Photos – Page 3 – Concert Katie

Disney Trip: EPCOT Day 1 Part 2

Katie October 22, 2014 0 Comments

For the first Hanson show, we didn’t bother getting in line and hoped we would have a handicapped spot waiting for us. We did. There are what I like to call 4 “prime” handicapped viewing spots and we were 2 to the side from one of the four. I knew I would have to stand to see because everyone in front of me stood – but the ECV was pretty cool and between the controls in front of me and the seat behind me I felt pretty secure!

The setlist for the first show was

Fired Up
Ive Got Soul
Where’s the Love
And I Waited
Minute Without You
MMMBop
Get The Girl Back
Waiting For This

There was a medical emergency during this show – I believe that a girl had a seizure and had to be taken away. (I hope everything turned out ok there!) and you could tell that the guys were concerned. Taylor mentioned her after a couple of songs and stopped after a song to talk to security to see what was going on as well. But the show must go on and they pushed through their set.

The second set we pretty much did the same approach and got the exact same spot haha For this show t he setlist was

Scream and Be Free
Thinking Bout Somethin
Runaway Run
This Time Around
Tragic Symphony
Give a Little
Minute Without You
Lost Without Each Other

We left before the last song and got back in line – only to be cut by a couple more wheelchairs and scooters so we were 1 off from the “prime” spot – until I spotted a friend next to one of the 4 prime spots. She called us over and I had a pretty much amazing unobstructed view for the 3rd show. (Thanks Jillian!)

The setlist for the 3rd show was

Fired Up
Ive Got Soul
Where’s The Love
You Can’t Stop Us
Thinking of You
Penny and Me
MMMBop
Get The Girl Back
It’s a Long Way To The Top

We didn’t hang around for Illumiations even though we had wristbands because we needed to be up early for the Hanson Beer Seminar the next morning. We thought maybe we would catch it the next night…

American Idol Concert Kris Allen Photos

Kris Allen Norfolk, CT Infinity Hall 9/7/14

Katie September 10, 2014 0 Comments

Sunday night was the make up of Kris Allen’s show at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT. I had bought VIP Tickets which entitled me to a pre-show performance and M&G with Kris! The website said that the M&G would be at 7 with the show starting at 7:30. I got to the venue a little after 6 and while I was checking my phone, putting my GPS away, etc. I noticed Kris’ band going for a run all around me. I decided shortly after to head up to the box office to get my ticket and Kris was running past me! A little weird, since I’d be meeting him at 7… but ok.

I pick up my ticket and am told that they “don’t know what is happening with the M&G” but to check back. I asked the woman taking tickets if I could sit because I didn’t want to go up all the stairs to the venue if the M&G was going to be downstairs. While she is ripping tickets a couple comes up and says “Oh we had VIP tickets but we just met him!” She looks at me and I look at her like “what?!” So we go back to the box office and they say “Yeah well the M&G was at 6 but a lot of people missed it so we’re trying to figure out what to do” I guess Kris’ people thought it was 6 but everyone else thought it was 7 because of the website!

So I hung around longer and the woman from the box office came over and told me that the M&G would be after the show and they were trying to make it so that those of us with VIP would get to the front of the line since he’d be signing for everyone afterwards anyway. She told me to go to my seat and they’d have more info later.

I was a little bit annoyed because I have been to over 400 shows and NEVER missed a M&G (though traffic has made a couple of close calls!) And if the website had no info I’d have called to confirm!

Sarah Barrios opened the show and did a mix of covers and original songs. She apologized before she started her set saying she had come down with a cold and doesn’t normally sound like this – but I thought that she was great. I may have to check her out when she is healthy because she’ll be even better!

Then it was time for Kris! I love this venue, it is so small and even though I was in the 3rd row I felt like I was practically on stage (I cant only imagine how those in the front felt!) He started his set with Young Love and said he’d be playing mostly new stuff because that is what he is excited about right now but that he’d play the first single off his first album too, but he was making us sit through everything else first and that it often gets yelled out at shows to play it.

I had read an article where he said he’d be doing song covers but wanted to do more female songs because that is less expected. One of the covers that he did was of Haim’s “The Wire” he also worked in some current popular songs for covers like Magic!’s Rude mixed in with Monster (love love loved this!) and did a medley of Sia’s Chandelier and Sam Smith’s Stay With Me during the encore. He also threw in I Want You Back (Jackson 5) with Everybody Just Wants to Dance which worked out perfectly as well.

I’d post show “highlights” but really, every song was a highlight. I can’t really single out anything that was better than the rest! Although, something that probably doesn’t happen every night is that a song ended… but the drums kept going. Oops! Random drum solo time! Kris just started cracking up. At first I didn’t even realize what happened – I thought he was just going into the next song. But then everyone on stage was cracking up so I realized that was not what was happening!

