Concert – Page 5 – Concert Katie

A Very Darren Crissmas

Katie December 18, 2022 0 Comments

Friday night, Darren Criss brought “A Very Darren Crissmas” to the Ridgefield Playhouse. While I knew that he had released this CD last year, I hadn’t had a chance to listen to it yet and to be quite honest I think it worked out better that I hadn’t. He mentioned throughout the show that he picked songs that he hoped we had already known and did something different with their arrangements – so aside from the couple of originals that he did, I was familiar with everything which led for some nice surprises on his different arrangements that I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten if I had already listened to the CD. Probably one of the rare cases where that actually worked out in my favor though.

When the show was set to begin, his band took the stage which was a lot bigger than I was expecting (because, didn’t realize the CD had a orchestra arrangement LOL) and it was made up of 7 people, which was much smaller than what he had during the recording. Off stage he started asking if the band was just waiting for him and if the theater was just waiting for him and then he busted out with Everbody’s Waiting For The Man With the Bag. He explained that he was going to tell us about the songs as well as sing them and it would be a whole experience – and also to expect some 4 letter words included and sorry if the parents thought this would be a family show but hopefully they were wearing pearls as they’d be clutching them. Honestly though, a sweary Chrsitmas show was just what I needed and I absolutely love when artists talk about songs – usually that they wrote – but in this case about why he changed up the arrangements and why he chose the songs. I especially liked when he went on for about 5 minutes about how great of a song writer John Mayer is – and then totally out Mayer’ed Mayer when he sang St Patricks Day (which coming from me is a huge compliment) (Though he also mentioned John doesn’t do it live – but I am pretty sure I was lucky enough to see him do it waaaaay back at my first show of his!)

For The Christmas Waltz he was talking a bit about how songs rhymes and how that’s changed over the years and how in pop music you can get away with different rhymes that aren’t quite rhymes. He mentioned that The Christmas Waltz contained a rhyme like this – “And this song of mine, in three-quarter time” and that he changed it so that in his version it would be a true song more consistent with the times (and that the songwriters, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn definitely knew that in 90 years someone would be on stage talking about how it didn’t actually rhyme, lol) and changed it to “And this song of mine, written by Cahn and Styne” and then fist pumped.

During Happy Holidays / The Holiday Season he talked about how it was actually a medley of two songs and was singing it all on his own and commented that it was so quiet. On the next line, he went to put his guitar down and most of the crowd sang the next line. This seemed to catch him off guard and he asked if we didn’t liked the silence – to which someone screamed out “THIS IS RIDGEFIELD” which got him to yell back “YOU’RE IN RIDGEFIELD, WE SING ALONG MOTHA FUCKA” so he ended up doing some “glee shit” and having us do various sing-a-longs with him and threatened that if we were bad we would be off the bus to regionals.

Before he sang Welcome Home he said it was from the show Fanny and how in Britain, Fanny is slang for “vagina”. Out of nowhere a British voice yells “Its more vulva than vagina” And my Ridgefield Playhouse visits come full circle as last time I was there, Matt Nathanson was also trying to explain what a vulva was. Another yell from the crowd (after Darren asked) was someone was from Russia and he talked about how he really wanted to go to Russia (politics aside) and get some vodka and see a ballet.

He then came out with just his guitar (after his “costume change”) and said that every show he picks a song to learn and play and it all goes down about 30 minutes before the show starts. Tonight he chose a Beach Boys song and I was thinking – since he’s a Hanson fan and they have TWO Beach Boys songs on their Christmas album Snowed In that it was probably either Run Rudolph Run or Little St. Nick. Turns out I was right and he picked Little St Nick but bumbled through it and while I don’t know how much more difficult it is to try and play something new and sing it even if you know it, I feel like if he was as big of a fan of Hanson and Christmas music as he says he is, it would be embedded in his brain like it is mine. But I’ll give him a pass because you wouldn’t see me trying to play guitar to it. He then asked for what other songs we would like to hear and said “I’m not going to fucking play them…” and that he was looking for ideas for the next night in Bethlehem and then was like “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem! I’m sure they’ve never heard THAT song before…” (but he did end up putting most of the called out requests into a medley during his encore which I thought was really cool!)

The biggest surprise (for me) was when he said he wanted to get serious, talked about looking at himself in the mirror and saying… “San Ta… I Want a hippopotamus for Christmas” See, not knowing what was on the CD at all made this absolutely hysterical for me. AND THEN HE PULLED OUT A KAZOO. I mean, cmon. Christmas song GOLD right there, Darren.

His encore was Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with him at the guitar and then he encouraged everyone to get up for Christmas Dance and even taught us a 4 part dance to go along with it.

