Concert – Page 7 – Concert Katie

Hanson Day 2022

Katie May 28, 2022 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 11, I made my way to Westchester County Airport in White Plains to begin my trip to Tulsa. For whatever reason, Delta had no options out of Hartford with longer than a 40 minute layover and the ones out of White Plains were 3+ hours each way. When it was about time to board I overheard someone talking about “lots of damage” and figured I’d end up going 0 for 4 on trips this year going smoothly. I was right. It turns out the plane I was set to board had hit a bird (“a big bird”) on its way into NY and they needed to call someone to inspect it and clear it for flying before we could board. With the talk of damage I thought for sure we’d need to wait for a new aircraft, but fortunately once someone came on site it was cleared and we were only delayed about an hour. (Good thing for that 4 hour layover in Atlanta, I guess.)

I met up with a friend upon landing in Tulsa and we go the shuttle to the hotel. I immediately changed out of my plane clothes to hit up Ida Red for some special T-Shirts they had made, but ended up getting distracted by spotting Taylor on the sidewalk outside the studio. I said hey, got a quick pic, made it to Ida Red only to find out they already sold out of all the shirts (what!? hardly anyone was even in town) and met up with friends for dinner at The Tavern.

Thursday I lined up early for the store and was able to get almost everything I wanted (one item was the wrong thing but hopefully customer service will be correcting that for me!) being one of the first ones in there. I ended up doing some volunteering and then it was time for HTP Live. This is the first time that they had done it, and one of my friends got to be one of the reporters to interview them so that was really cool. We weren’t entirely sure how it was going to work or if it was going to be running on time, but it did end in time to remove the chairs for karaoke! Isaac has been hosting karaoke for the past few years but this time it was 90s themed and people really went all out with their outfits for it. I liked the 90s throw back songs way more than the excessive Hanson songs, but it’s a Hanson event so of course that’s what most of the fans are most comfortable performing.

Friday I did some more volunteering and then we had the RGB Listening Party. On first listen, not a huge fan, but it always takes me a few listens to have songs really grow on me. I did miss the harmonies we are so used to hearing though. Then it was time for the Storytellers Concert – which started off a bit like BTTI part 2 – but fortunately after a couple of songs they changed their direction in a way that made me happy. We’ve always sort of known that MMMBop came from a part in an older song called Boomerang. Recently discussion about it had come up again on the Hanson.net forums and someone had mentioned that they did a part of it during “The Story” at 5 of 5 in London and I had gone looking for some crappy YouTube footage of it. Getting to see it all in its entirety was really awesome since they hardly ever play the songs they had written before Middle of Nowhere. They also threw their shortest song, Watershed, into the set which I had previously heard just once before. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get any of the new EP “White Rabbit” especially since Zac had mentioned he had a story about one of the songs (and what better time to tell that than during Storytellers?) but I understand that they put most of their focus into working on the setlist for the RGB Tour.

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=646">View Setlist</a>

After the show was the Dance Party – I was giving out glosticks at the door and by the time my “shift” ended, Taylor had decided the equipment was not working and that we’d have a redo the next night instead. Got 1 photo in my care bear outfit I made just for the dance party… so that was a bit of a bummer.

Saturday we had the ST Leaders lunch with Hanson and due to some communication issues, we were *just* about to eat by the time the guys came in to talk to us. If you told 12 year old me I would be in a room with Hanson and would opt to stuff my face with pizza instead of engage in conversation with them, she’d have been horrified. Isaac did talk about movies with my group for a bit, but I figured it was the safer bet to not let me get to level “hangry”. We ended up going to local brewery Nothing’s Left next as they were doing a Hanson collab/inspired flight with 3 sour beers – red, green & blue. (Blue was my fave) I also had to get my fave stout of theirs, Deez Nuts and then they had a pineapple dole whip as well so… of course.

Then it was nearly time for the “Members Only” show. While this show typically has more members only content, it was the unofficial kick off to the RGB tour so it was…. lots of singles. Not my favorite for a trip to Tulsa but as I always say I’d rather be at a Hanson concert than anywhere else, and having most of my friends back by my side made it just a bit sweeter. I do hope they will end up rotating in and out more RGB songs (maybe through solos) on tour though.

