Concert – Page 30 – Concert Katie

Hanson Roots & Rock ‘N’ Roll Tour

Katie October 7, 2015 0 Comments

Today officially begins Hanson’s Roots & Rock ‘N’ Roll Tour. This tour is unlike any other Hanson has embarked on. They are performing 20 shows in 10 cities with 2 special shows in each city. The first night will be the “roots” – iconic cover songs from Hanson’s influencers (and some modern covers as well) and night 2 will be the “rock n roll” – Hanson songs – hopefully including some rarer songs that they don’t typically play live. It is sold as an “experience” and not 2 different tickets because they want you to feel like it is one show just over two nights, expanded and exploded.

To kick off the tour right, they released an EP, appropriately titled “Roots & Rock ‘N’ Roll” with 5 cover songs that is available for purchase at Hanson.net as a digital download or physical CD and CDs will also be available at each stop on the tour. The 5 songs are Sly and the Family Stones “I Want To Take You Higher” a song they first started playing live in 2008, Sam & Dave’s “Hold On I’m Coming”, which they first started playing live in 2009 and three never before played live tracks – Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time”, The Darkness “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”.

The tour is also a way to introduce the Hanson Brothers Beer Company’s “MMMHops” to new markets and after the first night of each show there will be an after party with a DJ Set by none other than Taylor Hanson. The afternoon before show #2* Hanson will take fans on a one mile barefoot charity walk to raise money for their charity Take The Walk. (*except in Chicago)

Speaking of Chicago – Night 2 of the Chicago show – which happens to be tomorrow – will be streamed LIVE on Yahoo! Music (https://screen.yahoo.com/live/event/hanson) at 8:30pm EST. Can’t make it to a show and want to see what it’s all about? Here’s your chance!

Opening acts for the tour will be American Idol alum Paul McDonald for Night 1 and former lead singer of Everybody Else gone solo performance CARRICK on night 2.

I will be attending 3 cities on this falls tour and I could not be more excited. I’m braving Irving Plaza for the New York city dates and heading to New Orleans for Zac’s 30th birthday mischief and then road tripping the 8 hours to Dallas, TX to finish up my run. I have made a goal of hearing *10* never before heard by me tracks over my 6 show run. I believe my record from Back to the Island in January was 11 (with 7 being the most in one show) so it would be awesome to tie that but we will see. Assuming they play the full EP at each concert (or at least once over my 3 shows) I’ll have 3 new songs right there, so I’ll be almost a third of the way to my goal. They’ve also been teasing that they are learning Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Leon Russell, etc so keep your fingers cross. I’ll make some sort of stat post sometime after I get home. (I’m trying to make it seem like I don’t already have it penciled in to be the end of November – when I’ll assumingly have enough time to get my life back together – it always seems to take forever to get back in to the groove of the “real world” after these trips!) Reviews of the shows should be coming sooner than that though… by the end of the month *fingers crossed*

Concert

90s Weekend at Mohegan Sun

Katie September 23, 2015 0 Comments

This past weekend was 90s Weekend at Mohegan Sun. I had previously attended their 80s weekend but was far more excited for 90s Weekend. Although I missed out on getting tickets for the Best of The 90s concert on Friday night, I was offered free tickets to see Sugar Ray on Saturday night and All 4 One was also doing a free concert in the mall area on Saturday too. (The only thing better than 1 free concert is TWO!)

All 4 One took the stage in the shops at Mohegan Sun just after 7pm. They did a 5 song set – starting with their single I Can Love You Like That and then saying they were doing another song and asked if the crowd knew what it was. “Do you swear? Because it ain’t that!” They ended their set with their other well known single I Swear and also threw in a couple of new songs. They have been a band for 20 years and just came out with a new album – Twenty. It has 20 tracks and represents their 20 years as a group. After their set they did a signing, but I didn’t stick around for that because doors for Sugar Ray had opened at 7pm.