I was also super psyched that they still are doing “End of the Show” as the last song of the encore. The song is hilarious but also a perfect way to end the show.

Afterwards I found the box office and they told me to go in to the restaurant and that Kris would be in when he was ready. There was about 9 or 10 other people in there that had missed the M&G too! He came in and came pretty much right up to me. He addressed the room and apologized that we had all gotten the wrong info. We chatted a bit about remembering names and how he never can (and sometimes forgets Cale’s name haha) and our car accidents and how it affects us mentally and we freak out and think cars are all out to get us now. Glad to know I’m not alone with that. He signed my CD and there was a couple next to me that was nice enough to take my picture with Kris (and in turn I took one of them with Kris). It was a nice chat and I’m glad that it was still a private M&G and not just something rushed at the end of the show. Bummed I missed getting a performance but I guess next time I’ll get to the venue several hours early!

Paul Simon/Young Love
Better With You
Don’t Set Me Free
Beautiful and Wild
Prove It To You
Alright With Me
In Time
It’s Always You
The Wire
Lost
Monster/Rude
Everybody Just Wants to Dance/I Want You Back
Live Like We’re Dying
Chandelier/Stay With Me
Shut That Door
End of the Show

Concert Hanson Photos

Hanson Show #100 – Toronto, Canada

Katie September 3, 2014 0 Comments

When your next Hanson show is going to be #100 you start thinking that maybe it should be something really crazy. For a while, I thought it was going to be a 7-8 song set in Disney and while that was pretty crazy, I kept thinking that I could probably come up with something even crazier. It was announced a while back that Hanson would be playing at the CNE or “The Ex” in Toronto, Canada. At first I figured there was no way that it was going to happen because it was on a Thursday and I had no days for vacation from work – but when the boss kept mentioning “take off a Thursday and a Friday and come in on the weekend to make up hours” I thought – hey – maybe I can make this work to my advantage. Enter my partner in crime for this trip – Marisa – and we started planning out the 8 hour trip.

Wednesday night I ended up staying at Marisa’s house in NJ and we were hoping to leave at 6am. We ended up hitting the road at 7. We made it to Toronto by 3 after a couple of pit stops along the way/time spent crossing the border. We stopped at Kitten and the Bear which is a shop owned by one of Marisa’s friends. They make their own jam and scones and boy are they good! Like, really good.

Then we headed over to The Ex and tried to find a parking garage that I thought we should park in. We found a lot for $20, but drove around a while with no luck finding the street we needed since so many streets were blocked off. Finally we decided to go back to the lot we had originally passed – and instead of $20 it was $15! By getting lost and not knowing what we were doing we saved $5 so that was exciting. We ended up being at the entrance right by where the concert would be – which worked out pretty nicely!

We walked all the way to the other end of the fair in order to check out the “Let your fandom flag fly” exhibit and some of the sand sculptures. We were also excited to see that the “Share a Coke” kiosks were there. Marisa was able to get her name on a coke which is not available otherwise. I debated getting my name (which IS available, but I haven’t been able to find it) or getting one that said Hanson. Ultimately I decided to get one that said Hanson to commemorate my 100th show. After we headed towards the food area and stopped to get poutine. I bought a coke – and they said I could pick one out of the fridge. What name was right out front? KATIE! So my decision to skip getting my name turned out to be a good one. We stopped for some ice cream in the food building and continued to head over to the concert area.

The opening act was already on stage and the place was PACKED. We were able to get into the handicapped area even though it said it was only for wheelchairs and motor scooters. After the first part of Hanson’s set a lot of people in that area left so by the end of the show we were what you could consider “front row” (not against the barricade but no one was in front of us so it counts!). The Seasons were the opening act, they are from Montreal. They had a bit of a 70s vibe to them – probably because of their outfits – but they were a pretty good opener I thought!

Then it was time for Hanson! They played a full set show and had a few songs in the setlist that I was not expecting. (I actually rattled off a mock setlist on the car in the way there and missed I think 6 songs – some of the songs I even had in the right spot in the setlist too lol) Runaway Run was a really nice surprise, Thinking of You I kind of threw in my list as a wild card but they played it. They also pulled out Get Up and Go which was an interesting choice as well. The set ended with back to back jumping of If Only and In The City. (Taylor made a comment that if you ate any deep fried food you might be regretting it during these songs) and for the encore they did It’s a Long Way To The Top by AC/DC and I forgot how great of a cover that is for them!