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=963">View Setlist</a>

After the concert it was time to try and find food – ended up with MORE PIZZA! And then Taylor’s 2nd attempt at the after party. This one was a success but I did not have time to change into my dance party outfit again. (I did still manage to be on theme since I was wearing Chuckie from Rugrats shirt)

Sunday I met up with some friends at the Tulsa Drillers game. When the visiting team took the lead of 3-0 in the top of the first, but the drillers got 2 back to make it 3-2 after the first, I thought this might be a nice back and forth game. Unfortunately the Rough Riders kept pounding out HRs and in the end the Drillers lost 18-4. But most of us were just baseball fans and not really rooting for either team, so having some downtime to chat while at the game was nice compared to the usual hustle and bustle going on Sundays during HDay weekend that is Hop Jam.

Monday I managed to fly home without incident (aside from no one with a wheelchair ever picking me up at the gate in Atlanta) and the shuttle to the parking lot was there waiting for me. Apparently they had even called looking for me while I was trying to figure out how to reach my luggage on the carousel. Of course, 2 seconds after we got out of the shuttle, it started sprinkling which gave way to a sudden downpour as I tried to load all my luggage back into my car. There also was news spreading of a few friends having tested positive for Covid upon arriving home. I joined that club as well. 10 days later I tested negative again and blame the delay of this post on that. I’m still not 100%, but getting better every day.

Back To The Island Concert Hanson

Back to the Island 2022

Katie January 27, 2022 0 Comments

Back to the Island 2022… I’m not going to lie, in the days leading up to this trip I was seriously hoping it would be canceled so I wouldn’t have to cancel it myself. There was so much stress and anxiety about getting a negative covid test to get into the country (even though I went nowhere for 10 days before I left, other than for my covid tests of course) and what would happen if I tested positive while I was there and needed to quarantine for 5-14 days.

But I finally had a negative PCR and Antigen result in hand and was ready to go to sleep at 8pm for a 2am wake up when Southwest emailed me that my flight from Hartford to Baltimore was canceled. I considered driving 4 hours to Baltimore and cutting out the Hartford portion (since I’d be returning through Baltimore too) but some friends were leaving out of Boston on American Airlines so I last second booked a brand new flight and Southwest rescheduled me for 2 days later when I was panicking. Arriving 2 days later wasn’t going to cut it, so I canceled that flight and hit the road to Boston to meet a friend. (Shout out to her for staying up all night to wait for me to get there and then for it to be time to go to the airport for a 5am flight #teamnosleep) We made it there without any other hiccups and got the shuttle to the resort. [Now to wait and hopefully get reimbursed by my travel insurance for all the last minute expenses *fingers crossed*]

Stephen Kellogg @Stage One

Katie December 27, 2021 0 Comments

Last night, Stephen Kellogg brought his Sad Songs, Funny Stories tour to Stage One in Fairfield. For this show, all attendees were required to either be vaccinated or have a negative covid test to attend. I had on my N99 and another disposable mask over top, so I am hoping that was my best line of defense. (Guess we’ll fine out when I have to test negative to get to Jamaica in 10 days. eek.)

SK started his set with a medley of The Open Heart, Glassjaw Boxer and Irish Goodbye and teased that what if the whole show was like that and he just did a couple lines of all of his songs and then said it was over. The show was broken up into 4, possibly 5, acts: Life, Love, Family and Legacy. The 5th act would be the encore. While the set was short, there was a lot more stories than usual (although apparently we got a more edited version because his wife and kids were in the audience) He also played the Foreigner song “Hot Blooded” and told us to listen to the lyrics closely and think about them in terms of today. If you haven’t, you should. It’s probably more entertaining with Stephen explaining it, but most of it you can probably figure out for yourself.

I was happy that he ended his Legacy set with one of my favorites, My Favorite Place and I really liked his new song, It Goes Fast. Closing out the year with an SK show is a tradition of sorts so I am glad that he ended up bookending my 2021 concert experience and being my first and last CT shows in 2021.

Edit this setlist | More Stephen Kellogg setlists

American Idol Concert Kris Allen

Kris Allen & Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Katie December 26, 2021 0 Comments

Last weekend I went to my 29th state- Arkansas. While I am trying to see Hanson in every state, they have never done a tour show in Arkansas so I figured when the opportunity came up to see *a* concert in a new state I would take it. (Maybe I’ll have to modify it to a concert in every state instead of just specifically Hanson lol)

Thursday morning I had a ridiculously early flight out. It was one of my worst travel days. I had gotten next to no sleep the night before, the flight attendant woke me to ask if I needed the wheelchair I asked for, only for it not to be there when I landed (or someone else took it, there were 3 that showed up and 3 that got wheeled away.) When I went to find someone to push me, I ended up also being with a man and his seeing eye dog who my pusher barely got to his gate in time for boarding. (He also liked patting me on the shoulder every time he talked to me, which I am *never* a fan of) and when I got to board my final flight of the day I realized too late they “moved me closer to the front” but into an aisle seat which I loathe.

