Concert Review: My 2004 Hanson Concert Experience

Friday, July 16, 2004
New York City, New York -- Irving Plaza

At about 5:45pm, I headed out to leave for the concert. My father drove me to Van Cortlandt and dropped me off at the subway station there; we got there at about 6:30pm. From there, I rode the subway all the way down to Times Square, where I got off and transferred to a yellow line subway to go down to Union Square at 14th Street. I had gotten off at the Union Square stop before, but I had never actually really gotten off there and exited the subway stop before, so yesterday was my first time emerging out and walking around Union Square. I had never really been there before -- as in, that part of Manhattan; the area was kind of unfamiliar to me. I noticed that it is actually a pretty cool area -- that was my first impression of it, as soon as I stepped outside. There is a nice park right near the subway stop, and there are quite a few stores along the streets. It seems like a nice area to walk around, shop, and just hang out at.

However, I couldn't really do any of that yesterday, as I was on a schedule (because of the concert and all), so there was no time to waste lingering around idly. My first priority was to find Irving Plaza, the concert venue for the Hanson show. It was a little tricky to find, since the address doesn't say a street name or anything specific like that, so I wasn't exactly sure where the exact location of the venue is. I asked someone who was selling paintings on the sidewalk if she could tell me where Irving Plaza is. She said, "Oh, you mean Irving Place," and then told me to cross through the park and go one block further. I thanked her for her help, although I thought it was weird that she said Irving Place instead of Irving Plaza; there was something fishy about that. After I walked through the park and went one block across, I did come across Irving Place...but it didn't look right. The place said Irving Place, but it didn't look like Irving Plaza -- in other words, it didn't look like a concert venue. I figured that another way it would help me to find the venue is to look for a long line of fans (particularly excited girls), and wherever that line was, I could be certain that I had found the right place. But there was no line of girls anywhere in sight at Irving Place. I saw a man in a suit standing outside of the entrance to Irving Place (he looked like he works there), so I asked him if that was Irving Plaza. As I had basically expected, he said no. I then asked him if he could tell me where Irving Plaza is. This time, unlike that other woman whom I had asked for directions before, he knew what I was talking about and knew about Irving Plaza. He told me to go down the rest of the block and make a left.

And sure enough, as I reached the end of the block and looked to my left, I saw a long vertical sign that read "Irving Plaza," and a huge crowd of girls (fans waiting for the concert) gathered in front of the entrance. So I had finally found the right place -- yes! At first, I was actually kind of confused about the crowd of girls in front of the venue. From where I was standing, it looked like only a small crowd in front of the entrance to Irving Plaza. It seemed weird, because I expected to see a long line, so I was wondering, "Where's the line -- where are the rest of the fans? This can't be all of them. Are the rest of the fans already inside or something?" My mind was full of confusion and thoughts, trying to figure out what was going on.

But as I approached the crowd and walked closer and closer, I realized that there was, in fact, a line -- I just didn't see it from where I had been standing before. As I came closer, I saw a line formed from the opposite side of where I had come from. And what a long line it was! I kept walking and walking, passing by what seemed like a never-ending line of fans, wondering when I'd reach the end of the line and where it would be. It was a relief on one hand to see a long line, since now it made sense (I was confused when I thought there was no line before) and I was also glad to see that so many fans came to see Hanson perform. But on the other hand, at the same time it was also grim for me to see such a long line. Irving Plaza is located on the corner of 15th Street, and the line went all the way down the block, and wrapped around the corner and went down almost another block. I was astonished to see such a long line -- not that I thought there wouldn't be a long line at all, but I didn't quite expect this, either.

As I was making my way over to the end of the line, walking by past the long line of fans, someone across the street called out to one of the girls (another fan heading to the end of the line) walking ahead of me, asking what was going on (the long line and all). The girl called back, "Concert!" and I guess that person called back, "Who?" (as in, asking what band/singer would be performing). Then the girl pumped her arms up in the air and said enthusiastically, "Hanson!" and that person kind of made a face and I think muttered something (probably a less than enthusiastic remark after learning that it was a Hanson concert). Haha. I just found that whole situation kind of funny.