I think this is the most I have written about any one concert this entire year… but I definitely enjoyed myself and am now listening to the Christmas CD properly. It looks like he did almost every track off of it with the exception of one. I’m hoping I get the chance to see Darren again soon, perhaps on Broadway!

Edit this setlist | More Darren Criss setlists

Concert

Lindsey Stirling Snow Waltz Tour

Katie December 11, 2022 0 Comments

Friday night Lindsey Stirling brought her Snow Waltz Tour to Foxwoods. I had been wanting to see her in a full blown show since I had seen her do a set at a Christmas show back in 2016, but it just never ended up working out. I had pretty nice seats about 5 rows back on the left side, which actually ended up being where her mic was set up so she came over quite often to chat with the crowd. She had 4 dancers with her and 2 backup musicians. At one point she brought out a tiny violin to play and had her band play on a toy piano and drum set. The show was a lot of fun and Lindsey has some serious talent! At one point she was doing some acrobatics on a ring above the crowd while singing and later she was playing violin swinging upside down! She had quite a few wardrobe changes throughout the night, I think I’ve managed to get a photo of them all which you can check out in the photo album below!

Edit this setlist | More Lindsey Stirling setlists

Concert Hanson

Hanson at Disney 2022

Katie November 20, 2022 0 Comments

This October I made my triumphant return to Disney for the Food and Wine festival to see Hanson again after not having been there since 2017. Before going, I did a lot of research because since COVID a lot of things at Disney had changed. One thing I saw repeatedly is that the ECVs in the park were often selling out, especially if you were park hopping. I ended up renting from an outside company – Gold Mobility. This is one of the companies that you need to meet for pick up and drop off because Disney hotels are ONLY partnered with ScooterBug and their reviews were less than stellar. I was set to pick up my scooter at the front of the hotel at 2pm on Thursday.

But first – I had to get there. Initially I had booked a flight on points via Southwest from Hartford. There were not many direct options and after Southwest did me dirty a few times, I ended up keeping an eye on Avelo which has direct flights from New Haven. When a 50% off sale popped up I managed to get direct, round trip for $219 (including luggage and seat fees as everything is a la carte). Despite it being a very small airport they still had said to arrive 2 hours before your flight. I got there at 5pm for a 7pm flight – only to find out that the earlier 12:30pm flight – hadn’t left yet as they were waiting for 2 crew members! They ended up leaving around 6pm and then confused crew members started showing up for my flight. I think that my crew got bumped to the other flight and they had to scramble to get back ups for the later flight as we ended up delayed about an hour waiting for our final flight attendant. We also ended up taking a different plane than we were supposed to, so several rows were missing (it went 10, 11, 21!) those in 12-20 ended up being placed in the back of the plane as it was not a full flight and there was plenty of room. We made it to MCO at 11pm and of course, Uber surge pricing was in effect and it cost me $100 to get over to Pop Century.

I had asked for a first floor room at Pop, since I knew I would have my scooter with me 24/7, but they put me on the top (4th) floor and one of the rooms furthest away from well, anything. (Yes, it was an accessible room!) I hoped I would be able to figure out the elevator with the scooter but it being nearly midnight by the time I got to the room I just wanted to get some sleep.

The next morning I got ready for the Halloween party that afternoon, made it to the cafeteria for some lunch and then wandered around until 2pm hit and my scooter was delivered. I ended up heading to the Magic Kingdom shortly after to try and get in for the Halloween party at 4pm. The bus driver was absolutely amazing and parked the scooter for me after I told him I had never done it before. It was H-O-T at Magic Kingdom but at 4pm they let us in and I wandered around to get my candy bag and just check out the park and remember where everything was located. 2 hours in, the battery level dropped significantly on the scooter. I found a spot with an outlet to charge and sat for 30 minutes as I was advised to charge it for 30-45 minute 2 or 3 times throughout the day to make sure the charge would last. It went back up to full, but after 30 minutes dropped down again. Overall, I ended up stopping to charge the scooter 5 times throughout the night (twice a cavalcade parade ended up going by as I sat so at least I wasn’t missing out on all the fun). This didn’t seem right. I did manage to meet Minnie in her witch outfit (after waiting in line early to knock it out right away and being told there was a delay and to leave – when I went back much later there was no line at all and Daisy was nowhere to be found) and hit up a lot of the photopass spots for photos. I wanted to hit up Main Street for some more photos but with all the timing of everything and not knowing when I’d need to charge again by the time I made it over that way the 2nd parade had ended and it was a steady stream of people leaving and my scooter was on RED. I tried to get in to meet Mickey, who had no line, and repeatedly got asked if I had a disability by a cast member. I told him yes and he wanted to see something on my phone? I think a DAS, which I don’t qualify for and I have no idea why the 20 questions as if I couldn’t take the scooter through the line he should have just told me? And once I did get in with it, Mickey’s attendant told me their last scooter died as they were leaving the room – I told him mine was dangerously close to that and I was hoping I’d make it back to the hotel!