All 4 One

I Can Love You Like That
Skillz
So In Love
Baby Love
I Swear

Sugar Ray was a private show and you had to be invited. This was the first time I was invited and actually able to go to the show (I had tickets for Joy Behar in the winter but we ended up canceling because of the weather) The show was “General Admission” but you were given a section you had to stay in. I had section 19 which was the far back of the arena. I opted to stay in the last row so I wouldn’t have to navigate the stairs and climb over people. For free, it was a great spot!

Sugar Ray took the stage at about 8:20 and did roughly an hour set. Mark talked a bit between songs and I am pretty sure that 90% of what came out of his mouth was bullshit LOL One truth was that he now has a 2 hour show on Sirius XM 90s on 90s called Mark McGrath’s 120.

Sunny in California
Someday / Groovin
Answer the Phone
Every Morning
Under the Sun
Blister in the Sun
Summertimes Coming
When It’s Over
What The World Needs
Mean Machine / Blitzkrieg Bop
Unbelievable (EMF)
Fly / What I Got

Concert Jonas Brothers

Nick Jonas at Mohegan Sun

Katie September 16, 2015 0 Comments

Friday night Nick Jonas performed for the first time as a solo artist at the Mohegan Sun Arena. He had played there several times with his former band and brothers, The Jonas Brothers. We were kind of surprised that Nick would play such a large venue, especially when a lot of his other shows are in smaller general admission venues. But when we tried to get tickets in presale and then the public sale and nothing that we considered to be “good” showed up… we got a bit nervous. But we (and by we I mean myself and Christine, my typical partner in crazy boyband crime) decided we would wait until that night and see what we could get. She had a M&G with Nick before the show so I was perched outside the box office and checked 3 times while she was inside and had no such luck. We ended up “caving” about 30 minutes after the opening act was on the stage and got 14th row. We were hoping for first 10 rows, but first 15 isn’t so bad either (we’re just self-spoiled brats).

Recently, Jay-Z said that Nick was the “Justin Timberlake of his generation” which, I found to be a bit odd because… Justin is still the Justin of his generation… but it was pretty evident that this tour was heavily influenced by Mr JT. Nick is also all grown up now. The setlist was made up mostly of songs from his self titled album, with a few new songs thrown in as well as a Nick Jonas and the administration song and a couple JoBros / Camp Rock songs and of course, a few covers for good measure.

About halfway through the set, a lot of security started showing up in our area. They were all linking arms, blocking off the aisle of our section (and I was seated on the aisle) Nick ended up walking by and I reached out and juuust missed touching him. Then he went up a couple steps into the lower level to sing. On his way back, I reached my arm over the security and he ended up grabbing my hand for a few seconds. So exciting! (Nick might be all grown up, but I am not! 😉

I kind of wish that his tour schedule worked out a bit better with being close to us around a weekend because I think we would have ended up at a few more shows than just this one!

Chains
Numb
Levels
Wilderness
Good Thing
Area Code
A Little Bit Longer
Who I Am
Introducing Me
Warning
Push
Don’t Make Me Choose
Santa Barbara
Under You
Roses (OutKast cover)
Can’t Feel My Face / Watch Me
Teacher Ft. Poison
Take Over
Jealous

Concert

Tony Lucca at the Wolf’s Den

Katie September 15, 2015 0 Comments

Thursday night Tony Lucca came to the Wolf’s Den at Mohegan Sun for a show. It had been some year since I had seen him in CT so I was excited to make the trek to the casino even though it was a “work night”. I am glad that I did! I don’t think I had ever seen him with a full band before and that made the show great! He was joined by Keaton Simons and The Rollaways.

After the show my friend Liz was able to snag me a setlist. I’m not sure that it’s 100% accurate because I do remember him doing a song or two not listed and I tried to stick them in where I could. And of course the second song I can’t make out what the setlist says!

The show was only the second night of the tour, but you wouldn’t have known it if he didn’t say it. A lot of times shows early on are “off” because the band is just getting into the swing of things, but that was not the case here.