When I finally did reach the end of the line, I realized that I was so far back away from the entrance to Irving Plaza. It was because I didn't come very early; I arrived there a little before 7:30pm, which was only about a half hour before the doors would open (the doors opened at 8pm). And knowing some fans, I'm sure there were fans who camped out and slept in front of Irving Plaza the night before, in order to be at the front of the line. But as much as I do like Hanson and want to have a good view of them during their concerts, I'm not that obsessed to be at the front of the line, either -- I wouldn't go that far as to spend the night outside the venue, or wait the entire day standing in line. I just wouldn't do that; it's not something I'm really willing to do, just to be at the front of the line. But as a result, I guess that's why I've never been near the front of the line for anything like this, when it comes to seeing or meeting a celebrity. Even though there were some fans who had arrived after me and later than me, and were standing behind me in line (so at least I wasn't the very last fan waiting in line or anything), I still felt glum about where I was in line, because I was still definitely toward the back end. I'm not sure how many people were behind me in line, since I didn't bother to turn around and look, but all I knew for sure was that I was a lot closer to the back end than the front. I felt dispirited about it, because the concert would be floor standing room -- there were no seats, so everyone would just stand -- meaning, you can stand wherever you want and stand as close to the front as you possibly can. But when concerts are like that, your best bet is to arrive early and be near the front of the line, so as to ensure that you will be able to get a good standing spot during the show. And if I was standing toward the back end of the line as I had been, it meant that I had almost no hope of getting a good place to stand during the show. This thought was definitely disappointing to me. I was thinking, "Oh, great -- now I'll probably get a really crappy place to stand during the show, and maybe I'll hardly even see Hanson." It was a disconsolate thought for me, so I tried to push it out of my mind and not think about it anymore, since it seemed to only make me feel worse.

Even though I had only been standing in line waiting for about forty minutes, it felt a lot longer somehow. I guess it was because this time I found the wait was really boring, so it felt longer to me. It always seems like time passes by so much more slowly when you're bored. The wait in line wasn't exactly fun. There was this huge group of teenage girls standing in line right behind me, and they were beyond annoying. They seemed pretty snobby. They were being really loud and obnoxious the whole time we were waiting in line; I just wished they would shut up. And similar to when I was waiting in line to meet Hanson last April, later on, the girls behind me eventually struck up a conversation with the girls standing in front of me in line. I, on the other hand, didn't talk to anyone, though. As I've established before, I never talk to any other fans when I'm waiting in line for a Hanson event (or any other event, for that matter). I'm not the type to be able to just strike up a conversation with a stranger whom I don't know, and be able to talk to them like I've known them for years; it's just not something I can do well, nor something that I feel really comfortable doing, either. So I just prefer not to do it, basically. Anyhow, as the girls were talking, I overheard that the girls behind me were from Connecticut, and the girls in front of me were from Long Island. Hmm. It's interesting that fans come from far (or at least not too nearby, either) just to see their favorite band. I guess Hanson must feel lucky that they have fans who do that for them. I also overheard that they were all still in high school, which made me feel kind of old in comparison. I was probably the oldest one out of most of the girls standing around me in line. But actually, I don't really care. I've been a Hanson fan since July 1997 when I was twelve and a half, and now I'm nineteen and a half. Now that I think about it, I'm actually kind of proud that I've been a fan for so long, throughout Hanson's career on the music scene. I know I'm not the only one and that there are many fans who have supported Hanson for as long as I have, too, but I just feel glad that I have been a devoted fan for seven years and counting. As I've mentioned earlier, I've never really liked or been a fan of any other celebrity as much as I have with Hanson; they really stand out to me, somehow. Being a fan of their music has just made me feel great in the past seven years; I've always enjoyed their music and felt amazed whenever I heard their songs. It's a nice feeling to know that I am a true fan of theirs.