I ended up leaving around 11 for the bus and this bus driver would not touch the scooter and instead got very panicky trying to direct me on how to park it myself on the bus. Not helpful when I was already frazzled from all the battery drama! The hotel was supposed to be having a power outage between 12 and 5am. I could see workers on a different building as I made my way back to my room and wanted to make sure I was back and settled by the time it went out in my room. I ended up getting the scooter up the elevator and in the room after a couple of attempts and got settled in bed. Then I was feeling cold so I went to change my pajamas a bit later and as soon as I got one leg back in the bed, the power went out. Perfect timing!

First thing when I got up Friday I called Gold Mobility to tell them something was up with the scooter. He said if it was still acting up after 2 hours again at the park, they’d bring me out a replacement. I ended up changing my reservations from Animal Kingdom to Epcot for the full day as the terrain at AK drains the battery much faster. Sure enough, 2 hours after getting to EPCOT it went from green all the way down to red. Not even into orange. I was struggling to find an outlet that was actually powered on and texted to get that replacement coming. It took a bit longer than their estimate, but I was happy to (hopefully) have one with a better functioning battery. I ended up getting it around 12:30 and while I did stop to charge it a couple of times, it never lost any of the power lights for the rest of the day! I managed to navigate a couple of food & wine kiosks on my own and then met up with a friend. And by total surprise another friend who was visiting Disney (and not there for Hanson) was in front of us in line at the Germany kiosk. You know what they say, it’s a small world!

Then it was time for the Hanson concerts… to be honest I’ve waited so long to post this they’ve all kind of melded into one in my brain so here’s the setlists:

Edit this setlist | More Hanson setlists

Saturday was our scheduled all day EPCOT day. I saw that my friend ended up snagging us reservations for Guardians of the Galaxy and made sure to take my motion sickness meds before I left. (Bonine – which I also found helped with the skyliner) We did a bunch more of the food and wine kiosks and ended up knocking out just about everything on my to try list.

Edit this setlist | More Hanson setlists

Sunday another friend came in to town so we started the day at Hollywood Studios. We started with piloting the Millenium Falcon – poorly. Rise of the Resistance was down the whole time we were there and we saw during lunch that it went back up with a short wait. We got in line, but as it seemed to be taking a lot longer than we had expected, we stopped to ask a cast member what was up. He said he couldn’t give us a time estimate but if it was getting too close to the time we needed to get to Epcot for our dinner reservation to let him know. Shortly after he pulled us from the line because the ride went down again and they had no idea how long it would take to go back up. He ended up giving us a lightning lane pass to any ride (but tower of terror which was the other one we had been considering riding) and we ended up getting on Slinky Dog before heading to EPCOT for our Coral Reef dining reservation. This would get us priority seating for the 3rd show – where the guys ended up playing Greener Pastures! We had been asking for this one on the tour but it didn’t come in to play until after our shows were done and I was very surprised it made it into any of the setlists but was pretty excited it happened to be the one we were closest for!

Edit this setlist | More Hanson setlists

Halloween we split our time at Magic Kingdom and ended up riding Haunted Mansion and getting a bunch of fun photopass photos. We also got to check out the Hocus Pocus 2 photo op and get Mickey ice cream bars! We had more dining reservations at EPCOT, this time at Garden Grill which meant we got to also meet Pluto, Mickey and Chip and Dale during our meal! Of course I sat on the end where they would sneak up on me and scared me several times! (Pluto and I think Chip came around twice while we were eating) Then it was time for our final night of Hanson shows!

Edit this setlist | More Hanson setlists

Unfortunately the guys didn’t end up dressing up for the Halloween shows 🙁 We debated attempting Guardians again but after realizing our boarding time expired and not wanting to risk heading all the way over there to be turned away, we ended up leaving as my scooter pick up was set for 6:45am and then I’d be heading to the airport super early for my flight.

Upon arrival at the airport, Avelo didn’t have anything set up yet and I guess they don’t open until 8am for an 11am flight. Another group was there that thought they had a 9am flight – that hadn’t existed for as long as my flight had been booked but kept saying their flight was “delayed 2 hours”. Sir, please don’t say those words out loud in front of me because who knows what will happen! MCO was a nightmare as usual – this time the Pre-Check area barely had enough room for my wheelchair to get pushed through!

There were minimal delays as the crew had to get off one plane in from New Haven and on to ours back to New Haven. We ended up landing on time and upon getting back into the airport, I realized that the baggage claim area was a nightmare. I asked someone to grab my bag for me and he did and I managed to sneak out to my Mom who was waiting. The first thing I mentioned was how the bag claim set up was a mess. 2 days later? A guys arm got caught in the belt at bag claim… hopefully he’s alright and some changes will be made.