Tony also had a heckler of sorts who showed up before the show and was dancing to the pre-show music with his squeaky shoes. Then he kept yelling “HEY TONY! I’m from Brooklyn that’s how we say that!” and Tony took it all in stride, yelling back to him at times and cracking up while performing during others. The heckler then asked for all the band members names so that he could yell their names out as well. So Tony asked the heckler his name – “JERSEY MIKE!” he yelled back… For most of the show Mike was off to the side dancing but for Grandma’s Hand he went right front and center and was hugging himself like he was making out with a girl. While I was trying hard to ignore him and enjoy the show (as I think most of the audience was) we all kind of lost it at this point.

After the show we got to say hi to Tony and Keaton and get photos and get our setlists signed. I got to work incredibly tired the next day, but it was all worth it to see such a great show! If Tony is coming through your town on the Paint a Picture Tour 2015 – be sure to check him out!

Old Girl
?
My Confession
What I Ever Done
Anchored
Holla
Grandma’s Hands
Sweat It Out
Death of Me
Pretty Things
Right on Time
Trouble
-Keaton-
Melancholy Collar
Delilah
Smoke ‘Em
Paint a Picture
Imagination

Devil Town
99 Problems

Concert

Counting Crows Somewhere Under Wonderland Tour

Katie September 2, 2015 0 Comments

Saturday August 22 Counting Crows brought their “Somewhere Under Wonderland” tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena. The tour was in support of the bands 7th studio album, “Somewhere Under Wonderland”. I had won tickets to the show from the radio station so while they weren’t the best seats in the house by any means, you really can’t complain when they’re free. Our entire row was empty until about 30 minutes before the show ended and no one was in front of us either which meant we could sit and relax for the entire show!

Citizen Cope opened the show. I liked the music but had a hard time understanding any of the lyrics. The crowd seemed to be really into them and their hour long opening set.

Counting Crows set was a mix of new, old, and covers. I only know a handful of Counting Crows songs and they did 2 of them (Mr. Jones and A Long December). I was hoping they’d do the song they had on the Shrek soundtrack, but no such luck! 5 of the songs they did were from the new album – Palisades Park, Earthquake Driver, Scarecrow, Elvis Went to Hollywood and Cover Up The Sun. Which is the majority of the album – since it is only 9 tracks.

Sullivan Street
Scarecrow
Mr. Jones
Elvis Went to Hollywood
Colorblind
Four White Stallions
Omaha
Cover Up the Sun
Untitled (Love Song)
Meet on the Ledge
Hanging Tree
Like Teenage Gravity
Possibility Days
Washington Square
Big Yellow Taxi
Earthquake Driver
A Long December
Hanginaround

Encore:
Palisades Park
Rain King / My Sweet Thing
Holiday in Spain

Concert

Lady A at Xfinity Theater

Katie August 19, 2015 0 Comments

Saturday night Lady Antebellum brought their “Wheels Up” tour to the Xfinity Theater (aka The Meadows) in Hartford, CT. I managed to find a non-$200 VIP ticket 2 rows behind the pit a couple weeks before the show so I decided I’d make it my August show since Hunter Hayes was opening and I love him and I was also very into Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time” and he was opening as well.

Sam Hunt took the stage at 7pm and for a while I could see fine from sitting but then security didn’t seem to care about all the girls running into the row in front of me. Apparently going in the pit without a wristband was bad, but going into the front row of the seats from wherever the hell you wanted? Totally ok. Of course until Hunter Hayes was on stage then there was an usher going back and forth escorting the people who didn’t have a ticket for that row or my row out – which got really annoying with people walking by you back and forth back and forth – while an act was on stage!

Anyway – Sam did about a half an hour set in a Ninetendo controller hat. By the end of his set you could see the sweat from his head on the hat. It was about 95 degrees when I left my car to head inside and just the beginning of a heat wave.