While we were waiting in line, a few crew people were walking by, carrying a camera and a microphone hooked up to a long black pole. Apparently, I guess they wanted to interview one of the fans on line or something like that, I think. Eventually, they picked to interview a fan a few feet ahead of me in line. On what basis they chose that fan, I don't know. I couldn't figure out if they chose the fan randomly, or if there was something else that had to do with it, but oh well. They were too far ahead of me for me to be able to hear the interview and what was being said, but it didn't really matter to me; I didn't really have an interest to hear it. Some fans near me were griping that they didn't get picked to be interviewed and they were kind of annoyed about it, but I don't care about it. I think I'm pretty camera shy, anyhow, so for me, I guess it's better if I don't get chosen to do something like that.

Also, something kind of freaky and intriguing happened while I was waiting in line. There were these three guys walking by at one point, and they were passing by the line of fans. As they were walking by, one of them shouted out something; I forgot exactly what he yelled out, but it was something along the lines of, "These girls are waiting to see Hanson!" in a kind of obnoxious tone of voice. At first, I didn't think much of it; I just waved it off in my head, thinking, "Right, just some random stupid guys being disrespectful..." But then I happened to glance over to look at the guys as they were continuing to walk away, and I thought they looked kind of familiar...then I realized they might be guys from my graduating class in high school! I'm not sure at all if they actually were them (guys I used to know from high school), because their backs were facing me as they were walking away, so I didn't really get a good look at them to be able to recognize them if they were, in fact, guys I know from high school. But the guy who shouted out that uncalled-for remark, his voice sounded kind of familiar. As they were passing by and walking away, for some reason, one of them actually turned around and looked behind him for a quick second. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good look at his face, since I wasn't wearing my glasses, so my vision of anything not too close isn't very good -- so I couldn't get a look close enough nor long enough to see if I could recognize him before he turned back around. But the backs of all three looked kind of familiar, too. Of course, I'm sure there are plenty of guys out there who could look similarly from the back and sound similar by their voices, but...I don't know. All I knew was that I felt pretty weird when I suddenly thought of the freaky possibility that they might be guys from my high school graduating class; it would be really creepy if it was, in fact, them. However, I really don't know for sure if they were actually guys from my high school class or not...I don't really have any way of knowing that now. So I guess I'll never know if they were them, or not. But if they were, in fact, the guys I thought they were (as in, guys from my high school graduating class), then all I have to say is ugh -- yuck. Virtually all the guys from my high school graduating class were obnoxious morons and jerks -- just a bunch of schmucks. Ever since I graduated high school, I've hoped to never see any of them again. I can honestly say I don't and will never miss those stupid people -- good riddance. Quite frankly, I'll be happy if I never see them again. So if those guys were the guys I used to know, I am disgusted that I had the misfortune of seeing them. But if they weren't the guys I thought they might be, then good -- although whoever those guys were, they still acted like complete imbeciles. Although what else is new -- boys will be boys. Just asinine. They'll never grow out of that "I'm-immature-and-love-it" stage, which is rather pathetic. How sad. Either way, whether they were guys I knew or not, good riddance to those morons.