If Hanson plays again next year it will probably be hard to say no, but my 10 day non expiring ticket I bought when Disney phased them out is now gone after trips in 2016, 2017 and 2022 so the trip is going to be a heck of a lot more expensive next time… but now I know I can trust Gold Mobility and will definitely be using them again.

Concert

Tartan Terrors at The Kate

Katie November 17, 2022 0 Comments

Saturday night I went to check out Tartan Terrors at The Kate. A friend had seen them earlier this year and said if they came to CT we’d have to go and that I would enjoy them – and that they wear kilts. That was enough to convince me so we snagged some front row tickets for their show. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed them and am looking forward to seeing them again! After the show I managed to snap some photos of the setlist which I got added to setlist.fm and you can check out below!

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American Idol Concert David Cook

David Cook at Daryl’s House

Katie November 17, 2022 0 Comments

Friday night I braved the rain and winds from Hurricane Nicole and made my way to Pawling, NY to check out David Cook. He had been in CT for two dates over the summer but unfortunately it clashed with my Hanson shows so I wasn’t able to see him. Before the show I did a M&G which was scheduled to start at 6:30 and the show at 8. Well, the M&G line was quite long and David was quite chatty so the line was still going at 8pm. The show ended up starting at 8:30pm, for which David apologized but said he was a popular guy and it was the M&G that was taking up the time. While the setlist appears to be rather short, he played for about 2 hours and threw some stories in throughout and seemed genuinely happy to once again be in front of a crowd and not in his basement doing streams like he had been doing. As the show was on Veterans Day he spoke a bit about veterans and dedicated the song Light On to the veterans in the room. I can’t wait until he comes back around again!

Edit this setlist | More David Cook setlists

Concert

Blues Traveler at Foxwoods

Katie November 9, 2022 1 Comments

Last week, Blues Traveler concluded their 35th anniversary tour at Foxwoods. This show ended up being a free private show for those with players cards to the casino, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Seating was GA (with the first several rows reserved for higher rollers) so I managed to be 8th row center. Most of the crowd sat for the entire show, despite a guy to the left of me trying very, very hard to get everyone up and dancing. The show was a lot of fun, with John Popper throwing out several harmonicas into the crowd (I knew he had done this in the past but wasn’t sure if he still would now that covid is a thing!) and the band playing about a 90 minute set including their hits.

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Concert

Jon McLaughlin at Stage One

Katie October 26, 2022 0 Comments

Sunday night, Jon McLaughlin took his 15th Anniversary Indiana tour to Fairfield. Initially tickets went on sale for The Warehouse which is the larger of the two spaces run by the Fairfield Theater Company. The floor is entirely flat so I got myself VIP front & center tickets. Last week it was announced that it would be moving to the smaller Stage One and our tickets would be “comparable”. Well, Stage One has 2 steps to get from the main floor to the front row – and no railings. I typically avoid this due to my disability and will get row C which is even with the main floor – no steps involved. But since I had also purchased the VIP option I figured I’d be stubborn and stick it out. I ended up getting moved to front row still, but almost the entire rest of the front row never ended up showing up? So strange.

At 5:45 it was time to check in for the VIP portion of the night, where we got a Jon CD and then had him sign it, photos, chat, Q&A and he did one song with his band for us. He answered 3 or 4 questions and then it was time to wait for doors. Kris ended up coming to check on his merch so we had a nice chat preshow where I got to tell him how excited I was that he and Jon were touring together!

Kris opened and while his set was shorter than I am used to, he absolutely killed it. I could feel the shift in the crowd the moment he won them over with a few notes on “Out Alive”. His banter was on point and I particularly enjoyed when he asked if he could play a new song and then teased that everyone thought everything he was playing was new. (For the record, none of the songs he played were new to me!) He also got the crowd doing a sing-a-long for Hallelujah For Now. After his set was over the guy behind me exclaimed “Wow. He was good!”

Then it was time for Jon to take the stage. I love the way he tells stories and intertwines jokes right into them. His delivery is hilarious. I had asked him during the Q&A if there were any songs he felt differently about 15 years later and he said he felt different about all of them and touched on there being some he hadn’t played until he did the 10 year anniversary. One he went into in more detail during the show saying for some reason he absolutely hated one of the songs (Just Give it Time) and had wished it wasn’t on the album and that Far From Home was (it is now on the deluxe version). His retelling of being a bit nervous playing it 10 years in and then getting to the end and realizing he couldn’t remember what it was he hated and that it should have been on the album was just hilarious. He also slipped a couple newer songs into the set and said it would only be two since he sold the tour as an Indiana 15th anniversary and that is what we were going to get. When we got to the encore I knew just what songs were missing so it was no surprise when he started with Indiana. He ended up going into another story about someone from CT who he was writing songs with who was in the crowd (he was at the VIP portion pre-show so I heard a bit about him writing) and did a song that he had written, which unfortunately I don’t remember the name of. Then it was time for my favorite song that I had been bracing myself for all night. “I’m surrounded by darkness. Is someone coming at me with a guitar?” (No) “We will wait. We will sit here until I get this guitar.” Finally, to laughter, a guitar was handed to him and he came front stage without a mic to finish off the night with Beautiful Disaster. I thought I was ready for it. I was not.

