Photos – Page 8 – Concert Katie

Action Item

Katie November 22, 2011 0 Comments

Sunday night we decided to check out Action Item’s final show of the Stronger The Love Tour in Sayreville, NJ. New Jersey is where the band is from so we figured it would be nice to see them at their hometown show. Little did we know that it was a bit more of a marathon than a show! Doors were at 3:30, so we thought we’d be leaving by 8pm to head home (mostly the reason why we opted to go – it was an early show) but we were WRONG. Band after band was taking the stage…

But before I talk about the stage – let’s go back to the beginning. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts to pick up some food and use the restroom and while we were there – Forrest from Burnham was in line buying stuff! We didn’t end up saying anything to him though. Then once we parked, the guy doing parking said we weren’t close enough and told us to park even closer to the car in front of us. Then the MOM in the car wanted to get in the trunk, so I backed up for her (keep in mind she was lucky we were still in the car!) and then she told me not to pull back so close the next time, instead of thanking me for moving back for her! EXCUSE ME? You may be a Mom, but you are not MY mom (thank god) and I only did what I was told by the parking guys. In fact, I had parked farther away before the guy instructed me to go closer! 😛 (sorry, had to vent)

Finally doors opened and the guards offered a seat to a girl in front of us who had a full leg brace on (and a mini skirt.) When she refused a seat, we asked if I could have one and they said no – because the other girl had on a full leg brace. And I was like “So? My brace goes up to here” and pointed on my leg where it went to. And they seemed confused (sorry, I had on PANTS and not a Mini Skirt. It is November after all) and then we told them I had CP and then they were like “OH! Do you need help with stairs? We can take you inside” Uh, really? How about giving us the time of day the FIRST time we ask for help. Or just been like “Why do you ladies need chairs?” rather than making it seem like I was not as important because I didn’t have a full leg brace on and was wearing pants. (Sorry this review is more me ranting than anything else!)

We got inside and about 4pm the first band took the stage – The Call Out. They were local from New Jersey. Next up was Reverse Order. They were kind of cute but probably much too young for me (the theme of the evening lol). Up next was Hollywood Ending, which was kind of confusing because last month they were on later in the show… but what the heck do I know. Next up was my hometown favorites, Kicking Daisies. Then Memphis High and Megan and Liz…. (we had no idea Memphis High would be there. Not that we knew about the first 2 bands either!) And we were hoping at this point there would be an end in site with Burnham hopefully taking the stage next!

Before Burnham came on stage, Duran from Kicking Daisies asked if he could sit with us, so of course we said yes. He got mobbed for a bit but then he and Ben sat with us in the handicapped section for Burnham’s set! We got pics with them too. That was pretty neat. We also decided it is damn near impossible to get a photo of Forrest because the kid never stands still! I managed to get a couple of halfway decent ones… Not sure how but I guess if you take enough pictures eventually one is bound to come out alright.

Then it was finally time for Action Item! The gap between them and Burnham seemed ridiculous, but I don’t know if it was because we were anxious to get on the road home or if it really was that long. The setlist was the same as the show in CT and we were expecting some pranks, but nothing ended up happening – although a couple of fans gave out hearts to everyone in line and instructed us to hold them up during the song Home – which was of course written about being in New Jersey. A couple hearts did appear in the crowd a bit early – but there were TONS in the crowd once they started the song. It was really cool to see. The guys seemed to be choked up as well (though I was kind of hoping for a full on cry haha) and Anthony took a photo of the crowd with the hearts.

We ended up leaving right after the encore and didn’t bother to stay for the after show meet and greet, but then we had a fun time spending nearly 10 minutes trying to get my car out of the parking spot! The car next to me parked crooked and there wasn’t enough room for me to back up and cut the turn to not hit the car on the other side of me… so Christine had to get out and direct me to move and finally we got out – I was kind of scared we’d be stuck there forever… and we had a bit of an audience too. I hope they enjoyed my driving skills.