In any event, I digress. A little after 8pm, the line finally started moving a little. The line moved little by little. It would move up for a few feet, and then stop and pause again before it would start moving a little again. It basically went on like that until I reached the front of the line. When I presented my ticket, surprisingly, like at the skating events, they didn't take my ticket and tear off one end of the stub. They just glanced at my ticket briefly, and that was it. What they were particular about this time around, though, was security -- they made sure they checked everyone's bags, and they even checked your body, too. How strict is that, not to mention paranoid. And to my disappointment, they told me that cameras were not allowed. It's just really ironic how at the Hanson promotional event last April, cameras were permitted but I unfortunately didn't have one with me at the time. And now, when I am actually prepared and have a camera with me, cameras aren't allowed -- irony at its best. Ugh. For a moment, I actually considered sneaking in my camera, anyway. But in the end, I decided not to take the chance of risking it, because I didn't want to go through any trouble if I could avoid it. I wasn't pleased that I couldn't have my camera with me and that I couldn't take any pictures, but oh well. I just don't understand the no-camera rule, though; what is wrong with having a camera during the show, I can't figure out. The security people even made me check my bag into the bag check room. I didn't want to do this, because I wanted to keep my bag with me. But it didn't look like I had a choice, so I reluctantly went over to check my bag. To top off my dismay, they charged $1.50 to check bags in -- what a rip-off. I didn't even want to check my bag, much less pay money to do so. Plus, I wanted to get to the floor room as soon as possible; I was anxious to get there as soon as I could, so that I could get the best possible standing place that I could find at that point. I didn't want to go through any more delays before I could access the floor room. But again, I didn't want any trouble or have security give me a hard time, so I reluctantly complied. However, I didn't trust leaving any of my valuables in my bag when I checked it, so I removed everything I wasn't willing to leave in my bag while it would be kept in the bag check room. I took out my wallet, my phone, my glasses, my I.D. card, and my sister's Metro card, and I kept these with me the whole time. I felt more comfortable about the safety of my valuable possessions, knowing that they were with me, and not with some stranger in charge of the bag check room. I put my glasses on my face, I put the cards away in my wallet, and I put my phone in my pants pocket, but unfortunately my wallet was too big to fit in any of the pockets of my clothes, so I couldn't put it away anywhere. I ended up just having to hold onto it in my hand the whole time, but I suppose it was just as well -- I'd rather hold onto it and know that it was safe in my possession, than risk having it get stolen.

Once I checked my bag, I finally got to go to the actual floor room where the concert would be held. I was surprised to see it was upstairs -- you had to go up a set of stairs to get to the actual standing room for the concert, which I had not expected. I guess since the only other small concert venue I've ever been to in Manhattan was the Hammerstein Ballroom for the Hanson concert there in 2000, and the floor standing room there wasn't located on the second floor -- it was located on the ground floor. So I guess I had just expected all small concert venues with floor standing room to be the same or like that, but I stand corrected now. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I saw the concert room was immediately to the left of the top of the stairs. There were several doors opened, and as I looked through them, I saw the floor room was already packed. It was full of people, and there was hardly much room left for anyone else. However, I noticed that toward the left side of the doors, there was still a little space left, so I just squeezed in and stood over there. Quite surprisingly and thankfully, it actually wasn't a bad place to stand for the show. The stage was to the left of the room, so where I was standing was actually closer to the front (as in, near the stage) than if I had picked to stand to the right of the room. If it had been like the Hammerstein Ballroom almost four years ago, where the stage was directly across from the doors to the floor room, then I would have had no hope and I would have been stuck at the very back (since I was standing near the doors to the floor room). But luckily for me, at Irving Plaza, the stage is located to the left of the doors, so my place near the left-side doors really wasn't a bad spot. I don't know why no one else thought of coming to stand there for the concert, and why so many fans chose to go to the right side where they were further away from the stage and closer to the back. The only reason I can think of is probably because they wanted to be in the center (even if it meant being further back from the front stage) or be on the right side, where Taylor would be (knowing some Taylor fans). But as for me, I didn't really care about what side I was on or anything, as long as I was as close to the front as possible -- and I was pretty close! I think I was standing only about fifteen feet away from the stage, toward the left side. It was actually a pretty decent spot. So I guess I had been dejected for nothing, when I was outside waiting in line earlier, thinking that I would get an awful standing spot and wouldn't get a good view of the stage. I stand corrected now! I noticed there was also a second floor where some fans were, too, but I decided to stay where I was down at the floor. After all, this way, I was closer to the stage.