Edit this setlist | More Kris Allen setlists

Edit this setlist | More Jon McLaughlin setlists

Concert SK6ers

Stephen Kellogg at the Wolfs Den

Katie October 7, 2022 0 Comments

Friday night Stephen Kellogg and his band returned to the Wolf’s Den at Mohegan Sun to kick off the Keep It Up Kid tour. The Wolf Den is a first come, first served general admission venue in the middle of the casino. You are allowed to line up starting 3 hours before the show – so for an 8pm start, 5pm. I ended up getting there just a little after 5 and no one was in line at all. Stephen was doing soundcheck, so I sat at a nearby slot machine and watched soundcheck for about an hour. After a couple others started the line, I hopped in and we were let in shortly after. Initially there was only about 10 people inside, but slowly the crowd grew. The floor was all open for dancing and once the show started some people made their way down there but no one was right up against the stage until Stephen said for the encore they should make it feel like a concert and move up.

I was surprised that Stephen started his set with Thanksgiving, it’s long and not one of my favorites but I seem to be in the minority there. The rest of the set was a nice variety with some new off his upcoming album (that technically is out already if you visit the kellogg family store) that is due out in December and a mix of older tunes as well. I was really happy for “My Favorite Place” which is one of my favorites and the encore of Big Easy and See You Later See You Soon with dancing and a sing-a-long was just what I needed!

With no big show in the arena the casino was almost like a ghost town which meant I could finally get to Krispy Kreme post show without the line being down the entire hallway! Kind of a surprise for a Friday night.

Edit this setlist | More Stephen Kellogg setlists

Concert

Matt Nathanson @ Ridgefield Playhouse

Katie September 9, 2022 0 Comments

Lately I’ve been avoiding concerts during the work week, but when I saw Matt Nathanson was coming to Ridgefield on a Wednesday I made an exception. And when he added on a pre-show party, I knew I’d end up needing to work some late nights that week to make up for leaving early to go. Due to covid concerns, the VIP portion was soundcheck, merch and Q&A only – no photos like they used to be. Totally fine with me, I masked up and got there early to check in.

We were let in around 5pm, in to the stage area at 5:30pm after getting our merch (signed poster and coaster) and refreshments. As we entered and Matt asked how we were, someone asked back how he was doing and he said something to the effect of, “well the trailer blew 3 tires and then the bus blew…” and I started to wonder if this was just the new “hey nice to see you” tour greeting since Hanson had said something pretty similar to me as well. A lot of the Q&A time was spent talking about his daughter and I know far more about her now than I ever wanted and probably much more than she would want me to know. I think Matt being in a room of people was therapeutic for him and I liked that a lot of his answers seemed to be honest and vulnerable.

He had a list of songs that were requested from his new fan club (which I am now in the process of trying to join!) and was saying which ones he *wasn’t* going to play, but then kept playing them. Whoops. We ended up getting to hear 4 songs – which he apologized that he needed to use a mic for because his voice was getting a bit froggy from the tour.

VIP:
Last Days of Summer in San Francisco
Angel
Kiss Quick
Little Victory

Initially the venue was saying we’d have to stay inside because doors would be open, but they ended up stamping us to let us leave and put the poster in the car (thank you!) Venue doors opened at 6:30pm and the doors to the theater at 7pm. Donovan Woods was the opening act and in between his songs he did almost a comedy act talking about them (and cracking himself up in the process) I did enjoy him but I felt like he set me up with a false sense of security with the jokes and then ended with a sick/dead Dad song that ended up as a bit of a gut punch.

Edit this setlist | More Matt Nathanson setlists

For the show, Matt said the tour would be Some Mad Hope in it’s entirety every night as well as a huge chunk of Boston Accent and other songs. When he started the set he said he didn’t like being told what to do, even when it was himself telling him what to do and didn’t seem too happy with himself for saying he’d play the whole album, but he did, and almost in order, except he put Come On Get Higher nearer to the end of the set instead of 5 songs in. He also told us a little bit of background on each of the songs and related them to a Dawson’s Creek like drama. I’m not sure his definition of “huge chunk” but we ended up getting I think 3 tracks off of Boston Accent (forgive me, I haven’t had much time to listen lately!) and a couple extras.

