when we took the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket.  Hanson would be playing the following night at a very small venue that held less then 400 people (including staff).  It was nearly sold out despite the high costs of staying over night on the island for fans. We did a bit of exploring and went to the Shipwreck Museum and the Whaling Museum before heading to Muse for the show.  I have never seen a smaller stage and Hanson’s heads were practically touching the ceiling with them just standing there, and I am not sure at all how they fit the 3 band members plus Andrew and Dimitrius plus 2 techs.  I ended up in the front right by where they had to enter/exit and was able to get high fives from all of them as they left the stage.  The locals were incredibly rude and yelling that they only came for MMMBop and they should play it and mocking the fans who traveled for the show wondering “why?” when they just jogged there from their house, as well we screaming “the 8 year old is singing!” when Zac moved to the piano for Juliet. Afterwards was Taylor’s dance party that went until about 12:30am.  The locals seemed to clear out after MMMBop (which I kind of wish they had played earlier in the set) and while a few did hang around a bit for the afterparty, it seemed to be mostly fans left by the end of the night.

There once was a fan in Nantucket,
Who’d driven for hours to pluck it.
The night felt so near,
With her favorite band here,
She thought, “This is my shot — better luck it!”

The next morning when we got to the docks to catch our ferry back to the mainland, we ended up bumping into Hanson. Taylor said Good Morning and we realized we would be on the same ferry back.  Zac came and chatted with us a bit about the casino show coming up and I was able to tell him about the Comic Con that was going on as well.  Once we got back to my car in Hyannis we headed to the Providence airport to pick up a friend and made our way to my normal stomping grounds, Mohegan Sun.  I opted to rent a scooter for our 2 days there which was probably one of the best ideas I had ever had.  Friday night we scoped out Sun Patio and watched the 52nd Street Band – a Billy Joel cover band for a bit.  I ended up leaving around 11, but we had spotted Isaac at the bar and my friends stayed to chat with him for a bit.

Saturday I was splitting my time between Hanson and Comic Con so after we ate lunch I made my way to the con – while the scooter was super helpful for my legs, it was super chaotic navigating it through the con.  I ended up immediately waiting for Ke Huy Quan who was on a break for another 15-20 minutes.  Once he came back, Brian Posehn was waiting to greet him and then the line got moving.  He chatted with everyone for a bit – I got to tell him that I am an engineer partly because of Data and he asked if I liked doing that I said yes, that I worked on making helicopters and he seemed very impressed.  He was as sweet as could be and I was so glad that things worked out so I could meet him!  After I went to see Carl Palino who made the Hanson clay puppets for “Celebrity Death Match”  He had a photo of Hanson v the Spice Girls so I had him sign it for me and let him know that Hanson was there.  He said he wasn’t sure he would recognize them now that they were grown men but told me if I saw them to tell them to go see him.  I mentioned I had previously told Isaac and Zac he would be there but weren’t sure if they’d make it to the con or not.  After I finished there, I went to hang out with my friends for a bit, before heading back up for my photo op with Ke.  The photo op was scheduled for 6:30pm and Hanson was set to hit the stage at 7pm so I knew I would have a fangirl 5k to do once the photo was done.  Fortunately the photo op people were awesome and let me go through the line first.  Ke was incredibly sweet and helped me off the scooter and walk over to the photo spot and then helped me back to the scooter after.  As I was leaving, they announced it was 6:40pm and the con would be ending soon.  I ended up making it to the spot my friends had saved for me at the show by 6:55pm!! What perfect timing. (To see one of the other reasons I am an engineer)

After having a great day, everything went downhill when we entered Avalon for the After Party.  I won’t get into all the specifics but Mohegan Sun struck again with not knowing how to deal with those who have disabilities.  I gave Taylor until 11 or the end of the Savannah Bananas game that was being played to come out – and he did not – so we ended up leaving because the club was not at all our scene and not at all what we were expecting from a Taylor after party.  We ended up bumping into Isaac on the way out and I gave him the signed photo I had gotten from Carl of the Celebrity Deathmatch scene.