After the show we left right away, even though there would be fireworks later on. We had a hotel in Rochester about 3 hours away and wanted to get there. We did decide to make a detour though when we realized that we were right by Niagara Falls. Unfortunately we arrived at 1am and the falls are only lit up until midnight. We obviously could see and hear the falls (and feel the mist!) but getting a photo of them was NOT happening. So while we were there – we don’t have much photographic evidence of it! (Though I did take pics around Clifton Hill and the surrounding areas while we were driving of stuff that was lit up.)

We ended up getting to Rochester at about 2:30 AM – but didn’t fall right asleep of course – we had to check our phones and catch up on everything we had missed for the day on social media 😉

We left Rochester around 8am, made it back to NJ by around 2 and then Connecticut welcomed me with hours and hours of traffic so I made it home about 5:30. It was kind of funny to be driving by where I get on the highway to come home from work at just about the same time I would have been coming home from work if it was a normal day!

Concert Gavin DeGraw Photos

Gavin DeGraw & Matt Nathanson

Katie August 20, 2014 1 Comments

Before I get in to this review, I think I need to let you know what “co headlining” means because this was a co-headlining tour between Matt and Gavin and a lot of people didn’t seem to “get” that, based on the comments I was seeing and hearing. Co-headlining is when 2 bands or musicians go out on the road together and they were perhaps both of equal weight when it comes to headlining. (Usually you have your big main headliner and a less popular opener or two) Typically what is done is each night they alternate who closes the show. Some nights it is Matt, other nights it is Gavin. For Saturday night’s show, Gavin went first followed by Matt. They play about 70 minutes EACH and each have an encore as if it was their main headlining set, just in an alternating order. A LOT of people actually left after Gavin’s set and I thought that was pretty dumb of them because Matt had an awesome set – but more on that later.

Andrew McMahon opened and I think that a lot of the Gavin VIP people were waiting to meet Gavin because all the seats around me were vacant. (I had seen the seat I ended up buying as a VIP ticket on Gavin’s site, but ended up buying it once it got released back to the venue) Andrew started his set with “I Woke Up In A Car” and he was like the pied piper. People, dancing like monkeys (thats the best way I can describe it) came running down from who knows where and filled in all around me. I was kind of surprised that security let them get away with it because typically the aisles need to be clear. Andrew did a pretty solid 20 minute or so set. I don’t have the setlist and the whole time kind of felt like I was in some weird twilight zone. But he said that he was going to warm us up and I think his mission was accomplished.

Gavin came out at 8 and played until about 9:15. He always puts on such a great show and is all over the stage (when not behind his piano, of course) He had a couple of covers in his set – Where the Streets Have No Name – which he went into after talking about how he grew up in upstate New York and told one of his coworkers at the time he was going to move to New York to be a musician and his coworker said “You’ll never make it” and he said maybe he wouldn’t, but that he had to try and pursue his dream. He encouraged us all to pursue our dreams and do what we love to do, even if it wasn’t our actual job. He left the stage and came back for a 3 song encore (which apparently a few people missed out on as the Facebook event page had a nasty comment about how there was “no encore!?”) which consisted of Make a Move and Not Over You as well as his newest song, Fire, which I had not yet heard though he claimed that TIC was playing it. I guess I’ll have to listen to TIC more 😉

Then it was time for Matt. He came out in the beginning and was just talking to the crowd and singling out people asking if they were doing ok. I was a bit concerned because I didn’t intend to stand for his whole set – but was sitting on the edge of the seat folded up so that I could see. He called out a couple of people for sitting during a rock and roll show but fortunately didn’t seem bothered by my half sitting. He basically just wanted us to clap if he asked us to clap and sing when he asked us to sing which really wasn’t a problem for me. I really liked the interaction that he had with the crowd throughout the whole show. And he was funny! Rubbing his butt on his bandmates and dancing for most of the set. He noticed there was a 5 year old girl in the 3rd row and then said he had to be careful about what he was saying to intro the songs and even “edited” one of his songs while singing – just covered his mouth. After a few songs he took off his shirt and gave it to the little girl. At first I had decided I was going to leave a few songs before his set ended (I found a setlist on setlist.fm that I was working off of and both Gavin’s and Matt’s list seemed to be pretty accurate to what they were performing Saturday night) but since Matt was so funny and entertaining I figured I’d stick it out. Good thing I did because the first song of his encore was called “Headphones” which he wrote as a new song just for the tour. (If rappers can drop mix tapes whenever they want, the singer songwriter has to step up their game and do the same was essentially what he had said before it) It was about how music makes you not feel alone and how you are invincible with your headphones on. I just absolutely loved it and it just struck a chord with me. He finished his set with Come On Get Higher and a sing along of “You’re The One That I Want” from Grease.