Overall it was a great show – with the exception of Most Obnoxious Concert Goer who was sitting about 3 people from me. He was obnoxious as soon as he entered the theater during Donovan’s set with very, very loud “wooing” and very, very loud conversations with his girlfriend. I was hoping if it continued during Matt’s set, Matt would shut him down and I wouldn’t need to say anything. The woman in the row in front of me kept looking back and glaring at him and rolling her eyes at him, so at least I knew I’d have back up if I did need to speak up. He kept yelling out ‘Illusions’ and Matt made a wise crack about wondering what he was like during intimate moments (aka now is not the time) and that he shouldn’t bother requesting a song Matt wrote in high school that he wasn’t going to end up playing. A few songs later… “ILLUSIONS!” to which Matt yelled back “DELUSIONS!” and then security came and said something to him – I was hoping it was STFU but considering the yelling went on at least 2 more times and Matt even ended up saying “I feel bad for your girl, she is trying to get as far away from you as possible” and then he ended up yelling the lyrics “singing” along instead. (I’ll give a minor pass there – but there was no need for him to be at the volume he was at.) When the show was over I ended up walking past his seat to leave – only to see there were 5 to 6 cans of “bad seed”. Yes sir, you are what you drink.

I’ve only ever seen Matt in CT and this is my second time with obnoxious people screaming out at him song requests (When that is *exactly* the purpose of the VIP pre-show!!!) but I am glad this time it didn’t result in Matt taking a song OFF the setlist like it did in Fairfield in 2019. I’m now wondering if I should try to go see Matt in a different state or if that sort of drunk, obnoxious outbursts are just the norm at his shows.

Concert Hanson

RGB Tour – Leg 5

Katie September 8, 2022 0 Comments

For our last leg of the tour we got up stupid early to get the first flight out from Minneapolis to Seattle. I attempted to get some sleep but failed. Upon landing in Seattle we found a Mexican restaurant to have breakfast and then dove right in to being touristy. We parked at Pike’s Place and took an uber to the Starbucks Reserve. Since I am not a coffee person I perched myself on what might have been the most comfortable stool ever and got the setlist from the night before posted. Then we headed back to Pike’s Place, wandered around a little bit, saw the gum wall. (I am not sure why I was thinking that was a good idea but I also wasn’t thinking the whole city was on an insane incline) We sent a friend up a million stairs to a nice view of the city and then headed over to see the Freemont Troll. For dinner we tried to time a seaside dinner at Ray’s with the sunset and were pretty successful.

The next morning we made our way to Vancouver. The questions at the border were pretty quick and when we said we were entering for a concert and leaving Saturday morning all we got was “OK bye” and we were on our way. We headed straight to Granville Island to wander around a bit before our whale watching excursion. We did our tour with “Prince of Whales” because in addition to not tracking or getting to close to the whales, they have a photographer on board. I knew if I went I’d want to try and get a great photo and miss out on the actual experience so it was nice knowing that I could just sit back and watch and we’d hopefully get some decent shots from the pros who know what they are looking for. While I really was hoping for some orcas, we ended up spending about an hour with 5 Humpback Whales. One of which completely came up to the side of the boat and blew out its blowhole and scared the crap out of us. When we got the photos, I realized that on the other side of the boat one had breached out of the water a whole lot as opposed to just the tails and dorsal fins we were seeing on our side of the boat. We did end up circling around where the orcas were known to hang out, but none of them were spotted. (And a PSA to parents out there, if you’re taking your small child who might be newly potty trained on a 3-5 hour boat ride – you might want to ask him regularly if he needs to use the toilet before he starts screaming “I pee peed!” over and over and you have to yell at your friend to jump up off the bench she was sitting on before she gets hit with a stream of pee.) After the boat we ate at a restaurant right next to the boat dock but it turned out to have some pretty nice views. (Of our waiter.) We made it to the hotel just in time to see sunset out of our window.

The next day was show day and pretty dreary. We had already decided we’d be trying for front row balcony at the venue and had no plans to get there early. The groups split up with 1 going to a suspension bridge and the other 2 doing the hop on hop off bus tour – which included a drive by Hanson’s tour buses. I find the hop on hop off buses to be a fun way to see a lot of the city without needing to do a lot of walking and we didn’t hop off but ended up finding an Orca statue I had wanted to see as well as some of the more (and less) touristy areas. After dinner we got to the venue about 3 hours before doors and ended up being 1, 2 an 3 in line. Unfortunately there was no way I could stand for 4+ hours in the front row so I was stuck back in the seats. It was really weird to watch the crowd from the middle and it was even weirder how even when I stayed seated some songs I could see all 3 band members clearly and others I could see none as well as the overall reactions of the crowds throughout the setlist. We were keeping our ears peeled for Taylor playing my request – so when he came out and said he was changing up things for his solo and needed the guys to pay attention – I was curious what got skipped. Taylor ended up changing his solo to Truth and then following it up once again with “With a Little Help from my Friends”, my friend snagged the setlist from the sound booth on our way out and his solo was supposed to be SAVE ME (ugh) followed by… LOST WITHOUT YOU! Was he not sure if I was there because I was back in the seats hidden? Or did he just decide they weren’t ready to actually play it yet?