Sunday morning we left for Maine, found somewhere to eat and then paid for close parking ($60!) to the On the Ocean festival.  The staff was very accommodating and brought us right to the ADA area which we decided to stay in for the whole show.  We didn’t bother trying to get to the other stage and only saw Joy (who was a lot less annoying than when she opened for John Mayer, which we decided must have just been nerves) Hanson and Guster.  Guster also had a B-stage that was right in front of the ADA area so that was pretty fun when they came out and did a few songs back there.

Guster Setlist On The Ocean 2025

I had debated leaving before Guster’s set was over but didn’t want to have FOMO if Hanson came out and did something with them.  It ended up that they didn’t, but the show was over by 9 and I was able to quickly get back to the car and ended up making it back home by 1:30am.  There was some construction delays and the GPS decided to route me to closed gas stations 3 times… but overall it was not a bad drive at all and I was hoping to be home by 2am, which I was.
It was a crazy weekend but I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Concert Hanson

Hanson in Seattle & Minneapolis

Katie No Comments

Last week was a whirlwind trip to Seattle and then to Minneapolis for back to back Hanson concerts on very little sleep. Tuesday night I flew to Nashville, had what was supposed to be a 4 hour layover but my flight ended up over an hour delayed.  Good thing for that long layover!  Got there, met up with a friend excited that they had Wow Bao in the airport now – only for it not to be taking orders. We went to a sit down restaurant instead and then found that our Seattle flight was delayed as well.

We made it to Seattle, waited forever for our bags and then went to grab the rental car.  We were told we were all set only for me to get an email while we were driving that they could no longer hold the car for me… making us think we stole the rental.  Customer Service the next morning assured us it was a glitch.  We also got to the hotel to find out my credit card was declined so we were off to a rough start.

I had wanted to hit up the Mariners game on Wednesday afternoon but didn’t want to drive into Seattle by myself and Ubers were almost as much as tickets were and I also was still trying to get all the car and card drama settled so I ended up not going.  We ended up hitting up Pike Place for lunch, getting Beecher’s Mac and Cheese (And I also got a Breadzel which was delicious and I wish I had more!) which we had missed out on getting the last trip. We also got to watch them making cheese through the windows.  Then my friends went to explore and I found myself waiting next to the Giant Shoe Museum and a magic shop that had a penny and medallion machine.  I limited myself to just 2 pennies because they were 75cents each, but got all the medallions with the help of my credit card.   We had parked in the world’s most expensive garage (probably not, but it sure seemed like it – everything else was full when we arrived but not full when we were leaving so we just timed things poorly) and headed to a seafood restaurant for lunch (Rock Creek) so everyone (but me) could have oysters.  I managed to find a Shrimp Roll I would eat.   We then walked a few blocks to get gelato – I got the “Razzle Dazzle” flavor.  The Razzle was Raspberry and the Dazzle was a hint of citrus.  We ended up having an early night because everyone was exhausted from the travel and a bit thrown off with the time change.

The next day we found out how those little reflectors get added to the road when we got stuck next to / behind a truck that was doing it. We then made our way to the Space Needle – and were pleasantly surprised that Mt Rainer was visible – the elevator attendant told us that it’s only visible 90 days out of the year AND that earlier it was too cloudy to see it so we had some good timing for once!  We went around the viewing platform taking photos at various spots and then decided to brave the revolving floor which actually turned out to be pretty cool!  In the store I ended up getting just 1 pressed penny (and not even of the space needle – of the market go figure) and tried my first mold-a-matic to get a space needle made.  It ended up getting stuck but after a few minutes it must’ve cooled off enough and released itself.  I also got myself one medallion, some stickers and a space needle shaped rice krispies treat.

After we hit up the MoPop museum which was something I had wanted to go to last time but we didn’t manage to have time.  There was a section for horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy that I think are their rotating exhibits? Then the rest of the museum had Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, video games, and pop culture areas to check out – that were formerly part of the “experience music project” which it was branded as initially when it was first opened.  Since I was subjected to seafood for dinner the previous night, I got to pick dinner and picked burgers at a place that also had boozy milkshakes.

Friday we went to Snoqualmie Falls – where the pennies cost $1 to make but I ended up getting them all and some more stickers.  I just went to the lookout up top, but my friends did the entire steep hike to the also view the falls from the bottom.  The falls and the nearby lodge are apparently parts of the show Twin Peaks.