Last time I saw Matt he was in the Wolf’s Den and I couldn’t get inside and I didn’t get the same feeling from his show that I got from this one. I’m hoping he comes back again soon because I’ll definitely be checking him out again!

Gavin
Leading Man
Chariot
Sweeter
Heartbreak
Follow Through
We Belong Together
Best I Ever Had
Where The Streets Have No Name
Everything Will Change
Radiation
Rich Girl
Soldier
In Love With a Girl
Finest Hour
I Don’t Want To Be

Make a Move
Fire
Not Over You

Matt

Kill The Lights
Annie’s Always Waiting (For The Next On To Leave)
Car Crash / Fancy
Run
Mission Bells
Room At The End Of The World / I Want To Dance With Somebody
Kinks Shirt
Laid
Wedding Dress
Suspended
Faster / Faith
Headphones
Come On Get Higher / You’re The One That I Want

Concert Photos

Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience

Katie July 23, 2014 0 Comments

Friday night Justin Timberlake came to the Mohegan Sun Arena for the summer leg of his tour. This show was particularly exciting for me because it was my 400th concert and it was also the day before my 30th birthday! When I arrived my friend informed me that Chris Kirkpatrick has been on the tour and that we should keep an eye out for him. We ended up going in as soon as doors opened so she could grab a nice spot in VIP (and she did!) and I could get settled in to my seat. Then I got a text that she overheard that Joey Fatone was in attendance too!

A little before 7 (the show was listed at 7:30 on the tickets) Freestyle Steve the DJ came out to “entertain” us. I don’t get the point of having a DJ before the show and I don’t get the point of the DJ playing a bunch of Justin songs before Justin is going to sing them all for us in that same room. (Granted, the ones he played weren’t in the setlist – but STILL!) Then I got a text from my friend that she spotted Joey in VIP in front of her. I missed him walking over there, but he ended up leaving after being spotted and I was able to see him leave and then come back later before the show started. There was still no sign of Chris though.

Justin took the stage at about 8:30. The beginning of his set was very dark (as in, no lighting to get a picture) and while it did get better at some points the overall lighting situation wasn’t all that great. Oh well. I did get a couple of funny faced pictures so I guess that’s good enough. The show was really high energy and I thought it was a good mix of songs – especially since the only ones I really know are his singles and even moreso his earlier solo stuff. There weren’t too many songs that I was having trouble singing along to. And he tossed in a few covers too.

About an hour in, there was an intermission… and then the show continued! A few songs in, the stage ended up rising up and he started moving all over our heads. So awesome. The stage actually ended where it was directly over my head and I was able to get a picture of his feet over top of me. Then some stairs lifted from the middle of the VIP section and he came down to the B stage. Although I found it odd that he had his back to the VIP area for the whole set (aside from when he walked around a bit when he “landed”) and didn’t face the back of the crowd instead. *shrugs*

It was around this point when I spotted Chris in the back with his wife and I *may* have taken more creepy stalker photos of Chris than I did of Justin even though he was right in front of me practically. (Have I mentioned Justin is my least fave NSYNC member? lol Plus, I knew I’d be seeing Justin again in December but didn’t know for sure I’d ever be in the same room as Chris again – or 3/5 of NSYNC for that matter!) I also spent a lot of time staring at the stage and trying to figure out how it worked. I also thought Justin was pretty brave because there were no rails on the stage and him and some of the band were on it as it moved. I’d be terrified.

As the stage moved back to the front, Justin was miming something to Chris, but I couldn’t quite make out what he was implying. Chris seemed to know though, because he was laughing at him. The show ended at just about 11. (Or at least that’s about what time it was when we made it outside)

I had heard a rumor that if you put your card in the machine on your birthday, it pops up and says “Happy Birthday” so I wanted to see for sure. At first I debated waiting the hour for it to hit midnight, but then ultimately decided to stay (after having to get a new card since mine seemed to have fallen out of my pocket during the show)

While we were killing time, we went to look for the Michael Jackson machine and who should we find? JOEY! We were able to get pics with him and I told him it was my birthday tomorrow so he said Happy Birthday 🙂 I felt bad interrupting him when he was with family, but he was super nice!

And it turns out that the slot machines DO tell you Happy Birthday if you visit on your birthday! (Too bad there weren’t any of the birthday perks I wanted to use at midnight lol)

Overall a great way to celebrate my 30th and 400th show!