I got to the hotel 3 hours early and their app had no way of me telling them I’d show up any earlier than 4pm. Fortunately, the girl at the front desk, though super annoyed I was there so early, was nice enough to check on the room I had checked in online with and found out it had just finished being cleaned so I was able to get in early. It was a rainy evening so while I had initially had plans to go to the Zoo for their GloWild event, I decided that would be better off happening the next night, ordered some BBQ and spent the night in my room and did no exploring.

Friday I decided to check out the Old State House Museum that was right next door to my hotel and their “Play It Loud” exhibit about concerts at a venue in Little Rock. It was really cool and I probably could have stayed there for hours. I would have, if not for so many without masks on coming through. The museum even had a penny machine! I checked out some of the other exhibits they had as well and it was really cool. I ended up going back to the room to order food but falling asleep and waking up in time to get to the Zoo. Uber and Lyft were VERY slow and not a lot of cars available. I don’t know if something else was going on this weekend or if that was always the case, but I had to wait 20 minutes for a car who did about 5 other drop offs before getting to me to get to the Zoo. I also realized that I kept thinking the show wasn’t until 8:30 but that is what time it was EST and what had been showing up on my Facebook Events all week when I was home and doors were actually 6:30 for a 7:30pm start time. Keeping this in mind, I raced around the loop of the lanterns at the zoo twice (they were so pretty and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything!) and had to get a surge priced Uber for the way back to the concert – but managed to get to my seat 15 minutes before the show started. (And paid about $2/min I was actually at the zoo, but I am glad that I did it and it all worked out!)

For the first night, I decided to get seats in the front row of the balcony for the show to get a full perspective of the show. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, just knew Kris was super excited about it since he played in the children’s orchestra as a kid. The orchestra did about 3 songs without Kris and then 3 with Kris and then he left the stage and it was time for the intermission. Since they were calling it the “Kris Allen Holiday Spectacular” I was expecting, well, more Kris Allen. For the second half if was about the same – half just the orchestra/choir and half with Kris as well. At the very end they did a sing-a-long and this was when I decided to order my dinner as I had eaten nothing but a cinnamon bun (which was delicious, I might add) all day and hope that it would have made it to the lobby of the hotel by the time the show was over. My hotel was connected to the venue which made things nice and easy pre and post show. Definitely worth the extra money I spent to be closer, hands down. And I only had to wait about 5 minutes for my dinner to show up from the Mexican restaurant.

Edit this setlist | More The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra setlists

Saturday I ended up being so wiped out from everything I did on Friday, I had no desire to leave my room at all. I watched some Disney+ and ordered a large late lunch that held me over (I thought I’d do a post show vending machine snack run only to find out it was change only so I was limited to just 1 item) and then headed over for the show around 7. For the second show, I was front row orchestra seating, so I couldn’t see much more than Kris and the front of the orchestra. Kris seemed to be a bit more relaxed this show having gone through it all the night before and had a bit more witty banter going on. I ended up enjoying this show much more than the night before – I am not sure if it was because I knew what to expect, or I didn’t have a giant maskless man taking over half of my seat, or because I hadn’t been running around all day or because I was so much closer. I was glad that I decided to do 2 of the shows though and while Kris was going to be streaming Sunday afternoon’s show, it would be started just as I landed back in CT so I didn’t even attempt.