Hunter Hayes took the stage at 7:45 pm and did an hour set, he did a couple of new songs – one that he released a couple week ago called “Saint or Sinner” and another one that he said was brand new that I didn’t catch the name of. He went on to the stairs into the pit during one of the songs (Everybody’s got somebody but me, I think) and was asking the crowd if they knew the words. They must have told him a little bit because he said all he knew was a little bit of it too and he makes up new words every night and was surprised no one had noticed yet. He also did a bit of shut up and dance with me and was running and jumping all around so he had to introduce the band and talk for a bit because he needed to catch his breath. He has way too much energy! But I love it.

At 9:15 Lady A took the stage. I sat down for a lot of their set because standing for all of Hunter tired me out, but luckily Charles is so tall I could see him almost the whole time I was sitting! I’m not really a country fan (I know it’s becoming harder and harder to believe me when I say that) so I don’t know more than the songs that made it to top 40 radio, but they put on a really good show. (I totally forgot I had seen them once before at the Tim McGraw concert where we got SOAKED on the lawn and left before Tim!) At one point they go to a stage in the back, and they all walked right by me. Unfortunately the aisle was really big and they went down towards the other side of seats so I wasn’t able to get any high fives as they went by.

I knew that Hunter was going to come out for Compass and had debated leaving after that because I didn’t want to get home too late. But I decided to stay and I was glad I would because as the last song of the regular set, they had Sam and Hunter come out and do Walk This Way and it was awesome! I had peeked at the setlist a bit before the show (couldn’t find hunters though) and knew that the encore started with 747… so I was a bit surprised when they came out and did Need You Now. Then Charles said there was a bit of weather going on so that would be it for them.

We could see lightning going on over the lawn and when I got outside it was raining. Fortunately not pouring like the Tim show! And I was so hot it was nice to get rained on a bit on the walk to the car. This was about 10:30. When I got to my car, there were 3 shirtless and possibly drunk guys parked next to me screaming the chorus of MMMBop. I assume they saw my “I Heart Hanson” sticker on the back of the car at some point during the night. But now I kind of want that kind of entrance all the time! I was hoping the traffic would be gone by 11, but the cars seemed to not be moving at all. I finally left the parking lot at about 11:30 and it took me almost until midnight to get to the highway, just up the street from the venue. I guess that’s what happens when you go to a show with 23,000 other people!

Sam Hunt Setlist
Raised On It
Ex To See
House Party
Take Your Time
Single For the Summer
Leave The Night On
Break Up In a Small Town

Hunter Hayes Setlist
Tattoo
Storm Warning
21
Storyline
Somebody’s Heartbreak
Shut Up And Dance With Me
Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me
Saint or Sinner
Invisible
Wanted
-new song-
I Want Crazy

Lady A Setlist
Long Stretch of Love
Bartender
American Honey
Freestyle
Our Kind of Love
Just a Kiss
Compass (with Hunter Hayes)
Perfect Day
Heading To B Stage
Love Don’t Live Here
One Great Mystery
Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran cover)
Dancin’ Away With My Heart
I Run To You
Downtown
Any Man of Mine (Shania Twain cover)
Walk This Way
Lookin’ for a Good Time

Encore:
Need You Now

Concert

Culture Club at Foxwoods

Katie August 5, 2015 0 Comments

Foxwoods does a lot of ticket giveaways via text and most of the time I enter any contest that I think might be fun to see. My parents are Culture Club fans but their last time seeing them perform was before I was born. (And I’m old, so that was a while ago) When Foxwoods was giving away 2 front row tickets via text I knew I had to enter. And I know what you’re all thinking “And you won, of course!” Nope. I didn’t. But they did email me a link for discounted tickets. When I first tried to get to the link it wasn’t working so I tweeted Foxwoods and they got it up and running for me. My parents and I decided to take advantage of the 50% off offer (and later some friends of the family did as well – and ended up in our row too!) and actually ended up scoring some decent seats for $42+fees instead of $85+fees!