By the time I got to the floor room, the opening act, Ben Jelen, was already playing. It was Ben Jelen singing and an all-guy band. They were pretty good; they played some good rock music. It was pretty cool. At one point, Ben Jelen said to us (the audience), "You guys aren't ready to see Hanson yet, are you?" and everyone started screaming and making a lot of noise. Haha. Way to get Hanson fans that are waiting to see Hanson come on stage, worked up. Ha. After the band finished playing a few songs and left, an overhead screen lowered down from the ceiling, and blocked the stage while crew people started coming on stage to move the instruments and rearrange the set. While we were waiting, in the meantime a bunch of weird videos were playing on the screen. The first one was this weird cartoon, which kind of reminded me of those annoying schoolhouse rock cartoons. They actually weren't very similar at all, as far as the themes of the cartoons go, but the style and the way the cartoon was drawn just sort of reminded me of it.

About a half hour later, the screen finally went back up and another band came on. I was expecting to see Hanson come on, because I thought the opening band had just performed, so now it was finally Hanson's turn to come on and play. But I was wrong. Instead, another opening act came on for some reason. Why there were two opening acts, I don't have the slightest clue. But in any case, there were. It was a relatively new singer named Maria Mena. I remember while I was standing in line, someone was walking up the line and passing out little flier cards that were promoting Maria Mena's new album (although somehow, I didn't get one...I think that person forgot to give me one, but oh well; I didn't really care), and I heard someone say that she is the opening act. She is the lead singer of her band, and the rest of her band is a bunch of guys playing the instruments and that don't sing. In that sense, it kind of reminded me of bands like No Doubt or Letters to Cleo, although their music isn't really that similar to hers. She played a few songs, and introduced herself in between one of them. She told us that her new album will be released on Tuesday; she also said that she is eighteen and from Norway. Hmmm. It was intriguing that she is from Norway, since she doesn't have any accent at all in her voice; her English sounded fluent. Also, she does not fit the stereotype of a Norwegian girl's appearance at all. Most people think of girls from Norway to have blond hair and a fair complexion. Well, Maria Mena has long wavy dark brown hair, although I guess her complexion was fair. Anyhow, some of her songs were okay, although I wasn't that crazy about her music overall, to be honest. Especially during one song she played, it wasn't too popular with the audience. She told us it was a song she wrote after she fell in love with her best friend, but her best friend didn't love her back (so I guess you can imagine how that goes, as that unrequited love seems like a popular theme for songs to be about). During that song, I heard one guy near me say to someone, "This (song) is probably hurting her record sales," and I heard a few other not-so-kind remarks about Maria Mena during that song. Hmm. So from what I observed, it didn't seem like many people at the concert liked her very much -- or at least the people standing around where I was, didn't seem too fond of her. But oh well. Maria Mena seemed oblivious to it all, though, since she kept telling us that we're a great audience and thanking us. Most people were polite and would cheer and applaud after each of her songs, but I think everyone was probably eager to see Hanson at that point.

After Maria Mena and her band were finally done performing and left, the overhead screen lowered down once again and started playing yet more weird videos. The next video was even weirder than the first one. It looked like it was made in the '70s or early '80s, and it had these young kids with big hair (one of them had a curly orange Afro, and he was white) who were hanging around these...weird-looking creatures. I don't know what they were; they were green and hairy (or leafy...maybe they were plants), and they had big eyes. There were also beige-colored ones, too. They looked pretty freaky. I wondered whose videos were those, Hanson's or Irving Plaza's. But either way, the videos were really strange; they were so weird. They were definitely the weirdest videos I ever saw. After that bizarre video ended (finally...I think it was starting to creep out a lot of people), a video of people surfing came on. I wasn't sure if it was Hanson surfing, or just some random guys; I couldn't really tell, although one guy in that video looked like Isaac. And after that surfing video, a bunch of clips of various sites in Manhattan were shown. That was probably the best and most normal video, out of all the videos that were shown during the time we were waiting while the stage crew were setting up the stage. Haha.