Then we made our way to the casino for the Hanson show! We had dinner at their Asian restaurant and I saw one of my favorite slot machines and ended up getting myself a players card (I decided I’d get one at every casino of this ‘not a tour’ and see how many I ended up with at the end) which ended up awarding me $5 for my birthday and $5 on another promo so I was able to play for a bit on house money – but didn’t end up winning anything or hitting the bonus round.

The Hanson show was a lot of fun – we thought we had really far front row but the whole set up was so tiny it wasn’t as far over as we thought at all. The backdrop with the mountains and the clouds had to have been one of the prettier Hanson shows I have been to, unfortunately the sunset was behind us and I never really turned around to see that.  Although the setlist was a bit predictable, the show was a lot of fun!

After the show we went back to the hotel to change into our plane clothes and see how much sleep we could manage to squeeze in before getting up at 2am to hit the airport.  We dropped off those checking bags and then went to return the rental car (which seemed to go smoothly?) and then got in the massively long security line.  One friend did not have pre-check and we were worried it may take her longer to get through – but we were all pleasantly surprised when we got to the gate she had beaten us there!

I slept as much as I could on the flight, we landed around 11 MN time, I snuck in another nap but still was ready to fall asleep before/during/after the MN show.  You could tell the guys seemed a bit tired too – but they still put on a good show. Something got messed up before Cold as Ice though and they had to restart the song – which isn’t something I’ve seen them do too many times at a “public” show.  After we saw there was another song on the setlist before Cold As Ice that was skipped and may have been cause for the mix-up.

After the show we went to find food in the casino, I bumped into Taylor on the way to the bathroom and then we ended up chatting a bit with Isaac at the bar before heading out to get some real sleep!

 

Concert

Summer in the Park – Aly & AJ

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Saturday night, I had already planning on staying over in Stamford to make a drive to Long Island Sunday morning a little bit shorter.  Then Summer in the Park ended up announcing that Aly & AJ would be performing that evening so I figured I would check them out.  My hotel was “across the street” from the park but there was a little river that I needed to go around so it took a bit longer to get there than anticipated.  When we arrived, Aly & AJ had just taken the stage.  There were not many people there at all – which I kind of figured when I got an email that I could bring a friend for free since I had purchased a full price ticket.  The whole thing was really chill and a good time.  They played until about 9:30 and we found a bit of a shorter route to get back to the hotel afterwards – which ended up being in a not so great area of town but fortunately for us the druggies were really nice and polite.

Aly & AJ Setlist Mill River Park, Stamford, CT, USA 2025

Concert O-Town

Pop 2000 Tour Greenwich RI

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Sunday night I took my new car on its first road trip to Greenwich RI for the Pop2000 tour.  I had thought that doors were opening at 6, show at 7 so I positioned myself to arrive by 5pm.  When I parked, just after 5, there seemed to be an awful lot of people in line and I checked my email to see that about 15 minutes after I had left, they emailed to say DOORS were at 5! And the SHOW was at 6!  Luckily it all worked out and ended up being an early night so I could get the almost 2 hours home at a reasonable hour!

First up was Ryan Cabrera, he did a similar set to what he had done in Tulsa – House on Fire, 40 Kind of Sadness, True, One the Way Down (without the track featuring Taylor Hanson, boo!) and ended with a medley of Slide / Semi-Charmed Life / Sexual Healing / Fresh Prince / What Makes You Beautiful.  There may have been one other in there he said he hadn’t done in a bit, but I don’t really remember as that is when security decided I could no longer have my walker with me, kept putting in front of the girl next to me and then asked HER if it could be moved.  A) I don’t even know who she was B) I had already said yes she could and just asked for 1 second to take my personal items out of it to keep with me.

BBMak was up next and did a much shorter set than their headlining set a couple nights ago – but it was just as great! They seemed really impressed with the loudness of the crowd (Ryan as well) and said that we were 500 people but sounded more like 2000.  They weren’t quite as unhinged with their banter as they were in Fairfield – maybe they’ve gotten a bit of sleep?  It’s always so great to see them and I got a wave of nostalgia passing the “mall” my mom and I had to drive to nearly an hour away to get tickets to see them the first time back in 2000 (with Hanson of course).