And it was a good thing I didn’t event attempt the stream. I tried to get an uber at 4am as my flight out was 7:30am and I wasn’t sure how busy the Little Rock airport would be. Turns out it is the smallest airport ever and I was off the hotel shuttle, through security and at my gate before 5:30am. The TSA agent even complimented that I knew what I was doing and must have done it before. (The first half hour I was at my gate was a steady stream of “who forgot their ID, phone, hat, etc at the checkpoint” announcements) Upon getting to my gate there was a woman with a violin who proceeded AT SIX IN THE MORNING to play every Christmas song she knew for an hour. (I kept track of the setlist) We left Little Rock without a problem, a wheelchair was indeed waiting for me (after a nice pilot helped me get my bag up the giant jet bridge – he told me it was only C that had the long ones, A and B were much shorter) and I only had to go like 2 gates away (of course). The gate across from mine was the earlier flight out to Hartford (what are the odds) but it was final boarding by the time I realized what was happening to even ask if I could get bumped on to it. Then I realized all the flights around me were being delayed at least an hour and then I got an alert mine was delayed 20 minutes. There must have been some bad weather that needed to be diverted somewhere, despite everything being delayed, everything did end up taking off and I landed just 23 minutes later than expected (but the pilots bragged we were 39 minutes EARLY? oh. no sir. that’s not how this works lol)

I’m glad I was able to find some outdoor and socially distanced activities to participate in and not stuck in the hotel room the whole weekend (although it did have a nice bridge view – when it wasn’t super foggy, that is) and cross off my 29th state!

Concert

Jon McLaughlin @ The Kate

Katie November 21, 2021 0 Comments

Friday night Jon McLaughlin brought his Holiday tour to the Kate in Old Saybrook, CT. This was his first time there. In addition to being his holiday tour, it was also the release date for his new album, “All The Things I Say To Myself.” While the majority of the set was Christmas themed, he also did a handful of songs off the new release and also had a special guest – Stephen Kellogg, who I ended up bumping into on my way into the venue and he was kind enough to grab the door for me. (And good thing, because on the way out I realized it was way too heavy for me!) He did Merry Merry Christmas Everyone with Jon and then they chatted a bit about how Jon played “dumb” piano for him on one of his albums and Stephen sang his song Prayers.

For the encore, I was absolutely not expecting Jon to come out and do one of my absolute favorites, Beautiful Disaster and it hit me right in the feels. He finished up his set standing at the edge of the stage (practically on my head) with him and just a guitar to play Hallelujah this Christmas.

After the show he was selling copies of the new album and came out to sign them (no photos) so it was nice to say a quick hi. I got to listen to it on the whole ride home and definitely recommend checking it out!

I will say though – there was a really obnoxious (to me) couple of ladies in the front row who kept having to yell out things at not only Jon, but even the guy in the beginning of the show talking about the venue, memberships and upcoming shows. Jon did acknowledge them a few times, but I can’t understand how anyone thinks this is a good idea and it just totally makes the rest of the audience (or at least me) think you’re an attention whore. We came to enjoy the music – not hear you yelling out every comment that pops into your head during the show.

Edit this setlist | More Jon McLaughlin setlists

American Idol Concert Kris Allen

Kris Allen @ Daryl’s House

Katie November 19, 2021 0 Comments

Back in June, I purchased tickets to see Kris Allen at Daryl’s House and a M&G. I remember saying to myself, “well, I’ll have to leave work early to get there in time, but that’s a future me problem.” Future me then became present me – full of anxiety having no follow up information about the email. But the ticketing website said that it was at 5:15, so I left at 4, got there at 5, looked around the parking lot and realized I was the only one there… and headed in at 5:15 to ask about the Meet and Greet.

“I wasn’t aware there was any meet and greet” the girl at the desk said, and went backstage to check. “Yeah, I just asked them and they said there isn’t one.” “Then what did I pay an extra $70 for?” I asked. Someone else had joined and said “No, this says everyone paid $30. There’s $30 and $20 tickets and it just means if you have a table or not.” “I bought the table for $30, but I also paid $70 for a M&G. Let me find my confirmation email.” I opened my confirmation and they were shocked. Someone went backstage again and someone came out and said “Yeah… there IS a 5:15 M&G option. It’ll probably start at 5:30” I got to choose my table, a chair was placed on the stage right next to my table and shortly after Kris came out to say hello.

I had a question for him about a project I had heard he was involved with years ago, so we chatted a bit about that and it ended up evolving into a conversation about Hanson (go figure) and Jon McLaughlin (who I am seeing tonight!). Kris told me he is a big Hanson fan but never really met them (save for one awkward interaction he told me about the night he won Idol) and so I said I’d have to put in a good word for him with them. We also talked about his upcoming shows and how I am going to be going to Arkansas to see his Christmas show with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. I had really been on the fence about going (my plane ticket is even the refundable option!) but hearing him so excited about it got me excited for it too! He is absolutely looking forward to hearing the orchestra play his original Christmas songs. He then said he would play a song for me, but if I didn’t have a request it was ok. On the spot, the first 2 choices I made he said would be in the set, so we ended up deciding on Monster. Just before he was about to start – 2 more joined the M&G so they got to hear the song I had picked and we chatted a little bit more with them and then we took some photos before he left to get ready for the show!