Concert Photos

Katy Perry California Dreams tour November 15, 2011

Katie November 18, 2011 8 Comments

On Tuesday night I went to see Katy Perry. It was a VERY last minute decision, but I’m glad I made it. I’m not the biggest Katy Perry fan, but I figured that her show would be a bit over the top and entertaining – and it was. Plus, I wanted to see if she really pumped in the scent of cotton candy into the venues. (Either she did or the $10 cotton candy they were selling smelled very strong!)

Opening act Ellie Goulding went on at 7:30 and played a 45 minute set. I felt like this was too long for her – I lost interest about 5 songs in. Not that she didn’t have a good voice, but a lot of her songs were a bit more mellow and it didn’t really get me excited for what was to come. After Ellie was done, DJ Skeet Skeet DJ’ed. This seemed to be a bit ridiculous – do kids today really need to be constantly simulated? What happened to bringing up the house lights and just playing music throughout the arena? (Am I old?) He kept saying how Katy would be on next so I thought that meant as soon as he was done her curtain would drop. Nope. The lights went on this time and we waited some more for Katy to hit the stage. I think her set started about 9:15.
Then the screens started playing the story that would go on throughout the show. (For some reason I really like these stories for costume changes more than I like random stuff tossed on the screen in between sets, even if they are a bit silly, and Katy’s certainly was.) Katy was working at a meat place but the butcher was mean (pretty sure it was played by the brother from bleep my dad says) and got mad about how she was cutting the meat so he told her to leave. She saw a cupcake shop and fell in love with the baker’s boy… then she fell asleep and kitty purry (her cat) was gone so she had to go find her and ended up in this candy land like place. (I am pretty sure the butcher’s boy was Nick Zano). The story continues throughout the show with her trying to find the cat and silly things happening that were then incorporated in to to the show and her songs.

After eating a brownie from some mimes and “feeling sexy” she ended up saying she wanted a guy to join her on stage. First she was talking to a boy that she thought was young, but his father said he was 21. She said if he was 21 the father wouldn’t be with him and I guess the father said he loved her too. Then she mentioned how she would go to jail if she had a boyfriend that was 15 and was looking for older boyfriends but not really older boyfriends haha. Then she had said the first boy to take his shirt off could come on stage and the boy she pointed to hesitated so she picked a different boy, Marty. Then was saying how she liked his name because it was like Back to the Future and she kissed his cheek and then told him to kiss her cheek back but then in her in-ear monitor she was told that her husband had showed up to visit her. That set everything up for I Kissed a Girl and the first “hope my boyfriend don’t mind it” was changed to “husband” and she showed her ring finger.

She also floated to the back (where we were) on a piece of cotton candy, which was cool. I really like how a lot of artists are using tricks like this now to get closer to the fans in the back.

Overall, the show was very entertaining and happy and bright (though I’m not sure how appropriate it was for the younger crowd that was there… but I’m not their parents) and a lot of fun. During Hot And Cold, she changed her outfits over and over throughout the song which was very interesting and entertaining (in a “how’d they do that!?” kind of way)

Between DJ Skeet Skeet and Katy they were showing tweets on the screen, if you included the hashtag #HartfordDreams. Apparently also using this hash tag meant that your twitter photo may end up on the HUGE screens behind Katy during Last Friday Night. Which I did not realize until my friend was like “LOOK! It’s you and Oscar!” (my twitter photo). Of course I wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo of it so I guess Ill be looking for other photos or videos – but if you are going to a show and tweet with the hash tag – keep an eye out for your twitter photo being on the huge screens behind Katy for this song! (Perhaps this warning was in other reviews but since it was so last minute that I decided to go, I didnt prep myself for anything!)

Setlist under the cut!
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American Idol Concert David Cook Gavin DeGraw Photos

Gavin DeGraw & David Cook November 5, 2011

Katie November 11, 2011 0 Comments

Saturday night’s show seemed like it took forever to come! Doors opened late and we were greeted to the opening act of Canaan Smith. I wasn’t sure what to think about him… he came out with a HUGE silver microphone necklace on which he hung on the mic stand.. and then he sang country songs. (Although one of the songs he did sing about how he was country and rap so I guess it all started to make sense at that point) When I came home, I looked him up on Google to try and find some fun information about him – and I found out that he was on a season of Amazing Race! I love the show but hardly ever remember who the contestants are as soon as they are eliminated, but when I came home and said that name “Canaan” to my mom – she remembered that he was the one whose girlfriend did not want to go down the slide at Atlantis! Once she said that I remembered him. (The poor girl was afraid to go down and he could not convince her and they ended up losing the race because of it! But they are still together if anyone was curious!)