Then it was time for the main event. O-Town! Once again, I didn’t keep track of the setlist and apparently no one else has all tour either (*shrugs*) .  Things were pretty much the same as in Tulsa.  LFO came out after 2 songs and did his set, with the addition of Baby Be Mine.  My view was a bit obstructed for that part so I couldn’t really see Brad, but I could see the antics of the O-Town guys on the sides during all the songs which I’ve previously only watched out of the corner of my eye, and it was quite amusing. Then it was back to some more O-Town and of course, all hell broke loose during These Are The Days and despite the venue saying no one could be up against the stage, security made little to no effort to get anyone to go back to their seats.  By the time Chris joined them, my front row ADA seat was about 4 people back and I couldn’t get to my walker to help me stand and get a better view even if I wanted to. (Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone’s legs got taken away when they sat down at a concert?) The *NSYNC songs went HARD and a couple times Chris stuck his tongue out, took a breath and was like “phew” because there were a lot of dance moves!  Different from Tulsa – Brad from LFO came out to do a modified version of Left Eye’s rap during Space Cowboy.

Of course, the final song of the night was All or Nothing, everyone joined in at the end, and then the show was over. 🙁  Until next time… whenever that may be.

 

BBMak Setlist Greenwich Odeum, East Greenwich, RI, USA 2025

intro/LD
Holla
chasin’
allforlove
LFO
Heartbreaker
tatd
skydive
off
chains
fire
nsync
aon
Concert

BBMak at StageOne

Katie No Comments

Back in 2002, Dream Street was coming to CT with Aaron Carter. My Mom wouldn’t let me go, saying that they’d be back and I didn’t need to go to every concert ever. Dream Street never came back, I did end up seeing Aaron again a few times after that.  Finally, Wednesday night I got to see at least 2/5 of Dream Street, Greg and Matt. Before the show I did their VIP which was an acoustic version of the deep cut “You’re Taking Me Over” which they said they were doing just for the VIPs, even though Greg said it ended up being his favorite of what they had rehearsed and then they did a Q&A and then photo ops so I got to tell them I was *finally* getting to see them after waiting 20+ years.  I didn’t keep track of the setlist – but somehow all of the songs came right back to me despite the fact that I don’t think I have listened to them since probably 2002.  (The fact that I can recall all these songs from high school and not a damn thing I learned in high school is mind bogggling) They ended up playing, in no order and perhaps missing songs, Feel the Rain, Sugar Rush, You’re Taking Me Over (so much for being VIP only), I Say Yeah and It Happens Every Time.  One of the songs was also a mashup with Use Somebody.

Then it was time for  BBMak!  This was my second time seeing them fully headlining and I enjoy getting a longer set from them than just the singles that we get with their Pop2000 tour sets. Their stage banter was absolutely unhinged, I don’t know what was going on there – but it made for an amusing night. They did a mix of songs from Sooner of Later, Into Your Head and Powerstation.  The latter is the one I am least familiar with – probably because it came out when I was out of high school! Their show was a lot of fun and went by way too fast.  After the show I got to say a quick hello and get a selfie with the guys. Always great seeing them and looking forward to seeing them on the Pop2000s tour this weekend!

BBMak Setlist StageOne, Fairfield Theatre Company, Fairfield, CT, USA 2025

Concert

Skylar Astin – One Night Only

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Friday Night The Shubert Theater had their gala for their 110th year and the performer for the night was Skylar Astin. I tried to get tickets as close as I could without them being the really expensive gala tickets and ended up with 3rd row aisle – but with no one in front of or next to me, it might as well have been front row!   Before the event started we were instructed to turn our phones off and that photos and videos were prohibited so not only do I have no photos (well, I attempted to take some at the very end but failed miserably) I also wasn’t able to keep track of the setlist either.  I’ve been trying to piece it together from memory.  His set was a mix of songs that he has had the honor of performing as well as songs that he loves and wishes he could perform, many of them coming with stories about them.   He was accompanied by Doug Peck on piano.