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=1524">View Setlist</a>

After the show we went to wait by the buses and I was approached by a young man who wanted to know what we were doing and if we were waiting for a club. Zac came out and I was able to get a photo with him so I got one solo shot with each of them throughout the course of the tour which made me happy. When we got back to the hotel we doordashed some A&W and there’s nothing better than post show poutine.

The next morning we woke up and hit up a grocery store to get every ketchup chip imaginable and some other snacks and drinks. We won’t mention how much we ended up spending. (But it was in Canadian money so not quite as bad as it sounds.) Then we waited to cross the border back to the US. While we were waiting, a familiar face jumped out of the van next to us to relieve himself on the side of the road. One of the members of the opening act. He gave us a smirk as he got back in the van but we weren’t sure if he recognized us as fans or not. At this point we were considering renaming it the RGPee tour.

Two hours later we crossed the border and the agent asked us if the concert we went to see was The Weeknd. When we said no, it was Hanson, he asked if they were still alive. I’m not sure what other band (that became famous in their teens, mind you) gets this kind of reaction. It’s not like they were senior citizens 25 years ago?

We made it back to Seattle but the first option we had picked for dinner was closed so we had to go to a more upscale version upstairs. So upscale they had minimal non-seafood entrees and as not the biggest seafood fan I was going to get just a salad – but then I noticed they had pasta with mushroom, asparagus and crab. If I just got that without crab on it, I’d be all set. I asked if I could and the waitress said they can do a vegan veggie version and I said just the pasta and mushrooms and asparagus would be fine. Well, it came and had 0 mushrooms and was full of cauliflower, brusselsprouts, squash… and I’m not vegan or vegetarian – the opposite in fact – and I’m just picky. (It also came with some cheese so it definitely wasn’t vegan) I ate around all the veggies and just ate the pasta – the waitress was pretty confused when half my plate was left and I didn’t want a box and I was done with it. Maybe if you listened you’d not have been so surprised? (And maybe I should have ended up asking for the kids menu)

Seattle was seated so we got there just after doors and got settled in to our spot. The show was pretty usual, but when Zac came down for the acoustic set he seemed extra smiley our way. After the acoustic set ended (with Write You a Song as Isaac’s solo?) they started a song I didn’t quite recognize at first. Could it be? Nah. Did they? YEAH! Lost Without You! My request had made it into a set!! And the encore included I Don’t Want To Go Home which we had been mentioning earlier in the day as something we’d like to hear. After the show the bus situation was a mess so we opted to get to our hotel that was about an hour out of Seattle on the way to Portland.

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=1525">View Setlist</a>

There was only a couple of sightseeing things I wanted to see in Portland – the Keep Portland Weird mural and the White Stag sign, but unfortunately that was on top of a building and we couldn’t quite come at it form the right angle to get a good shot of it. We grabbed a bite to eat a couple of blocks from the venue (And spotted Zac wandering around while we were trying to park the car) and then headed for our fun evening at the haunted Crystal Ballroom. My friends had their BTTI M&G Photo make up and would end up in the front row, so I got a front row balcony ticket for this show.

I ended up going in at the tail end of ADA and rode up the (totally haunted) elevator by myself and then had to do 1 flight of stairs up to the balcony. The balcony was 21+ and when I mentioned I had a seat the guy at the door said he didn’t know anything about them. This led to anyone trying to come and sit in them whether they had a ticket for them or not. At first, it didn’t bother me – I was in my seat so it wouldn’t be an issue of someone taking my spot from me – but then people kept asking me if the seats next to me were taken. I told them they were assigned and they went a few seats down and climbed over the seats to sit. Eventually, the people who rightfully owned those seats showed up and they came to exit the row – but stood next to me and said nothing. When I didn’t get up (because I wasn’t ASKED to get up) they said “You know you could try moving”, well I don’t know how it works on the west coast but on the east coast when someone sees me sitting there with my cane they typically a) ask if I don’t mind getting up OR b) tell me not to move and they’ll jump over me. Neither came out of their mouths except attitude – and if they listened to me when I told them the seats were assigned – they’d not have been in that predicament! (The Portland venue had a LOT of attitude and as it was nearing the end of our trip I was exhausted and NOT HERE FOR ANY OF IT.)

The Grand Southern flubbed up and initially said “Hello Seattle – Portland” but we had done so much traveling ourselves that I honestly wasn’t sure they were wrong when they said Seattle at first. They also had a friend join them on stage for one of their songs.