Concert Photos

Summer Kickoff Concert 2014

Katie June 11, 2014 0 Comments

Sunday night Kiss 95.7 had their Summer Kick Off Concert at Mohegan Sun Arena. This event is usually completely GA and held at Six Flags – so I was happy that they changed things up a bit although I am willing to bet that they aren’t too happy. My friend Jess ended up winning tickets from KC101 and asked me to attend with her. Considering I have a not so secret crush on one of the performers, I of course agreed. The tickets she won were in the upper level, section 116. They weren’t great, but they were free. When we got inside we noticed that there were barricades in front of all the upper sections that said “CLOSED”. We asked one of the ushers and he said they would give us reassigned tickets to a lower level section because they decided to close off the whole top. We ended up getting the back row of the whole entire place. (We’d have been a little bit closer on the side if we stayed up top but I think the guy purposely gave us last row because he saw my cane and figured then I’d not have to do any stairs)

Originally, Cher Lloyd was in the lineup and I had really wanted to see her (again) but she canceled apparently because she went to film a video for Really Don’t Care with Demi Lovato. (And Demi loses points with me again!) Cher was replaced with MKTO who actually were a lot of fun so I guess I can’t be too upset, but still.

Hoe Chelle Rae took the stage first and played for half an hour. They called some girls up on stage from the crowd to sing with them for one of the songs. I did start out keeping a setlist but then got bored with it about halfway through – so I did keep track of Hot Chelle Rae’s set and it’s below!

Then it was time for Cash Cash who I had no idea who he/they was. He was a DJ and had a girl come out to sing a song. Next please! (I just don’t understand why they replaced on DJ playing in between sets with another DJ?

MKTO was up next and they had the whole place shaking. (Or maybe it was just their bass) Malcolm took his shirt off at the end so of course the girls went crazy there. Up until that point, they were the best of the night.

We had thought that b.o.b would be up next but to our surprise, R5 took the stage. Ross asked for “2 seconds so he could tie his shoe” and then they mentioned that their set time kept getting extended. I figured that meant something was up and either b.o.b was not coming (which would have been fine with me) or he was running late. So R5 added at least 2 or 3 songs to their set. They were really good and I hadn’t really heard much of their stuff other than Forget About You, so I was surprised that they are more rock. I guess I was expecting something different with Ross being on the cheesy Disney show.

Then DJ Skillz continued playing, but it became kind of obvious that he was trying really, really hard to stall. I don’t think that the younger girls minded or even realized it – but when 10 came and went, I knew something was up. But if they swapped Austin and b.o.b’s set times, I think 99% of the place would have left. Finally b.o.b took the stage and did like 15 minutes and that was that. He had also mentioned that he had “just landed and went 120 mph to get here” so I don’t know where he was beforehand but something had definitely been up! His advice at the end of the show, which I found to be ridiculously inappropriate considering all the young people (girls) in the audience was “Don’t drink and drive, smoke and fly!” Um well, the first part of that was pretty good! So still… could have gone without seeing him. (Although he did run up into one of the sections and was “in” the crowd a lot which was brave. Or maybe he knew he wouldn’t get attacked too bad because he wasn’t Austin Mahone)

There was barely any time between b.o.b leaving the stage and Austin taking it. I didn’t keep track of his setlist but from looking at other sets – I am pretty sure he did Banga Banga, Say You’re Just a Friend, Shadow, a cover of John Legend’s All Of Me, MMM Yeah, What About Love and that may have been all of it or close to it. The girls went crazy for him. I had seen him before and still wasn’t really impressed. He’s basically the new Justin Bieber (even though he hates behind compared to him – but I thought he had read he started doing Justin covers so I mean… what can you expect?)

The show was over at just about 11. We made our way out (the wall of parents wasn’t too bad, but still – don’t stand right outside the doors. Pick a store front or something to meet your kid outside of!) and as we were getting back on to the highway a tour bus decided that they needed to get in the lane I was in so obviously I let them go. We thought it may have been R5 because it had a hitch (we weren’t sure Austin would need one since he didn’t have any band set up) and then when I passed it (because it was going slow and because we wanted to know who was in it) Jessa thought she saw the blond girl from R5 up front. All I saw was a guy with a beard and he was not one of the band members. Then we lost them because they were going pretty slow. I thought they might catch back up to me when I got off the highway to drop Jessa off at her car, but no such luck. Oh well!

Concert Demi Lovato Photos

Demi Lovato Neon Lights Tour

Katie March 10, 2014 0 Comments

Sunday night Demi Lovato brought her Neon Lights tour to the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT for the second night in a row. I had a bit of a falling out with Demi, so to speak, so I was moreso going to this tour to see the opening acts – from The XFactor – Fifth Harmony and British Girl Group – Little Mix. I was also pretty excited to see that Collins Key from this past season of America’s Got Talent would be on the tour as well.