The show was absolutely phenomenal, and while I mainly know Skylar from his television shows (So Help Me Todd, My Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) the next time he is on Broadway I am absolutely going to have to make an effort to see him! His rendition of New York State of Mind nearly brought me to tears and there were multiple times that he finished a song and I just said “wooow” before giving him a round of applause.

After the show I decided I’d give waiting at the stage door a go.  There was a mother/daughter also waiting and then a group of 4 or 5 others joined us, but when someone from the theater came out and told us he was doing photos with VIPs and might stay for the dessert reception and it might be a while and he just wanted to warn us, the other group left, but the 3 of us left decided we’d stick it out and see what happened.  We started getting antsy and excited as more and more fancy people were leaving the theater and the caterer was bringing out more and more things.  After waiting nearly 2 hours, the door opened and there Skylar was.  He was surprised that we waited so long! Skylar was incredibly sweet and despite being with his family stopped with us all for a moment for a brief chat signing our programs and taking photos with us.

Here’s my attempt at the setlist. Definitely some missing and not in order but I’m surprised I remembered so many!

Luck be a lady
Pitch perfect medley – 500 miles /
New York state of mind (on piano)
Grow For Me
Somewhere That’s Green
I hate everything But You
I’d rather be sailing
And They’re Off
Touch Me (On Piano)
Bring Him Home
The God Why Don’t You Love Me Blues
Finishing the hat
Easy (original for wife on piano)

Make You Feel My Love (on piano)
Concert

Simple Plan at College Street Music Hall

Katie No Comments

College Street Music Hall » Simple Plan – Tickets – College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT – June 3rd, 2025

 

Tuesday, after a busy morning, I made my way to New Haven to see Simple Plan in a headlining show.  This was my first time seeing them headlining so even though I would have much rathered have been home still napping, I had to make it there.  I had been to College Street Music Hall once before and had opted to sit in the balcony, but since stairs aren’t really my thing these days, I decided I’d utilize their ADA section for this show.  Unfortunately, even though the venue is tiered, the ADA section is the back tier so if anyone tall is in the front of the tier and you’re sitting, you really can’t see much.  I sat for both openers – Losers Club and Winona Fighter – and depending on how the crowd swayed I was able to see Chuck for most of the show since he was higher up and I could see Pierre when he stepped up on the monitors every now and then and Seb and Jeff would pop into view every now and then as well.  I don’t know that I’d do ADA for another show here, but I love Simple Plan enough that it was worth it.  I did end up standing up for “Welcome to My Life” and taking some photos and could see pretty well so the tiering does work, but it’s the whole needing to sit that was causing the issue.

The crowd was… awful around me.  It was a big group of friends who I think were trying to figure out who could be the most obnoxious one all night and one kept climbing on the rail in front of us and doing… I don’t know what… throughout the night. I kind of thought he was just going to do WWE and jump onto a friend or two. Then when Pierre mentioned Scooby Doo one of them got SO excited that they flung their (I hope) water cup behind them and it went all over me, my walker, the guy next to me, the girl behind me… I was so soaked I actually had to use my shirt to wipe my face off because it wasn’t even a “oh it’s just a couple drops” it was the entire contents of their cup.

Simple Plan however was great.  They said they hadn’t played New Haven before (which I believe is true) and that they weren’t sure if they played Connecticut before (which is definitely not true) and kept saying they loved the crowd’s energy (maybe up front was a more fun obnoxious?) and that they’d have to come back.  Hopefully that’s true.  They played about a 90 minute set with more than enough throwback songs to satisfy me.  I’m hoping I can see them, preferably headlining, again soon!

Losers Club Setlist College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT, USA 2025

Winona Fighter Setlist College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT, USA 2025, Yes, Chef

Simple Plan Setlist College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT, USA 2025

Concert Hanson

Hanson Day 2025

Katie No Comments

After the scaled back Hanson Day activities, the “doom and gloom” newsletter and no Back to the Island for 2026, I wasn’t exactly sure what we were going to get heading to Tulsa this year.  I have to say that being there I feel a bit better about things, but it does sound like next year will be a bit quiet on the Hanson front.