During the wait, something awful happened to me. I don't know why, but for some unknown reason, suddenly I felt really sick. It was pretty random; I don't know where that sick feeling came from, since I had felt completely fine before and I haven't felt sick in a while. But all I knew at that moment was that the sick feeling had really hit me hard. I suddenly felt really hot; I felt my body suddenly become really warm. I could feel myself become really sweaty -- my hands, my arms, my neck, my face -- just about everything. My back, in particular, was sweating profusely; I don't think I've ever sweat that much before. It was like a strong wave of heat had suddenly washed over me. And then I started feeling really light-headed and kind of dizzy. I suddenly felt tired, and I felt like I could barely stand up any longer; all I wanted to do was sit down or lie down someplace, and get away from the crowd of people -- but under the circumstances of the situation I was in (at a crowded concert), I couldn't do that. It was so hard to fight the urge to crouch down and just pull myself back together; I had to keep standing there among all the crowds of fans, do my best to pretend I felt fine, even though I felt terrible, and just hope that this sick feeling would pass and leave my body soon. In the meantime, though, experiencing this sick feeling was simply awful. I haven't felt so ill in a long time. Everything started to go kind of faint and blurry, too; my vision was dimming and everything was starting to turn black in my eyes. I also felt like I was going to throw up any minute; I could feel my vomit was ready to come out from inside me. It was kind of like a feeling of nausea. In short, it was an absolutely horrible feeling; I think I've described it vividly enough to get that point across. I cannot stand that sick feeling; it is probably the worst sick feeling ever that I have personally experienced. I remember I felt similarly on the first day of my lab course earlier this year, but I think yesterday at the concert, it was much worse. Apparently, I guess whenever I'm waiting in an extremely crowded area and feel hot, I get this sick feeling. I was really worried and panicking to myself at that point. I kept thinking, "Oh, no -- what am I going to do? What if this sick feeling doesn't go away? Will I have to leave the concert early, and just go home? Will I have to miss the concert altogether? What's going to happen to me?" Many times, I really thought I was going to faint any minute; I felt so sick and light-headed that I was almost expecting I would fall over and pass out any minute. But it would have been bad for that to happen in the situation I was in. I didn't want to cause a scene by fainting or passing out before Hanson had even come out to perform, and I certainly didn't want to miss seeing Hanson play their concert. I had been looking forward to seeing them perform live in concert on tour for a while, and I just couldn't let this sick feeling mar it for me. It had taken me a lot to get where I was at the concert, and I just wasn't going to let this sick feeling stop me now. It was extremely tough, though. It took me a lot of strength and will power to not let the sick feeling overcome me completely, and I fought very hard to feel fine again. I had been so afraid that the sick feeling wouldn't leave and that I'd continue to feel that way (sick) when Hanson would come on, and then I wouldn't be able to enjoy the concert, since I was feeling so ill. But luckily and thankfully, somehow the sick feeling did eventually pass and I felt well enough again before Hanson came on stage. I was extremely relieved and very grateful that the sick feeling had left my body, because otherwise...I don't even want to imagine what could have happened, if I had continued to feel sick during Hanson's performance. It would have been beyond bad.

A few times during the wait (while the screen was still out), the fans would suddenly start screaming out of the blue. I kept thinking that meant that maybe Hanson finally showed up on stage, or maybe they happened to catch a glimpse of one of the Hanson brothers from the side of the stage, or something. But each time people started screaming, I'd immediately look over at the stage, but Hanson wasn't there. So I didn't get why the fans would start randomly screaming like that; I thought that was kind of weird. But oh well. I guess everyone was just excited and eager to see Hanson, and they couldn't wait until Hanson came out.

When Hanson finally did come out, it was a little after 10pm. I didn't expect that they would come out so late, since the ticket said that the doors would open at 8pm, and I never thought that it would be another two hours before Hanson would finally come on. I panicked, because I told my father that I expected the concert to end at about 10:45pm -- since at the time, I didn't know they would actually come on stage at 10pm. So I needed to get in touch with my father to let him know that I miscalculated the time, and that the concert would end later. But I couldn't reach my father. I tried to call him, but I couldn't get through. It wasn't that there was no service or no reception, but it was just way too loud in the floor room. I couldn't hear the phone ringing, let alone a voice on the other end, so it was just impossible to make a call from the floor room with all the loud screaming fans. I guess I could have left the floor room to make the call, but I didn't want to do that, because then I would have lost my standing place in the floor room -- and I didn't want that to happen. I had even seriously considered leaving the concert early, just so I wouldn't have to make my father wait (I was supposed to meet him at 42nd Street at about 10:45pm, near Dwight's apartment), and I'd be able to meet him on time, as we had originally planned. But I decided to wait it out, and see what would happen -- and for the time being, just enjoy the concert I paid to attend.