I was able to have a 4 seat table up front all to myself, as they said there would not be many people there and Kris had mentioned some of the shows didn’t sell that well but it would be very intimate. At one point I tried to count everyone who was there and it was about 30. But Kris still gave it his all and played some older songs, some of the newer released songs and a few that had not yet been released but were contenders for future releases (one of which had the F word in it.) It was nice to hear the background about how he came about writing all the songs before he went into playing them. (And he ended up not telling the story about Different Bridges Same River, but the other M&G girls had asked about that one.) He had us sing some harmonies with him and considering it was such a small amount of people, I think we did a great job.

I think that having such a long gap without live music during covid really has made me appreciate it a lot more. All of the shows I have gone to since they have been back, have been some of the best shows I have been to. I think that the artists have missed performing and I’ve missed seeing it and it makes things have a bit of a stronger connection. I’m still really anxious before/during shows and I don’t take my mask off unless eating/drinking, but it is nice to be back to somewhat of a “normal” feeling too

Edit this setlist | More Kris Allen setlists

Concert Hanson

Hanson Listener’s Choice Shows

Katie October 12, 2021 0 Comments

The first weekend in October was my 7th trip to Tulsa in the past year and what I believe to be my final trip there for 2021. The themes for this weekend were ATW + Listener’s Choice which meant that we voted on 20 songs via Twitter that would be included in the setlist. Setlist voting is not my favorite thing because generally the songs I want to hear aren’t included and of those that are included, the ones I would prefer to hear don’t win. But initially I didn’t think I’d be going 3 out of 4 months so I thought this would be a nice “overview” setlist of sorts.

I made it to Tulsa without incident, but unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for my friends. The friends I was rooming with were supposed to be getting in late on Thursday, which ended up getting bumped to mid-day on Friday (the day of the first show) I think I saw them maybe 3 hours the whole weekend.

Friday morning Hanson did a live chat before they released their single for the month, One, and mentioned that these shows would be the longest ones of the series and that they’d be very similar each night. I was hoping that we would be getting 10 voted songs + 6 songs from Against the World with a handful of “Hanson’s Choice” each night – but they instead decided to do all 20 voted songs + 6 from Against the World BOTH nights. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s no place I’d rather be than a Hanson concert, but I was pretty meh about it and kind of grumpy through the whole Friday night show. One of the fans next to me was getting so excited and had pure joy as a reaction for several of the songs as they started and I was wondering if maybe I was the problem and I have gone to too many shows. (There had been some discussion online about if you’re mad about the song choices you’ve gone to too many shows.)

For Saturday’s show I was hoping they would mix up the order and what was acoustic and what the encore songs were, and they did. I don’t know what I did to adjust my attitude – but I strongly preferred show #2 to show #1 and it truly did feel like 2 different shows entirely, despite the fact that the songs were essentially the same. They also did an acoustic version of If Only so there was no jumping and that was a big plus as well. Unfortunately my excitement was short lived, as I got run over by a motorized wheelchair while we were trying to clear out the ADA area. I’m ok, but I was a bit sore and stinging after the show and did have a bruise afterwards.

Getting home was also uneventful, which I was glad about. I decided to order myself some BBQ from one of my favorite places here in CT that has a location near the airport. It was torture smelling it the whole hour ride home, but definitely worth the wait.

I am looking forward to some Hanson tour dates being announced hopefully by the end of the year? Maybe? But if not, there’s always Back to the Island to hold me over until then.

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=1464">View Setlist</a>

<br /> <a href="https://www.hansonstage.com/setlist.php?show_id=1465">View Setlist</a>

Concert Jonas Brothers

Jonas Brothers @ Xfinity Theater

Katie October 1, 2021 0 Comments

Wednesday night – my first mid-week show in I don’t even know how long – I headed back to XFinity Theater to see the Jonas Brothers. For this show, unlike Alanis that I had seen there previously, vax cards or negative covid tests were required. It was a quick flash of the vax card and I honestly felt a lot like it was just security theater for this show. The other times my ID needed to be checked against the card and for this show they didn’t seem to care at all. Many also did not get the memo that only small clear bags were allowed but it did sound like they had a bag check available.