When I got to my seat there was already a DJ on the stage – Cole Plante – who was spinning all the typical songs. (Although I swear he played Katy Perry’s Dark Horse at least 5 times throughout the night). Around 7, Collins came out and had on a black t-shirt under his jacket and said he had the wrong shirt on, turned around and ended up doing some sort of quick change into a Demi t-shirt. His catch phrase now seems to be “NO WAAY!” Which I thought was a little bit juvenile (although I guess the crowd was a bit younger than me) and the fact that he kept asking us to say it – rather than amazing us to the point that we wanted to say it on our own got to be a little obnoxious. He came back out during each of the breaks to do more magic with volunteers from the audience. Most of it was what he had already done on AGT.

Next up was Fifth Harmony – they were good and had a lot of crowd interaction, but I must be old because I thought their outfits were a bit much. Or rather, not much… clothing. At one point, Normani ran off stage. I thought something might have been going on with her top. Based on the tweets after the show – it seemed like I was right and her shirt was falling off so she ran off to get it fixed.

Little Mix was the next act and they were the ones I was most interested in seeing and they did not disappoint. They had 4 dancers with them as well as themselves and had a lot of great energy and even did 1 song entirely a cappella.

Then it was time for Demi! One thing I didn’t like though was how long the wait was after Collins left the stage (at about 845) and Demi taking the stage (close to 930). If the stage was being set up between acts while Collins was distracting us – why did we have to sit around so much longer? (Although at that point I was pretty over Collins Key so I wouldn’t have wanted to see more of him)

Demi started her set out with Heart Attack. I had been counting songs because I knew that if Nick Jonas was going to come out to sing with her (like he did the 2 nights previous) he’d be coming out around song 6. But then she completely jumped from what I thought was the setlist over about 4 songs. In addition to Nick not being there, Demi was sick so she cut the setlist down a bit. I was a bit disappointed with the shorter set – but if she was going to lose her voice and sing like crap for those extra songs – it was probably better that she did what she needed to do and cut out some of the songs.

The main set was 12 songs, with a 2 song encore. For the last song of the main set – Neon Lights – we had been instructed to download her app. It is from Mobile Roadie, who also does the Hanson app. Fortunately my phone had enough space to install it (it’s been picky about those types of things lately!) and I figured I’d see what happens with it and how it is “interactive” during the show. It has what is called “Wham City Lights” and if you point the phone to the stage, it changes color and then when Demi gets to the chorus it gets the flash on the camera to blink along with the song. It was really neat and I’m glad I downloaded to check it out and see how it worked!

Concert Hanson Meet and Greet Photos

(Another) Crazy Hanson Weekend

Katie September 5, 2013 0 Comments

Typically I write one post per concert, but I also have a “rule” to try to write about one show before the next one happens. And I failed miserably at that this weekend. In my defense, I was all over the east coast “touring” with Hanson. Our weekend kicked off on Friday when I stayed up waiting for Maribeth to get in from PA. She took the train up because our last show was back in PA so we didn’t want to both have to drive down there following each other. But her train hit something and she had to switch and ended up being delayed an hour.

Saturday morning we headed up to Boston. We knew it would be crazy because there was a Red Sox game right across the street at basically the same time, but what we didn’t realize is that it was ALSO move in weekend for Boston University! Crazy! We took the T in so I didn’t have to drive in Boston and that worked out well. We stopped to eat at Bertucci’s and were asked if we were moving in – I guess we looked like we were still in college? I’ll take it! When it was time for doors we were escorted to the 3rd floor for ADA seating and had basically the same seats we had for the last time Hanson played there which was awesome! (Not awesome was before the encore the woman working there said “It’s the end of the night I need to take the chairs back” and so I had to stand for the encore. Why are you taking chairs away from handicapped people who asked for them for what I’m assuming was good reason? So strange.)

Highlights from the Boston show… Each of the guys did a solo (LOVE when they do this because you often hear songs you would not otherwise hear and it’s just them out there on stage alone) and after Zac left and Taylor took the stage, Taylor talked about how great Zac was and how he could play a bunch of instruments and was the youngest Grammy nom for song writing and he performed at the Grammys when he was 11 and it was really sweet. Not sure what provoked it, but I’ll take it. There were a few songs we were hoping to hear but didn’t, and a few we were hoping to not hear, but did. Our only hope was also that they’d mix the setlist up for the next 2 nights and we’d hear what we wanted the next couple of nights.

Sunday morning we headed to NJ to pick up our friend Marisa and were off to Long Island. We had intended on going to do The Walk with Hanson (I was going to work the table and they would walk) but unfortunately we didn’t time things right and were pulling up in to a parking spot just as the guys and the walk were walking by. We went to get dinner and then got ready to get in line for the show. We had Loge seats but when we got in line they told us we could find the elevator to the right and the staff member operating it said we could go to the ADA section which was “really close to the stage”, when we said we had seats he still encouraged us to go to the ADA section and we were basically 2nd row Isaac’s side. What an amazing ADA section!