The show was scheduled to start at 8pm so we left work a little early to make the trek up to Foxwoods. Typically it is about 1.5 hours from where we live – but on a Friday the traffic going up the coast of CT is brutal. It took us an extra hour or so to get up there. I went to pick up our tickets and was told by the box office that they were just informed that the show would be starting at 9pm instead. Fortunately Foxwoods offers plenty to do if you need to kill time. We speculated why there was a delay in the show – maybe the opening act canceled, etc. When we finally entered the venue there was a notice that due to transportation issues, the show would be starting at 9pm. Boy George then mentioned about how BIG Connecticut was (joking, of course) and that he was in the car for six hours!

I am not all too familiar with the Culture Club song catalog except for the major singles (I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and of course, Karma Chameleon) but all of them were included in the set. They also did a new song “More than Silence” which is going to be on their new album, Tribes, due to be released early next year and available for pre-order via Pledge Music. They also did a couple of covers – one being a song Boy George mentioned as being by “Bread” but when it started I turned to my Mom and said “Oh, I know this one. NSYNC does it” – Everything I Own. The other cover was another one I knew – David Bowie’s Starman.

The band played for about 2 hours and Boy George had 4 outfit changes – with 2 of them coming during the encore. I was on strict instructions to get a photo of “every outfit” so you’ll see below a couple of shots of each. I have to tell you the photos do not do the first hat any justice. It was the most sparkly hat I think I have ever seen. And the head piece he started the encore with he said he had to fight Lady Gaga for and it was made by someone who does a lot of her headpieces – but of course, he knew him first!

It was a great show with a lot of the songs having the same message – love and peace. You can’t go wrong with that.

Church of the Poison Mind
It’s a Miracle
I’ll Tumble 4 Ya
Let Somebody Love You
Everything I Own
Like I Used To
Move Away
Black Money
Victims
Human Zoo
Time (Clock of the Heart)
Different Man
Miss Me Blind
I Just Wanna Be Loved
The Crying Game
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?
Runaway Train

More than Silence
Starman

Karma Chameleon

American Idol Concert

Kelly Clarkson Mohegan Sun 7/23

Katie July 28, 2015 0 Comments

Thursday night Kelly Clarkson brought her Piece by Piece 2015 tour to the Arena at Mohegan Sun. She had three opening acts along for the ride – Abi Ann, Eric Hutchinson and Pentatonix.

Abi was up first and at 17 years old I think she still needs some work. I’m not sure if the sound system was off or she was but I can’t see her really going anywhere if she continues to sing so off key. She mentioned it was her first ever Arena and I just can’t see her being to that stage on her own, ever. Hope I’m wrong but…

Eric Hutchinson was up next. I was really excited to see him, last time I saw him was about 3 years ago. He was a lot of fun and a really up beat set. I also loved how he had choreographed moves with his other guitar players. You’re never really expecting that from a band, but it’s always appreciated by this boyband fan!

Pentatonix was next up and somehow their stage seemed to take the longest to set up – despite the fact that they are an acapella group and had no instruments! They did have risers to stand on though and obviously those had to be safe and secure before they could take the stage! They did a lot of the same songs that they did when I saw them headline back in March. A new addition was a Michael Jackson medley that was amazing and the current hit “Cheerleader” which was pretty cool too even though I’m so sick of that song (and I haven’t even been listening to that much Top 40 lately… but I heard it 2 or 3 times just on the ride up the casino!)

Kelly took the stage at about 9:30 and played until 11! I thought I was going to be so tired and not make it through her whole set but she was so high energy that it was contagious and I could not believe that an hour and a half had passed when she was exiting the stage!

She promised to play her hits as well as showcase a lot of the new songs off her new album that she loved as well. I think that she found a great balance between the two.

I love that before Mr Know It All she dedicated it to anyone who had a jerk of a man in their life – maybe a coworker. I’ve definitely been dealing with that lately and never realized just how perfect this song fits the situation! Thanks, Kelly!

