Hanson Birthday Weekend
Wednesday I took off for Boston, thinking I was on my way to a Benson Boone concert before seeing Hanson for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, not too far from my house when I was waiting to merge onto the parkway, the car behind me hit me which led to a delay waiting for the cops and then me not thinking I’d be able to handle driving in Boston for the show. I was able to sell my ticket for *some* money on Ticketmaster last minute, but it wasn’t even close to what I had spent on it and I was really looking forward to kicking off this run with Benny 🙁 (I was also supposed to see Alex Warren on Monday night and ended up selling that ticket just from pure exhaustion after being in California) Fortunately though I was not hurt in the accident, only my poor car (Kevin) was and I’ll have to get him fixed soon.
I ended up staying with friends just outside of Boston before heading to the show in Hyannis. We realized we’d basically be going right through Plymouth so opted to take a side quest to see Plymouth Rock. (If you’re not aware, it’s nowhere near as big as you may be thinking it is. I’m not entirely sure why everyone thinks it is gigantic, but I guess it was a bit bigger in the 1600s) We walked around a bit, hit up a couple gift shops and then found a restaurant called KKatie’s so of course we stopped for lunch there. We met up with friends at our hotel and then made our way to the Cape Cod Melody tent for show #1.
I’ve been to this venue before, in fact on my 20th birthday Hanson played there as well, but it had been 16 years since Hanson’s last stop here. The stage is in the round and spins slowly during the show. Once they make one full revolution, they then spin in the opposite direction. It’s a really cool concept and I was excited to be back. We had second row and the setlist was pretty much their generic ‘special show’ setlist. Unfortunately the spin of the stage didn’t really work in our favor – as we missed Zac being ‘up front’ for the acoustic set and I wanted to see And I Waited from behind Zac because it is cool to see him working both feet and arms while drumming on that one. But the song ended just before he was about to spin our way.
After the show we were able to meet all 3 of the guys and get photos. I ended up asking Zac if he’d cover Benson Boone’s Mr Electric Blue since I had missed the show due to the accident. He hummed/sang some of it and said that he has had people tell him that they shazaamed Benson’s songs and thought that Zac had released a solo album and that Benson is stealing his style. (Later on he did an interview and said he’d like to collab with him, so I guess maybe I got in his head a bit.) Someone else mentioned he’d have to do flips and he said he doesn’t flip, he spins and that he lifts the world the world doesn’t lift him.
Friday we decided to see what other side quests we could add before getting to the hotel in Rhode Island since check in wasn’t until 4pm. We first stopped at a Cape Cod candy store to pick up some salt water taffy and then stopped in Sandwich to visit Sandwich Police and Fire and then stopped at Cafe Chew so we could ‘have sandwiches in sandwich’.
I knew that this show was probably going to be the ‘throwaway’ of the weekend. We had 2nd row, but it was eventually a big conference room. I could see Isaac and Zac perfectly while sitting and if I leaned forward could see Taylor. I knew that at some point, the crowd was going to surge forward and I’d not be going with them. Isaac seemed to notice me pretty quickly and tried to throw a few guitar picks my way (I did end up getting one of them!) As expected, just before MMMBop the stage was rushed. I was sitting on an aisle and knew I had to ‘sit my ground’ or the whole row would be invaded. It was crazy watching people continue to try to squeeze into a space that I didn’t think could fit anymore people into it. Isaac continued with the pick throwing which ended up with someone from the row behind me hitting me on the head pretty hard trying to dive over the seat to get it. Is it really that serious? I usually stand for the last song or the bows to try and get photos, but my head was hurting so I opted to stay seated. They did their usual swap outs for this show. Of course Isaac thought it had been a while since they did River full band but I’m pretty sure their last run of shows in October he said the same thing.
After the show we opted to get some sweet treats and head back to the hotel lobby so I could calm down after getting knocked in the head. While we were all chatting about how our nights went (we all had seats in different areas) Hanson came in for the night and said hello and goodnight to us.
Saturday we had opted to not go to Scranton for the free FIFA show so we had a free day. We left the hotel at 11 and had to figure out what our side quests would be. We ended up at the original Dunkin donuts location and then to Alma Nove which is Donnie Wahlberg’s Brother’s restaurant. What I think is the original Wahlburger’s location is across the street. We then made it to the hotel just outside of Boston only to find that the digital key did not work and Maintenance came up to let us in and then a name that was NOT mine was on the “Welcome!” TV in the room. Another call to the front desk told us that it was a glitch and it was likely whoever was in the room before us and not that someone else would be trying to get into the room with a working key later. Then while we were trying to relax the fire alarm went off. We looked at each other and I said I was NOT walking down 6 floors of stairs. Fortunately, the announcement said that we only needed to evacuate if there was tone played after the announcement and while we could hear it coming from another floor, it did not play for us so we could stay put.
My friend ended up leaving to fly home early for Mom duties and I took a ride to Quincy Market to meet up with the rest of the gang for the Malibu Barbie Cafe. There were some good eats, fun photo ops and unruly and hilarious children – one of which decided to ring the bell I have added to toaster, exclaim “this is cool!” and do it again. Thanks I appreciate your compliment but this is not part of the Barbie cafe, kid.
Sunday it was my birthday and we didn’t have anything planned for the morning, but we had to get out of the hotel. We ended up driving to Cohasset and sitting at a duck pond that had no ducks to read. We did end up seeing a crane come by for lunch and a small child drop his soccer ball into the pond and yell “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?” but his parents managed to find items in the car that helped retrieve it. (An umbrella and pool noodle.) Then everyone else ended up meeting up with us for dinner before the show.
The South Shore Music Circus is a sister venue to the Cape Cod Melody tent so it also was a show in the round and where the band would spin. A friend had managed to snag me front row tickets, but we didn’t realize that there was a ramp on either side of the row for the band and crew to get on stage with. They put a little box down as a step but I knew once I got to my seat I was there for the long haul. Both shows had a young girl named Violet Hanks open and she played piano and sang and was pretty good!
This setlist was significantly different from the other two and we ended up being in just the right spot for And I Waited to have the back of Zac in front of us to see all his limbs going at once. During I Was Born, Taylor wished me a Happy Birthday and then shortly after that the stage stopped spinning because their time was nearly up. They ended up ending the set with Give a Little which I had not heard in a while. (And based on Taylor’s lyrics flub, they had not played in a while.) When they were doing their bows I saw Taylor grabbing his setlist off the stage. He ended up handing it to me along with his harmonica and telling me Happy Birthday again! I had a feeling he was going to give me the setlist since he’s always talking to me about how much he uses my site to figure out what they’ve played before, but I definitely was not expecting the harmonica!
After the show we went around back and it was DARK. I was pretty convinced that we were not going to get to see them at all, but was pleasantly surprised when Isaac came over to our area, but started on the other end. Zac ended up coming over next and telling me Happy Birthday and giving me a fist bump. Taylor came up when Isaac had gotten to us and had one of my friend’s ‘Let’s Party’ crowns in his hand. He asked if I was having a good birthday and I said yes and thanked him and then he wasn’t sure if he wanted to put the crown on his head for a photo or not, but in the end he did. I was also on a mission to get them each to draw something for me and they all did!
After that I had an almost 3 hour ride back home because I thought I had a couple of meetings on Monday starting at 10am and thought it would be easier to drive overnight than have to wake up early to leave. There was a little bit of delays due to construction but I made it home by 2:30 – only to wake up and find out all the meetings had been canceled! Oh well…