Then it was time for Gavin DeGraw. I’m not all that familiar with any of his new stuff, mainly because I am a slacker and never listen to the CDs I buy… (I really need to work on that) but his set was a mix of new and old so I was able to hold my own with the older songs. He threw in a couple of bits of covers during his set – The Script’s Breakeven and Bruno Mars Grenade. He also sat down at the piano without his band backing him and said that he was going to sing a song that he liked to sing back when he was a teenager and how his brother and him would play songs at the gym after it closed and one of the guys there had told him some profane things that women would do to him if he learned a few songs, but at the time he didn’t know what that meant. He went on to do a cover of Let’s Get It On. He also commented that he was a bit sick so some of the high notes he wasn’t able to hit – but that when he was ok he couldn’t really hit those notes either! I sat down for his set but most of my row stood at their seats, which made me a bit nervous for when David came out because my balance isn’t too hot to stand at my seat, but if I could lean against the stage I’d be fine.

Fortunately, when David came out the row did all go against the stage so things were fine! (My feet were asleep and killing me by the time David’s set was over, but that was ok!) I thought it was interesting that he started and ended the set with the starting and ending tracks from the new cd – Circadian and Rapid Eye Movement. At one point near the end of the set, the band was going to leave the stage and David told them not to leave. Since it was a full house – he was going to add a song that wasn’t on the setlist – a cover. He asked if we wanted some Fog Hat, but when the response was less than stellar he decided against that. He told the band that they were instead going to do Whitesnake, which was something that they had done in sound check but never live before and that it might suck. Once it was over he said that he now felt like they were a band that could play at a wedding and went in to part of “Celebration” and then talked a bit about a Father / Daughter dance being Butterfly Kisses and how he had a better song! And then he went in to Bar Ba Sol lol. I have to say the highlights of David shows are always him talking to the crowd. At one point another gang from CT was yelling how they were from Connecticut and still had no power. David said he didn’t mean to be rude, but all he heard was “wat wat wat” (read that like the Charlie Brown teacher talks!) and they tried to say it again but he still couldn’t hear and then he said he could go on with the Charlie Brown teacher voice all night, but he wouldn’t. He seemed quite overwhelmed that the show was a sell out (or near sell out) and thanked us for standing by him and waiting for the new album to come out because they took so long to do it, he had no idea what the state of the music industry would be when he got back. And also he thanked us a few times for supporting live music. (Also worth noting one of the roadies had a clown mask on and kept bringing stuff to the stage. Creepy!)

The show was definitely a blast and I am glad that I made the trip to go!

Concert Photos

Mat Kearney November 2, 2011

Katie November 4, 2011 2 Comments

Wednesday night Mat Kearney brought his tour to Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT and I was lucky enough to be in attendance! I went with one of my friends I had met through Hanson, Lauren. It was weird to be sitting in the Cafe at Barnes and Noble just 5 minutes before doors opened – walk by Mat on the street on the way to the venue – and then got inside to be about 2nd row on the floor. (Hanson shows showing up 5 minutes before doors means you are way in the back, if you want second row you probably should have gotten in line the night before) I opted to sit on the side of the venue for the show though.

The show started at 9 – doors at 8 – which seemed pretty late for a show during the week (not that I couldn’t handle it, but I do appreciate getting a good night’s sleep before I have to go back to work the next day haha) but was all wrapped up before midnight.