Highlights of this show… are that they played almost every song that we were wanting after the Boston show. Do they have us bugged? Also, before Isaac’s solo he was going on and on about the walks and how people talked to him about not having a solo song and he really was talking for quite a while. Zac ended up coming on stage and pointed to his wrist and told him to hurry it up. Ha. Then at one point, Taylor turned to Zac and mouthed something that I couldn’t make out and then it seemed like they all started playing Tragic Symphony (another we wanted to hear) and then everything stopped and Zac said Taylor said something to him but he didn’t really know what. I guess they were going to skip Tragic Symphony and do Thinking Bout Somethin instead but they all weren’t clued in to that! It was neat to see because I feel like that is something that doesn’t usually happen – but it made them seem more real.

We checked out the bus situation afterwards but it didn’t seem promising so we headed home to get some sleep before the trek to PA on Monday.

Monday we made it to the Sands Bethlehem in time for the walk. Marisa and Maribeth were going take it while I hung out and did who knows what, but last second we grabbed the wheelchair and had Maribeth push me. Everyone walked SO fast there would have been no way I could have done it without help! We walked around the old steel mills which was really cool and I am pretty sure I took more photos of the surroundings than of Hanson. For each person who did the walk $1 would be donated to the Take the Walk campaign. I chose to have my $1 go towards clean water. Also, for each ticket sold on the tour, $1 would go to the campaign as well.

Doors were supposed to be at 5, but they started letting people in at 4. We ended up waiting in the lobby for a while and then went to the ADA seating area. I debated going up closer (the place was not very packed at all) but ultimately stayed in the back the whole time. At this show, Zac’s solo was Call Out My Name which we had been discussing just that morning and hoped it would be a solo. (Really, am I bugged?) Isaac did For Your Love for the 3rd time in 3 nights – but honestly I think I’d rather hear that than a lot of his other songs he’s done as solo in the past. Taylor did Kiss Me When You Come Home which was a pleasant surprise. They also ended up doing Tragic Symphony for real at this show (only the 2nd time I’ve heard it live!)

After the show we snagged a spot by the bus, Zac came out first but apparently my camera got messed up during the walk and said “recording” instead of taking a photo even though it wasn’t on video mode. He said he’d come back once I fixed it. He got like 5 ppl down and we called out to him but he kept going. We had hoped he’d loop back after he did the whole line to get us, but must’ve forgotten and we weren’t able to catch his attention. Isaac also came out and by that point everything was fixed so we did get pictures with him. He told us Taylor would not be coming out that he was “very tired” Fortunately they had the next day off so hopefully they can rest up and be good to go for the next run of shows!

I won’t be seeing them until Vegas in a couple of weeks – but I am hoping they add some covers in by then. Isaac said we can expect the show to be very different by November when we do another weekend of shows.

Concert Meet and Greet Photos The Wanted

The Wanted at Sands Bethlehem Event Center

Katie August 27, 2013 0 Comments

Saturday night my friend Shea and I made the trek down to PA to see The Wanted. Shea and I have known each other since we were 6 and she calls me her “oldest friend”, but the last time we went to a concert together was LFO when we were in high school! She recently decided she liked The Wanted after watching their show on E! and I obviously love all boybands so we figured it would be a fun trip and I’d also get to case the place out for when I go see Hanson there next week.

When we arrived, we had no idea where to park and ended up going in through the casino and then walking through to the event center where the line was INSANE. We talked to the box office about ADA seating and got that all squared away and the woman at the box office recommended we grab a bite to eat rather than standing in the huge line since our seats would be saved. So we headed to the food court and grabbed a bite to eat and by the time we got back the line was much, much smaller.

There was a DJ on for a while playing the same old crap. Then he said he had 5 more minutes left so we got super excited that The Wanted would be out next – but they ended up coming out like half an hour after that! Their set was a bit different than when I had seen them last year (actually, exactly a year ago!) due to the new singles they’ve released and all that – but they still have so, so much fun on stage that you can’t help but feed off their energy and then they must feed off the crowd too and it’s just so fun!!

We sang at the top of our lungs and probably made the whole rest of our section annoyed, but we had such a blast! Shea had said that since I meet everyone, I had to take her to meet The Wanted and I had warned her that I’d do what I could but I’m not a magician. We grabbed a spot at the barricade near the buses and I told her that this would be our best shot. She thought I was nuts at first and a couple times we made a “if they don’t come out we will leave at this time” pact – that we didn’t stick to.