The merch line was absolutely insane upon arrival but I was able to find one much shorter inside after bumping into a friend I hadn’t seen in YEARS! I then made my way to my seat early to get settled in and watch the drama unfold because of how the rows are numbered. The center section is A1, B1, C1, A, B, C, etc. As far as I know it’s always been this way but it seems like they don’t make the ushers aware of this (Mine at the top of the section said “Look for B!” Even though I was B1) A few girls decided since they “paid a lot of money for their tickets” even though they were in row A and assumed they were front row, they should get to stand at the barricade. No sweetie. We ALL paid a lot for our tickets and you are in 4th row so that gives you NO right to the barricade. Eventually, most of them got kicked out but one particularly ballsy one did end up coming back for Jonas and somehow ended up not getting kicked out again. Grrr. Honestly, if they were going to put up such a fight with security I would have told them they could just go to their ASSIGNED seat or they could leave the show entirely – $1000 down the drain. Entitled brats…

Jordan McGraw opened and he is a pile of trash and that’s it. That’s the review. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. (Well maybe I did already say it. But I’ll leave it at that)

Next up was Kelsea Ballerini. I am not much of a country fan, but I did enjoy her set despite only knowing her closing song “This Feeling”. She played a video during the set of her much younger talking about how much she loved the Jonas Brothers and then talked a bit about how amazing it has been to not only become a singer/songwriter herself and then get to OPEN for the Jonas Brothers.

Then it was time for Jonas! I thought they did a great mix of their setlist since I don’t really know as much as the new stuff that well, but there was absolutely plenty for me to still sing along to and they even included some of Joe’s DNCE songs and some of Nick’s solo songs as well. They all seemed to be having SO much fun on stage and I think that was the closest I had been for any of their shows I had seen previously. (Thanks for Citi Presale tickets that were actually probably Ticketmaster Platinum tickets in disguise.) I also was able to sit for the whole show which was really awesome thanks in part to the girl next to me who jumped in the row in front of me and blocked anyone who dared stand in front of me for longer than about 30 seconds. I really am loving all these fans looking out for me and making things a lot easier for me! I could have stood if I needed to, but am much more comfortable if able to sit. (Now if they could not spill things and make the floor too slippery for my cane, but that’s a whole other story) The Jonas show was not as out of control and theatrical as they usually are – they didn’t float up or come in from the ceiling. There was some fireworks and fire but it seemed a bit scaled back from some of their previous big tours and allowed us more to focus on the music than the spectacle. They also just ended the show on Sucker – no encore or coming back out at all. After they left the stage everyone was going nuts for roadies throwing things off the stage, and I just wanted to get OUT of there. Some girl came into the row, stood DIRECTLY in front of me, missed a pick being thrown and then complained about how it was crazy and like a war zone. Ok but you wanted to be in it so badly you came and stood right in front or someone who was trying to collect her things and leave so you’re not much better than anyone else crowding down there… Eventually I ended up weaving my way through some seats and making it out of there. Phew! The show went a lot later than I was expecting (especially for a week night! *insert grandma emoji here*) and I had a hotel near the airport about 20 minutes away that I didn’t get settled in to until nearly 1am! It was a lot of fun though and I was glad I went especially after having a rough couple of days – it was a nice distraction to help keep my mind off of everything else that was going on.

Edit this setlist | More Jonas Brothers setlists

Concert

AJR @ Oakdale

Katie September 29, 2021 0 Comments

Saturday night I made my return to Oakdale to see AJR. This concert also was requiring vaccination cards or a negative covid test. I arrived about 45 minutes before doors to about 15 people in line – and half the floor was a GA pit. I will say that the crowd for the most part was SUPER nice to me – they let me cut in to get inside faster and also saved the larger bathroom stall for me to use and the guy sitting behind me asked if I needed help standing up to be able to see better once AJR took the stage.