The opening act was called Leagues (http://www.leaguesmusic.com/) and I was quite impressed with them. I’m usually not in to openers but Wednesday night I was! The lead singer mentioned how the band has been in our position before – forced to stand through openers that we didn’t necessarily ask to see but that he hoped we would like them. He also said he would be dancing like and idiot so we were more than welcome to as well. The only thing I didn’t like about their set was there was this one light that kept going off like a camera flash on the stage. I’m not sure if it was Leagues idea or the lighting guy (as it did go off during Mat’s set as well), so I won’t hold it against them.

Then it was time for Mat! He came on stage a little after 10pm and started his set with Fire and Rain. I was really only familiar with the stuff he did off of Young Love, his latest release, fortunately since that is the album he is promoting, it made up about half of the set.

He stopped a couple of times to talk with the crowd – asked who went to Yale (Toad’s Place is right across the street from the Yale campus) and when a couple people cheered asked why they weren’t studying. Then he asked about mascots… A few in the crowd were from Fairfield U and their mascot is a stag so then there was a bit of a debate about whether he’d rather hang out with a stag or a bulldog. There also were screams for America – which I do not believe was originally on the set list… so he did it and also added a bit of Chasing Pavements to the end of it.

Later he talked more with the crowd and this time the UCONN students got a little rowdy an when a big UCONN HUSKIES chant started going he commented about how he had now completely lost control of the show!

Before going to the show, I read a few reviews so I would know what to expect. Each of them said something like, “I had read he’d go in the crowd and sing, but I didn’t think he’d do it at my show. He did.” And.. despite having read the reviews (AND I talked to a friend who had seen the show already), when I saw the crowd getting larger and larger as the night went on, I thought to myself, “he’s never going out in the crowd” But sure enough, he did! I can’t remember now which song it was during.. but it was after America and before She Got The Honey so I guess that narrows it down to 3 it might be. (Although me not remembering helps keep the suspense for anyone who still might be waiting to see their show!)

I also sneaked a peek at the set list during the encore when I moved up closer because the crowd had thinned out a bit. He was going to do my 2 favorites from the CD (Ships in the Night and Hey Mama), but in between them was “Pumped Up Kicks” I am not sure if him doing America earlier made him need to cut a song out (although I think he did cut another one out in the main set) or if he needed to be off stage by a certain time. It would have been nice to see that cover, but I was pleased with the encore just the same since he closed it out with my faves!

I received free tickets in order to do this review from One2One Network. All opinions are 100% mine and I was not asked to write a favorable review. I was not otherwise compensated.

The complete setlist is under the cut!

Meet and Greet Photos Tickets

New York Comic Con October 15

Katie November 1, 2011 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago a few of the local radio stations were giving away 3-Day passes to the New York Comic Con. After the fail that was the Wizarding World Comic Con in May, I figured it would be worth a shot to see one that may be just a little bit more organized (and in a much bigger venue). I bid all my points on one of the auctions, but unfortunately did not have enough points to ultimately pull out a win. However, I was pleasantly surprised that afternoon when someone from the station called me and said that since they “had a bunch of passes” they were giving me a pair since I came in second on the auction!

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend all 3 days, but my brother and I did make the trek there on Saturday. There is no easy way to get to the Javits center but we took the train in to Grand Central, took the S to Times Square, then walked what seemed like a mile and a half to the C train… then went from Penn Station / Madison Square Garden on 8th Ave up to 11th ave. By the time we got there I was exhausted and knew that we would absolutely be cabbing it back. (When we got home we realized they had a SHUTTLE from Grand Central! Except we had seen no info about it on the website ahead of time)

We ended up spending about 3 hours walking around and it was really overwhelming. Fortunately we had a list of a few things we wanted to buy / check out and figured out what locations they were at and managed to get all on our list. (Except for one item which I am pretty sure my brother made up. lol) We also stumbled upon the Oscar the Grouch muppet from Sesame Street so of course I HAD to get a photo with him!

Also before we headed to the concourse I saw a boy at a booth – he looked familiar. He smiled at me, I smiled back but for the life of me couldn’t remember who he was. I thought he was Derek from Degrassi. Got home, looked him up, sure enough it was! I probably should have talked to him because no one was at the booth – but I didn’t want to walk up to him and be like “Ok so you look REALLY familiar to me, but who the heck are you?”