She has also been featuring an open mic night each night on the tour since she basically got her start at a really, really big open mic night. We were treated to Mya Silva (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTfAe4DcgJHfWB4oI6AdL2g/feed) doing Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy! After Mya, Kelly did the fan request which was Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love. I was a bit disappointed because the night before she did NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye (though I’m not sure I could have handled that anyway!) and a few nights ago she did Nick Jonas’ Jealous. Although she kills whatever she does so it was a great rendition and Elvis isn’t all that bad 😉

I was also super happy that the song that she decided to do for her throw back was my favorite Kelly song – Beautiful Disaster. It seems like she hasn’t done this one live since 2008 so I was quite happy to get to see it!

At the end of the set she did an amazing mash up of Bruno Mars Uptown Funk and Walkaway that was pure genius! Such a great mix of the two songs. I loved it!

Dance With Me
My Life Would Suck Without You
Catch My Breath
Nostalgic
Mr. Know It All
Second Wind
Invincible
Piece by Piece
Because of You / Breakaway
Tightrope
Take You High / When Doves Cry
Behind These Hazel Eyes
Open Mic- Gnarls Barkley Crazy
Can’t Help Falling In Love
Beautiful Disaster
Stronger
Heartbeat Song
Walk Away / Uptown Funk

Bang Bang
Miss Independent
Since U Been Gone

Concert

Idina Menzel 7/11/15 at Mohegan Sun

Katie July 15, 2015 0 Comments

Saturday night Idina Menzel brought her world tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena. Upon entering the venue I was told that per request of the artist, no photography would be allowed. I was also told the same when I got to my seat so I respected that and did not take any photos during the show. I did snap a picture of the stage setup before the show though:

https://instagram.com/p/5A5fCnqro2

There was no opener and the show was set to start at 8pm but started closer to 8:20 or 8:30. Idina sang a mixture of songs from her Broadway shows like Wicked, Rent and If/Then, as well as some tracks from her albums and some songs from some of her favorite female singers. I had heard that her show may not be appropriate for children – and she did seem to censor herself a bit and at times told parents to cover their kids ears (when she was talking about how the gay men always compliment her ass and she loves them for it!)

She had a couple other covers mixed in as well – before she did Radiohead’s Creep she talked about how she has a lot of songs about overcoming but some days she doesn’t want to get out of bed and she doesn’t want to sing Let It Go. She was kneeling on the stage and ended up laying down on it to sing Creep.

Take Me Or Leave me she had a man help her down off the stage and went into the crowd to have a sing a long. Everyone she chose (3 girls and a guy) had wonderful voices. She even gave a guy a hug and stepped in something that had spilled (she was barefoot) and wiped it on a chair like the classy long island girl she is. 😉 (her words!) I saw on instagram someone on the floor said that she actually spilled the drink herself when she went to hug him and didn’t realize it.

Let It Go she had us all sing along over and over and over again – because our “Cold never bothered me anyway” line wasn’t good enough for her. She had some kids come up to sing too – she said they had to be under 7 to sing with her! I felt kind of funny singing about the cold not bothering me because I never remember that the arena keeps the AC cranking and I was sitting there shivering!

Then she did some sort of mashup that only she could pull off and mixed Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give It Away” in with Let It Go to end her set.

She came out for a 2 song encore and at one point told us we were an amazing audience (she seemed very impressed with the arena being so big and so many people there) and said we were a little obnoxious too – which was a plus to her!

Idina sang for roughly an hour and a half. It was a fun show, I loved how interactive she was with the audience and how she ran through the crowd and just said what she wanted to say. She has an amazing voice and I am glad that I got to see her on her own. (I had previously seen her in Wicked, 10+ years ago!) If you’re on the fence about going – definitely go check her out!

I didn’t keep track of the setlist but I found this online and I am pretty sure it is accurate:

Defying Gravity
Don’t Rain On My Parade
Brave
I Stand
The Wizard and I
River
Love For Sale / Roxanne
There’s No Business Like Show Business / Anything Goes / Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Still I Can’t Be Still
Creep
Take Me Or Leave Me
No Day But Today
Always Starting Over
For Good (acapella)
Let It Go

Child
Tomorrow

Concert Hanson

Blues Traveler at Red Rocks July 4, 2015

Katie July 8, 2015 0 Comments

When I heard that Blues Traveler was playing at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado and Hanson was opening – I knew I somehow had to make it to the show since seeing a show at Red Rocks is on my bucket list and seeing Hanson there would make it that much more awesome. I did my research and found out that ADA was 1st row or 70th row (last row) so I decided it would be “first row or bust”.