Hanson started the night differently with Can’t Stop and I thought we were on our way to a pretty big setlist shake up, but it settled back into the usual right after. During Rambling Heart Taylor looked like he was going to stand, but also looked like he was motioning for the roadie to give him a stool (he has sat every time he has played the song, as far as I know) but the roadie seemed like he had no idea what he wanted, when we all knew it was the stool! Also of note the venue splits the floor down the middle for drinking and not drinking. The stage is fully on the not drinking side and then there’s a little cat walk. Anyone who wanted to go from the drinking side to the other had to finish/leave their cups on the drinking side. The floor is also springy so it was fun to see when random people out on the floor were trying it out and bouncing.

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=1526">View Setlist</a>

After the show we tried waiting for the bus but then got security-splained what a corner was and by that point I was over everything. The venue was on a huge incline and my brace kept feeling like it was going to snap because I was standing so unnaturally on it. I ended up going back to the car while my friends waited for Zac as they had items for him to sign. Turns out only Isaac came out and was in a rush so I didn’t end up missing much.

The next day was our last full day and was set for sightseeing. First we headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and did their self-guided tour. You can have samples of cheese and see the process of making the cheese from milk to being packaged. Also on site is a cafe for all your cheese needs and ice cream too. And of course, a gift shop full of all the cheese and dairy products you could ever want – which of course we couldn’t buy as we had no way to keep things refrigerated. (But I did stock up on socks and magnets and postcards!)

We then headed to Canon Beach to see Haystack Rock, aka the beach from The Goonies. The Goonies is my all time favorite movie so when I knew we were going in that direction I knew we had to hit up the beach and Astoria, OR as well. After admiring the beach for a bit, we headed to the old Oregon Jail which is now the Oregon Film Museum. This is seen in the opening scene of The Goonies and they have the Fratelli’s car outside and there’s some goonies memorabilia (And Free Willy!) and you also get a “Set Pass” which allows you to make 5 minutes of movie footage in the room that has 3 sets set up with various scenes that were filmed in Oregon you could recreate. It was a fun idea but I think we all decided we probably don’t have a future as an actress. Next we headed to the Flavel House Museum Carriage Shed which housed the penny machine. The museum itself is where Mikey’s Dad worked in the movie and is actually directly across the street from the jail, but the movie has magic editing so you’d never know that from watching. Then I had to decide if I wanted to see Mikey’s house or not. I knew you couldn’t drive right up to it and needed to walk, but not having watched the movie in a while I wasn’t sure how much of a hill it was situated on. Turns out, quite a hill and all gravel. But we made it up, laughing about the seal that were barking SO LOUDLY the whole time, despite the water not even being all that close to the house. There was another group coming down when we were going up and the owner came out to grab her mail and tell us to be careful because the walk down the hill could be “treacherous” (We were being super careful because hills and gravel any other time are something I absolutely would have passed on attempting) We asked her about the seals and she said they leave for the month of July and then come back and are so loud 24/7 and it’s not so bad during the day, but at night it’s not so great. She also pointed out where the Kindergarten Cop school was and said that the house from Short Circuit was nearby as well.

I had gotten word Astoria had a new penny machine at a Brewery and while we weren’t yet ready to eat, we stopped in to grab the pennies and while we were there, were told that they had bought TWO penny machines and the 2nd was just across the street – and unreported! That was the first time that I had ever found an unreported penny machine before so that was pretty exciting, unfortunately one of the pennies was not rolling properly based on the markers in the machine and I wasn’t able to adjust to fix it after 2 tries but hopefully someone else will come across it in the future and be able to figure it out and get me a full roll.

For our trek back to Seattle, we decided to add 15 minutes to the drive and continue to go along the coast. This meant we went across the Astoria-Megler Bridge which was super high off the ground but lended itself for some amazing views. The extra 15 minutes we spent driving was absolutely worth it as the views were so amazing they often looked fake. We ended up stopping at a hole in the wall restaurant for way too much food for dinner and continued on to Seattle with a beautiful sunset behind us.

When I woke up the next morning to get ready for my flight, my 2nd leg was already delayed. It ended up bouncing from 30 mins late to an hour late to not late at all over and over again all day. My first flight to Chicago was fine, though seemed extremely long and I was struggling to sleep because of the woman next to me. The Chicago to Hartford flight in the end was delayed due to not being able to catch up from the initial delay of the morning but then we also had a flight attendant arriving late in another terminal and had to make her way over to us. My 12:30am landing time ended up more like 2am and all I wanted to do was hit up the 24 hour McDonalds by the airport and finally get some food! But when I pulled in everything was dark and they were closed for a steam cleaning! The McDonalds by my house is also 24 hours so 3am cheeseburgers it was and then immediately to sleep as I had a 10am work meeting to attend the next day.