After leaving the floor we head over to the Autograph area. At first I was all excited to possibly meet Mark Hamill, but then realized that his autograph would have cost me $100 – which was all I brought to begin with and was certainly NOT what I had left on me at that point! I spotted Jewel Staite who I recognized from being on ONE episode of 2gether. She had also been on a Disney show I used to watch and a bunch of other shows I’ve watched here and there so I opted to go and meet her. Hey, if I can’t meet QT because he has passed away – the next best thing would be to meet everyone he interacted with on the show – right? right. She was really sweet and signed an auto for me, shook my hand and briefly chatted. (I didn’t tell her that I really wanted to meet her because she was on one episode of 2gether though lol)

After that we opted to hail a cab and head home. The floors were crowded (as to be expected), I was exhausted from the moment we stepped in the door… and I almost lost my shoe no less than 5 times by guys stepping on me. I’m sure there was a TON that we missed, but I’m not really sure how to attend in a more organized manner. Just walk up and down every aisle, I guess! (Which easily could have taken all day!)

American Idol Concert Media Meet and Greet Photos

Mohegan Sun Reality Check: Katie Stevens

Katie October 26, 2011 0 Comments

On Sunday afternoon Katie Stevens had a performance at Mohegan Sun Casino as a part of their 15th year celebration and their Reality Check series. Visitors were treated to a short set by Katie, a Connecticut native made famous on Season 9 of American Idol.

She started her set with the Maroon 5 / Christina Aguilera cover of Moves Like Jagger, then went in to a Jill Scott song, Hate On Me. She also did Adele’s Someone Like You. After that she did a short Q&A session with the crowd where she was asked about her upcoming music (she is working on it but she doesn’t want to rush to put out something she doesn’t love and back 100%) and how she keeps her hair looking so great!

Her set then continued with the Beatles Oh Darlin, Who You Are by Jessie J and she finished her set with Etta James’ At Last.

Katie has an amazingly powerful voice and I wish her the best out in LA and working on her new material!

A video clip of Oh Darlin:

After her set, she did a signing for those interested. She is a total sweetheart AND she likes my name. I wonder why? 😉

Action Item The Stronger The Love Tour

Katie October 24, 2011 0 Comments

Friday night, my friends and I went to see Action Item at The Space in Hamden, VIP style. Only 25 VIP tickets were available for each show and included dinner with the band before the show! Unfortunately, on the way to the show I was in a car accident, but I’ll expand on that in tomorrow’s post!
I got to VIP a bit late, but they were doing group photos when I got there so I hadn’t missed much. There was pizza to eat and soda and then Anthony and Brian did an acoustic set of 3 songs. Then the guys all mingled with everyone and took photos and chatted.

At 6pm doors opened and at 6:30 the first band was on – Voted Most Random. They aren’t technically on The Stronger The Love tour but were added I think by the space. I wasn’t too impressed with them – especially since they enjoyed spitting water on the crowd. Maybe I am just getting old, but I found it disgusting.

The next band up was Hollywood Ending. They are up for Radio Disney’s next big thing, and I enjoyed their set. They also announced they were going to do a cover and my friend said “please don’t let it be Katy Perry” (As voted most random did a kesha cover and if there is one thing we dislike more than kesha and katy perry it is bands covering kesha and katy perry) and it turned out that they did the Jonas Brothers Year 3000!

Days Difference was up next – I had seen them once before. The music was SO LOUD for the set I could barely hear the lead singer so I can’t really say much. We we right by the speaker all night and my ear plugs have been missing for quite some time now so I am just keeping my fingers crossed that my ears do eventually stop buzzing!

Next up was Burnham, the brother band from Vermont who I do enjoy. Unfortunately, the mic was still not very loud and I couldn’t make out most of what they were singing! They did do a cover of Bruno Mars’ The Lazy Song (edited, of course!)

Then finally it was time for Action Item! This is their first headlining tour and Connecticut was their first SOLD OUT show! (in fact, it was oversold by 20 tickets) The lighting absolutely stunk in the venue so pictures all had to be edited and even still aren’t that great. The show was very high energy and a lot of fun – it was nice to see them in a headlining situation after having seen them open for Honor Society twice a couple of months back.