Travel – Wednesday

I had a pretty early flight to Chicago and at 4am found my walker setting off every TSA alarm and then my hands setting off and then all my belongings needing to be inspected and then needing to get a pat down and being handed a cane that had no stopper on the bottom.  “Just what you need at 4am, right?” the woman in the pre-check line behind me said.  Fortunately, after everything I was cleared and everything was fine, but I have no idea what happened that set things off.

Arrival – Wednesday

After arriving I made a stop at Ida Red to get some stickers, magnets and shirts and then went around Hanson’s studios to get some photos of the windows and doors that they had done up to match this years rainbow theme for the year and check out a new mural as well.  Then for the evening we went to see the Drillers play the Cardinals.  We didn’t end up lasting the whole game because in the 6th the Drillers were down 11-3 and they ended up losing it 13-3.

Thursday

Thursday night we first went to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for the Pop2000 tour. Before the show I did a VIP M&G with Chris Kirkpatrick where there was talk of Savannah Bananas (guess who got him talking about that?), Hanson, NSYNC, and a bunch of other topics before we did a “shot” together and then did photos.  Then it was time for the show – Ryan Cabrera had opened up and we had hoped that Taylor may join him since he sings a verse on his anniversary release of On the Way Down, but while he played the track, Taylor did not join him. Then it was time for O-Town who seemed to go on stage a bit earlier than usual which was much appreciated as after their set (that ended 30 minutes earlier than anticipated) we headed back downtown to see Isaac’s side project Mother Road Sons.  I didn’t keep track of O-Town’s setlist, but they did add in Space Cowboy to the *NSYNC set!  We ended up making it to MRS and walking in on their 3rd song which could not have been better timing since I was thinking we would miss a bit more than that!  Isaac really shines as a front man, but he really needs more rocky leads!  He ended up doing the “original” version of Minute Without You which the setlist had as “Till the Sun Falls” which, of course, was more like a ballad than what we are used to hearing now.

Friday

Friday afternoon we went to a Food on the Move Lunch and Learn with Taylor. The lunch event had grown too large for their facility it was held at last year, so lunch was held in the gym at the nearby YMCA and then we walked over to the facility to take a tour. Taylor told me that the gravel was gone and they now had “beautiful concrete”.  It was neat to see how far everything has come in the last year and eat some of the lettuce that had been grown there with our lunch!   Then it was time to work in the gallery from 3-5, Taylor ended up showing up for a bit which caused the line to get the longest it had been, but otherwise it was pretty slow going.  After our shift ended it as time for the show – which went from about 7-8:30, we had a late dinner and then it was time for an early bed time, even though we thought we all had big plans for the evening!  The show seemed to have some subliminal messages in a lot of the songs that we hadn’t noticed before. It was a mixture of members only songs and some rarer album tracks.  For Your Love was its debut at Hanson Day.  They also went into a impromptu version of Billy Joel’s “Why Should I Worry” from Oliver and Company before finishing out the set!

Saturday

Saturday afternoon was our street team leaders lunch where we had some time to chat with Taylor and Isaac which helped ease some of my worries about the future of the band. We did find out there would be no Hday 2026.  Then it was time for Concert #2! This show was more of the singles and songs that might as well be singles show. They did throw in a few member’s songs and then had their brother Mac join them for the encore of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Lost Without Each Other”.   They also said that MMMBop almost wasn’t on the setlist (it a lot of times isn’t for members only events) but they had to apologize for us having to explain it for so many years.

After was the dance party – I went as a 60s GoGo dancer.

Travel – Monday

Somehow I ended up being one of the only ones without travel issues, the worst that happened is I was delayed 5 minutes on my 2nd flight home.  That wasn’t enough to have it even not be considered “on time” according to most of the flight tracking apps, so I’ll take it! It was nice to get back to valet to see my brand new car that I had for about a day and a half before leaving it at the airport Wednesday morning – and then needing to figure out how to pop the trunk.

I did come back with a bit of a cold which is why this and hansonstage updates have been rolling out rather slowly… I am feeling a bit better now and hopefully some extra sleep over the weekend will allow me to catch up on everything!  I’m looking forward on more 2025 Hanson dates to be announced and we’ll see what happens in 2026… at least I have bananaball to keep me busy and a few more items left on the hansonstage suggestions list to work through.

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