But there was also what seemed to be a dude who had never ever been to a concert before. My row was the front row behind the pit and there was a barricade that blocked off the back of the pit. If you were seated, the barricade top was over most of the performers heads (at least for me when I was sitting, but I am short) When the openers came on, I opted to not stand as I could see them through the barricade, but knew by the time AJR came on stage the pit would be filled in a lot more and I wouldn’t be able to see at all. Well a guy in my row decided he wanted to stand to see the openers. I had no problem with it and I would have had no problem with it if he was in front of me, either. Well, the guy that was a couple rows behind him decided he did have a problem with it and started yelling that they bought seats for a reason and he should sit down. HA HA HA. I figured it would end there, but nope. F-bombs started flying and security ended up taking the guy who was standing somewhere else so I was getting a bit nervous knowing I’d have to stand or at the very least lean/sit on the upturned chair once AJR took the stage. Fortunately, everyone stood – about 10 minutes early even – for AJR and there were no other altercations. But very, very rarely do I ever go to a concert where everyone sits. That’s not how seats at concerts work lol

The opening acts were Daisy the Great and The Aces. I had seen The Aces once before I think, but Daisy the Great was new for me. Not sure I’ll be seeking them out in the future though.

Then it was time for AJR. I wasn’t totally familiar with all their songs, but they did a lot of cool interactions with the screen in the back – like Jack walking in place and the background moving to make it look like he was walking through different places. At one point he went behind the screen and came out with a giant head! The show was a lot of fun and I managed to stand for the whole thing (and had an excited moment when the screen flashed INTERMISSION thinking I could sit down for a couple minutes – only for it to flash right after Just Kidding! No on wants that! I did! lol). At one point, Jack was talking about how they haven’t played shows in 2 years and for many of us, it probably was our first show in 2 years too and how it was unique for the band and audience to be going through something so similar together. For me… it had been about 6 days since my last show? But the crowd did seem like it was their first show EVER for a lot of them. At the end of the show, Jack threw his hat into the crowd and someone about 2 rows in front of me got it. No one was next to me so if he gave it a little bit more air I probably could have had it, but seeing how there was an attack in the pit for it, I’m happy with how it landed. Looking forward to seeing them again, just hoping they may tone down on the flashing lights a bit.

Edit this setlist | More AJR setlists

Concert

Alice Cooper @ Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater

Katie September 23, 2021 0 Comments

Sunday night I made my first trip to the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport. It’s a brand new venue and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. What I had remembered from going there as a kid when it was a baseball stadium is there were a LOT of stairs. That memory turned out to be accurate as I had to go up a decent sized flight to get to my seats and then down a few as well. The entire floor is level, so if I go there again, these stairs are something I’ll have to get used to as the 200s sections are probably going to be my go-to spot.

You probably wouldn’t expect me to go see Ace Frehley and Alice Cooper and well, I wouldn’t have really expected it of me either! But a good friend is on the tour w/Ace so I had to go check things out when he told me that I wouldn’t be totally out of place and should go! I ended up getting a front row seat of one of the 200 sections and it was pretty perfect. It was raised up enough that I didn’t have to stand because no one on the floor was bigger than me due to how it was situated and it still had a really nice view of the stage. The guy next to me came down and was like “THESE ARE GREAT SEATS! WE DON’T EVEN HAVE TO STAND!” and while he majority of the floor stood the whole time it seemed like most of the upper levels didn’t. I thought the sound system wasn’t all that great though and a friend that also ended up at the show agreed. Otherwise it’s really close to home and a nice mid-sized summer venue. (But how long until it ends up getting no shows just like the Webster Bank Arena next door?)

Ace played for about an hour and I really only knew one of the songs that he did and only because it’s one the Mets play after they win! (My friend on the tour is a Yankees fan and I believe helped put the setlist together so I texted him to thank him for including it because it had been a while since I had heard it :P)

Then it was time for Alice Cooper. I really didn’t know what to expect. But I wasn’t expecting so many creepy puppet dolls lol The set was a castle and there was a bit of a story line going on throughout the show and it had been a long time since I had seen a stage show like that. His band was awesome and he played for maybe an hour and a half. In the end, I knew 3 of the songs – his bigger singles that my Dad used to play when I was growing up. But I don’t think that not knowing the songs lessened the experience any and I really had a lot of fun!

I am not sure I’ll head back to this venue without a friend to help me out if needed with all the stairs, but I’m hoping next summer they’ll pull some acts that would otherwise have me driving all the way up to the casino. *fingers crossed* (And hopefully they figure out how to enhance the audio system)

Edit this setlist | More Ace Frehley setlists

Edit this setlist | More Alice Cooper setlists