After the show all the bands were hanging out to sign and take photos – but I had to get home to call the insurance to get the claim rolling on my car damage!

Concert Hanson Photos

Hanson Musical Ride Tour NYC

Katie October 20, 2011 0 Comments

In New York City, Hanson did something a little bit different with their musical ride tour. Before the show, they did an event called “The Story” for members of their fanclub. During “The Story” they told the making of one of their albums. This was done at 3 stops previously so the album that we got to hear the story of was 2007’s The Walk.

For about 45 minutes the band discussed the process of writing songs, how several of them had existed for quite some time before finally “fitting” on an album with the other songs. (Although they started with talking about Coldplay, Fiona Apple and and Alanis Morissette and album and song titles being long and made up)

Most interesting was the band discussing their trip to Africa and the song Been there Before. There’s a line “does it move you, does it sooth you, fill your heart and soul with the roots of rock and roll” and they had an African choir singing “rock and roll, rock and roll” in the background. Isaac explained how the kids just really wanted to sing the rock and roll part over and over, and how it was moving because the roots of rock and roll are in Africa since it can be traced back to gospel sung by the slaves in the south who had come from Africa. And how realizing that was really inspiring.

After the discussion they took a few questions and answered them and then it was time for doors to open at 7pm.

Charlie Mars took the stage at 8:30! And did a few different songs than he had done the previously 2 times I saw him. (And I realized that my name is in not one, but TWO of his songs!)

We were worried with Charlie starting so late that Hanson would in turn start late as well, but they came out at about 9:30. The opening of the show was the same as the past few – starting with Musical Ride, going in to Waiting For This, Where’s The Love, Thinking Bout Somethin… etc. Then it was time to go in to the album for the night – The Walk. They missed playing “Your Illusion” but did all the others in almost the same order as the CD which was interesting.

For the acoustic set they did Go, Carry You There and then Zac did his solo song, The Walk – which had actually debuted on their tours in 2003 (we fans called it “Tightrope” originally) and it ended up being the title track from the next album they released.

During If Only they did a bit of “Let’s Get It On”, which of course I could not enjoy because Taylor made his “if you can stand you can jump” comment again, which just put me in a rotten mood because I can’t. (And I’m thinking I am going to send Zac a message about it because I go to these shows to not worry about anything and then I am getting upset that I’m disabled and that should not be how it goes!)

They also jumped off the drumset at the end and I got an awesome shot since we were right in the center of the seats in the back! Looks like I’m going to be busy making a new layout for my Hanson blog very soon. (Or not so very soon as my weekends are getting more and more booked as the days go by – and weeknights too!)

Setlist under the cut!

Concert Hanson Media Photos

Hanson in Boston MA

Katie October 13, 2011 0 Comments

Sunday night it was time for the second show of Hanson’s Musical Ride tour that I’d be attending. The winning album for this show was the band’s 2nd album – This Time Around. Siobhan Magnus from American Idol was also in attendance. I was hoping maybe the guys would pull her on stage for a song, but they didn’t.

We opted to take the T in to Boston rather than driving in and parking near the venue. This meant that we had to catch a train before the last train at 12:35 so “I’m a pumpkin!” was often mentioned throughout the evening.

When we arrived, we asked about ADA seating and were told just to let them know when we got through the line. Since that made me a bit nervous, my friend Maribeth called and got us on an “ADA List” and we were told we needed to be back at 6:45 for doors. We were some of the first people in to the venue and we quickly realized that the ADA section they had roped off had a really bad view – mainly because there were HUGE speakers hanging down that would completely block everything. We were told that we couldn’t move a chair outside the roped section and I was kind of panicking, but then we were moved up to the balcony. All by ourselves! By the time the show started we had 6 others up there with us, but it was really cool to be in an area and not need to worry about balancing (we had seats), people’s heads or hands being in the way of photos or anything like that!

Charlie Mars was once again the opener. I will give him credit for not playing his set in the same order as the previous night, but his stories were all pretty much the same as the night before.