Like the shows during the "This Time Around Tour" in 2000, Hanson didn't make any special or creative entrance to come out on stage; they just simply walked on stage and went over to their respective instruments. Simple and original, I guess. The fans just started going crazy at that point. Everyone started screaming really loudly, and it was just a huge noise. I had forgotten how loud concerts can be, since it's been a while since I last attended one. Hanson started playing the first song of the show, although I couldn't recognize which song it was. I don't think I've ever heard it before; maybe it was a cover of some other band or singer's song, or something. However, I could recognize basically every other song after that. They played some songs off of their albums, "Underneath," "This Time Around," and "Middle of Nowhere." The songs they played were (not listed in order), "In the City," "Dancing in the Wind," "A Minute Without You," "Deeper," "Look At You," "Penny & Me," "Underneath," "Love Song," "Man From Milwaukee," "Hand In Hand," "Get Up and Go," "This Time Around," "Where's the Love," "Gimme Some Lovin'," "Crazy Beautiful," "If Only," "MMMBop," and "Lost Without Each Other." They played about twenty songs altogether.

The concert was really awesome and so much fun. Everyone was having a good time, clapping, jumping, dancing, waving their arms, and everything. It was just great. Throughout the show, at the very front, I saw someone (probably a crew member) was taping the audience during the whole concert. I doubt I'll show up in the taping, since I wasn't close enough to the stage to be able to be seen in the taping, but oh well. As I said before, I've always thought of myself as camera shy, anyhow, so I guess this isn't a bad thing for me. I also noticed that so many people had, in fact, managed to sneak in a camera and were taking pictures during the concert, anyway. Most of them were taking pictures on their camera phones (too bad mine isn't a camera phone). It made me kind of wish that I had brought my sister's phone with me, since hers is a camera phone, but she probably never would have let me take it to the concert, much less borrow it (she barely let me borrow her Metro card, so why her phone). And knowing her, she certainly wouldn't want me filling it up with Hanson pictures, of all things (since she doesn't like Hanson). Haha. There was also one girl standing in front of me who had snuck in a digital camera. I felt kind of jealous and irked that I had checked my camera when I saw so many people who had snuck in cameras; I felt I should have done the same, and I regretted not doing so in the first place. But my brief regret didn't last very long, when I noticed there a crew person standing by the bottom of the left side of the stage, checking to see if people had cameras and were taking pictures. He caught the girl in front of me taking pictures, so he gestured for her to stop. But she kept taking pictures, anyway, so he eventually came over to her and ordered her to go downstairs to check her camera in the bag check room. I could tell she didn't want to, and that she was trying to get out of having to do so, but in the end, she finally left to check her camera. Hmm. I definitely did not envy that girl being in that situation -- being forced to leave to check her camera in. So maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I didn't have my camera with me during the show. I would have been irritated if they had made me leave in the middle of the show to check my camera -- not even just because they would make me get rid of my camera, but more so because I'd have to miss part of the show. But speaking of having to leave in the middle of the show, surprisingly throughout the show, there were quite a few fans that would leave for whatever reason during the concert. Whenever that would happen, everyone would inch forward and move closer to the stage, since spaces opened up whenever someone would leave the floor room. That was a good thing for people like me, who didn't leave the floor during the whole concert. So in essence, every time someone left, I got to move closer and closer up front, and by the end of the show, I was a few feet closer to the front than I had been originally. Cool! I still wasn't up front or anything super close to the stage, but I was decently close, about fifteen feet away, and it was closer than before. Since I was on the left side, I had the best view of Isaac most of the time, then Taylor, and lastly Zac. But that's usually the case with my view of Zac during a show, since he is in the back playing the drums. I wish I could see him more, or at least as much as Isaac and Taylor, but oh well.