All 5 guys ended up coming out and we ended up getting photos with all 5 of them and chatting with them for a bit. Getting pics was kind of a pain with such tight quarters – which meant the flash was too close to my face and I blinked in a couple of photos… but whatever. (And my pic with Jay came out great and we were hoping for pics with just ONE of them so the fact that we got all 5 was just ridiculously amazing)

We left about midnight and went back around to get the car and then Shea said she’d pull around to see how we can get to that lot so we can park closer next week for Hanson and Siva and Nathan were STILL out there signing, trying to make sure that everyone who waited got something. They were so gracious and sweet and Shea was asking if I thought it was an act or not but I truly think they are just so happy that people come out to see them and that they get to tour everywhere!!

We drove back home after and got home about 2:30am but it was beyond worth it!

Invincible
Lose My Mind
Lightning
Walks Like Rihanna
Heart Vacancy
Radio
The Killers Medley
Gold Forever
Chasing The Sun
I Found You
All Time Low
We Own The Night
Glad You Came

American Idol Concert Photos

American Idols Live 2013!

Katie August 24, 2013 0 Comments

I didn’t think that I would be seeing the Idol tour this year – and was a bit disappointed in myself that I hadn’t won any tickets. I had debated going to the Mohegan Sun show because tickets were cheap but ultimately decided against it. Earlier in the week the Webster Bank Arena had tweeted that Star 99.9 was doing a twitter giveaway for tickets. I was too late for the first giveaway of the day, but of course won the second! When I picked up the tickets I looked at the seating chart backwards and thought that the seats were in the back – which was fine because I would be there and for free and that was what mattered. Turns out I was looking at the seating chart backwards and they were actually the section right by the stage (where I try to buy my tickets) and about 8 rows up. Not bad at all!

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but things got kicked off a little late. The show opened with the girls singing Little Mix’s “Wings”, it started out just 4 of them but then Kree and Candice joined them. It was nice to see Kree and Candice out before the intermission – I always hate when they hide them until the end!

Aubrey was up next – for those of you who don’t remember her she was the one that got voted on the tour with the sing off. She did “Sweet Dreams” and had some of the girls on background vocals. (They have long since done away with backup singers and just use the other Idols now.) I feel like Aubrey was on stage the most out of everyone. She always seemed to be there in the background.

Then 3 of the boys came out and did Justin Timberlak’s Suit and Tie – Curtis, Burnell and Devin. Paul came out and did Carrie Underwoods Blown Away and then did Summer Nights and was joined by Janelle and Kree. (The country crew)

Curtis did When I was Your Man but was way on the other side of the stage for the whole song which stunk. (As did the lighting to get any pics of it) Amber had center stage next and did We Found Love and The Way.

Then, half an hour into the show, FINALLY, Lazaro made an appearance. (I was kind of surprised and did check my watch!) They all did Locked Out Of Heaven. Then Devin came from and center and talked a little bit about how all the others thought his speech was boring so he switched it up. He also mentioned he hadn’t been to Connecticut before and we were crazy. Except for the fact that they had a show in CT just last week 😉 He did his English/Spanish song about things being Impossible.

Then the non-top 2 girls came out and did Blurred Lines. I was kind of surprised it was the girls who sang this, but it was fun. (Although “everybody get up” didn’t go over well. In fact, no one really got up at all except to give Candice a standing O after her set.)

Burnell came out and was on my side of the stage (to balance out Curtis earlier I guess) and did Everybody Knows.

Then for the final song of Act 1 they did We Are Young / Live While We’re Young mashup.

After a brief intermission it was time for Angie who did a set of Mamma Knows Best, and 2 original songs You Set Me Free and Put It On Me.

Janelle did her country songs – Better Dig Two and Where The Blacktop Ends.

Then it was time for Lazaro! Hooray! He did Feeling Good and The Edge of Glory and a couple times shouted out “How you doing Bridgeport!” (Or something similar) and an “I can’t hear you!”

Kree was up next and did Up To The Mountain, Hold on and then her single All Cried Out.

Then our latest Idol, Candice, took the stage and did End of Time, I Am Beautiful (her coronation song, which I love the message of) and her new single The Middle which was very catchy! And then Lovesong.

Then it was time for the last mashup of the night – which started with NSYNC’s Gone. And I didn’t even recognize it. While I am obviously desperately in need of an NSYNC reunion – there was just no excuse for that. They went in to Kelly’s Since U Been Gone (ugh. So sick of this song from years back) and then When I’m Gone – aka the Cups song which Aubrey and Angie played the cups for… and then of course – my favorite (if you can’t tell, major sarcasm) Gone, Gone, Gone from Phillip Phillips.

I thought in years past then they each had come out to take a bow, but the lights went back on and that was that!

Overall, a fun show and if you have the chance to check it out – do it. Especially if you can get free or super cheap tix on Stub Hub the day of 😉