Then finally Hanson took the stage. They did all the songs of This Time Around (which you’d think would be expected since they said theyd be playing each of the winning albums in their entirety, but they have been skipping a song or two here and there) as well as their singles and some other album songs. When it came time for the encore, I wasn’t sure what they would be doing since they had played all of the album in the regular set. However, I was pleasantly surprised when they came out and did a cover of Weezer’s “Troublemaker”! I love getting to hear new songs live from Hanson and with 5 of 5 last year I am pretty much at a standstill with album songs – but covers are always welcome!

Boston was marked as my 50th time hearing “MMMBop” live (they play it at every tour stop but they don’t do it at every radio performance which is why there is the 13 shows I have not heard it at) and Troublemaker became my 150th different Hanson song I had heard live. (I think I’ve heard over 1,000 songs from them total – but obviously that is many repeats!)

Boston’s limited poster featured a picture of all 3 guys, so I opted to buy another one. Then I left in in the restroom. As I realized it and went back to the stall, a girl was coming out with it and gave it to me. Thank goodness she was honest and didn’t try to pass it off as her own! (Although I would have known it was mine by the hairband I used as the rubberband) Nice to know that there are still nice people out there 🙂

Concert Hanson Photos

Hanson Toad’s Place

Katie October 11, 2011 0 Comments

On Saturday, Hanson brought their Musical Ride tour to New Haven, CT to Toad’s Place. Each date was posted up on the band’s official website, hanson.net, along with a poll. Each poll included 3 albums and the winner of the vote would be played in its entirety at the show. For New Haven, the band’s debut album, Middle of Nowhere won (by a narrow margin). This show ended up being my 250th concert (overall) and 62nd Hanson show.

Before the show, we went to get something to eat and as we walked by we heard Zac soundchecking “Lucy” which is his lead vocal song from Middle of Nowhere and I completely freaked out. Turned 12 years old again freakout, I don’t know what came over me!

Each night, the band also has 25 limited edition posters available. I had been looking through images of some of the past shows and the only one I didn’t particularly like was the one with a Buffalo on it from Phoenix. Wouldn’t you know that New Haven’s was a Buffalo? But I had to get it since this was my “hometown show”

Doors were relatively early, at 6pm, because after the show Toad’s would be having a dance party! Hanson would need to be off stage by about 9:45. We got inside and went straight to merch for the buffalo poster. Then we snagged a spot near the soundboard for the evening and waited some more.

Charlie Mars was on first, at 7pm. I really had a hard time getting in to him. He played everything acoustic and I think that was why. It really didn’t get my pumped and he even commented that Hanson shows might have been better if he brought his whole band to back him.

Hanson took the stage at 8pm and started with the tour namesake song, Musical Ride. 6 songs in they started with Middle of Nowhere and the songs were mixed in, they didn’t do the album in order or anything like that. (But in between songs I kept counting out what songs they did and what were still to come because 14 years later I still have that tracklisting memorized!)

During the acoustic set, Taylor forgot the second verse to Kiss me When You Come Home and Isaac and Zac were teasing him and asked us to sing it but then Taylor said “I just remembered it!” But we helped him out a bit. It always amazes me when a band forgets the words to their own song… but I guess they do have a lot of songs to remember!

They ended the night with an encore of With You In Your Dreams which was bit of a downer, but what are you gonna do.

After the show, I wanted to find a seat but as we walked by one of the doors, Zac walked out! A few minutes later Taylor and Isaac walked out with a gang of security.

We hung around hoping one of the guys would come out to sign, but one of the venue guys walked by and said the guys wouldn’t be coming out. This is when I announced “They said that before I got my first picture with Zac. He came out!” Turns out, history repeated itself and Zac was out by the buses. There was no barricade and I don’t do well in pushing crowds so I sent my friends up with my poster. They met him but weren’t able to get it signed. So we waited a bit and Maribeth and I ventured into the now crowd which had thinned out a bit. I was able to get my Buffalo signed and we each got a photo with Zac. By the time I got back to my car I couldn’t feel my feet, but it was worth it!