Things started falling into place and I found someone to meet up with and share a hotel and car rental with. Friday morning I flew out to Denver, we did some sightseeing around downtown and got way too many VooDoo Doughnuts.

Saturday we stopped to find a Buffalo Herd and then headed to Red Rocks to check out the museum and see the view from the top of the venue. Amazing.

With rain on the way, we made a trip to Walmart to get some ponchos to make sure we’d be ok to sit in our seats the whole show and not miss anything due to running for cover!

Then it was time to get our shuttle ride to the front row so we could enjoy the show! Once we got there we were waiting around for a while and heard Hanson soundchecking I’ve Got Soul and Where’s the Love. When they (finally) let us inside, Zac was coming from the stage so I got to say hello to him!

Our seats were kind of far away so we asked if we could move closer for Hanson and obviously move when whoever seats we were in showed up. We were told that was fine – BUT if security sent us back to our seats then to listen to them because they were in charge. Fortunately the seats we picked worked out for us for the whole show.

Hanson was up first and they played about 50 minutes, roughly 11 songs. We figured the set would be pretty vanilla – greatest hits – but got a treat when they had John Popper come out to perform In The City with them on harmonica. John was featured on a couple of tracks on Hanson’s sophomore release – This Time Around. Fortunately there was no rain for their whole set which made me happy because I didn’t have to hide my camera from the rain.

Next up was Guster and the lead singer joked about having to take the stage after MMMBop. It was raining throughout their set so I didn’t take too many photos and spent pretty much the rest of the night in and out of my poncho (towards the end it was more for keeping warm than keeping dry). The lead singer’s shirt ripped and he realized it and was wondering if his nipple had been showing. Next thing you know he’s showing it and it’s up on the giant screen next to the stage!

Then it was time for Blues Traveler. I was hoping that JC from NSYNC would be a “special guest” and we figured out that he was already in town the night before filming a music video with Blues Traveler and 3Oh!3 so most of their set I was waiting for those songs to hit the setlist – but figured they’d be near the end if they were making a video – it must be a single. Aside from the new songs – since I have their new album – the only songs that I knew were The Hook and Run Around. There was a lot more jamming than singing. Rome Ramirez was one of the special guests and did 3 songs with the band – including Sublime’s “What I Got” since Rome tours w/ Sublime a lot. Hanson came out and did Top of the World with the band – complete with lyrics taped to the stage for Taylor. And then… John called 3Oh!3 to the stage – and who followed them? JC Chasez!!! He ended up doing Hurricane and Blow Up The Moon with Blues Traveler and 3Oh!3 – and where did he stand? Right in front of the new seats we had picked out and no one had kicked us out of.

Then it was time for the encore. Blues Traveler did one song by themselves and then called out the special guests and some of the guys from Guster out. JC started out with “The Joker” and they did a few other songs in a medley and everyone was just having a great time on stage. I was doing ok videoing because JC was near Zac Hanson – but once they split up it was hard to decide who to record so I tried to get a little bit of everyone in there. My video has been passed around a lot so I guess I did an ok job 😉 But the TRUE bucketlist moment came at the end of the encore – when I hear over the speakers “hey hey – bye bye bye” and JC started singing Bye Bye Bye. And I started crying. There is no concert I want more than an NSYNC reunion – and for now 1/5 of NSYNC singing an NSYNC song live in front of me while I’m in the front row is probably as close as I’m going to get for a while anyway. And I’m ok with that. But I would also like JC to come out of hiding and tour! Please?

The whole way back to the car I just kept saying how I couldn’t believe that just happened and had to compose myself a bit before I could drive back to our hotel! I still have been watching my videos just amazed that not only it happened – but I was there.

It was truly a bucket list trip and it will be very hard to top!!