The only other song I couldn't recognize besides the opening song was a song earlier in the show that Zac performed solo on acoustic guitar. Everyone else (the rest of the band, including Isaac and Taylor) left the stage, and Zac was the lone performer by himself on stage. I thought it was nice that Zac finally had a moment to perform up front and solo, because he is usually toward the back of the stage playing the drums, so it's hard to see him (compared to Isaac or Taylor, who are always up front), and now he was up front, close and personal with the audience! It was so great. Zac's solo performance was just so intimate; you could tell he was so immersed in the song, and you could see drops of sweat dripping from his face as he was singing. It was just a really cool performance (way to go, Zac!). I just regret that I didn't know what song he was playing; I thought it might be "Broken Angel," because I know that's a song he sings lead on off of "Underneath," but it didn't sound like "Broken Angel," so I'm not sure. Hmmm. I hope I'll be able to find out what song it was that he performing solo, as well as the opening song they played.

"Penny & Me" was performed differently this time at the concert; instead of the whole band playing it together, this time only Taylor performed solo on it. So it was kind of a different version of the song, without the other instruments and singers (Isaac and Zac) in the background -- just Taylor on the keyboards. I don't know why they decided to do it this way, though, since I personally think the song sounds great with the whole band performing it with all the instruments and vocals. Not that I'm saying that Taylor performing it solo wasn't good, because it was fine, but I just kind of wished the whole band played their first single/hit song together on tour at this show; that would have been nice to see. But oh well. At least technically, I have seen them play "Penny & Me" altogether, since they did play it together at the promotional event last April, so it's all good.

The concert just got more exciting, energetic, and fun as the show progressed and more songs were performed. A lot of times in between songs, Isaac or Taylor would speak and talk to us (the audience). At one point, Isaac said, "You know, you guys are wearing me out," since the audience was so loud and energetic. And later on, Taylor said that we (audiences at New York shows) are always the loudest and craziest. Haha. They mentioned quite a few times that it's always exciting for them to play shows in New York and that the fans here are great. Yay, New York! Ha.

During "A Minute Without You," once again, Isaac and Taylor acknowledged Zac on the drums right before his drum solo in the song, as they always do whenever they perform that song live. I've always liked that they give him credit for it; it's nice of them to acknowledge Zac's drum playing, and Zac deserves it. A lot of times during many of the songs, Isaac and Taylor would get the crowd worked up. They would tell us to clap our hands up in the air, jump up and down, and whatnot. During "This Time Around," in the middle of the song, Isaac suddenly got a kind of dreamy expression on his face, and he started waving his right arm slowly in the air, which got a lot of the audience to emulate his move. It was cool. During a couple of songs, Taylor would even play on an electric guitar as well. It's cool that now all three of the Hanson brothers can play guitar and performed on guitar at the show; it was nice to see. During "If Only," Taylor played harmonica, and every time he got to play his harmonica solo, he would start jumping up and down, which got the audience jumping, too. Haha. And even in one song, Isaac and Taylor were even dancing on stage! Well, maybe not exactly "dancing" dancing per se...not really. It was more like them just kind of moving from side to side, swaying, and feeling the rhythm and whatnot. But it was cool to see, since I've never seen them do anything like that before (let's face it -- Hanson have never exactly been known for their dancing skills). Haha.

"Lost Without Each Other" was the last Hanson song they played. It was really cool when Taylor was announcing it right before they started playing it, because he revealed that it is going to be their second single off of "Underneath"! Yay! I was so glad to hear that, because I absolutely love that song. It is my favorite off of "Underneath," next to "Penny & Me." It's an awesome song and it just truly rocks. I'm just really excited that it is official that they plan to make "Lost Without Each Other" their second single, because I've liked that song so much ever since I first heard it when I first listened to the new album, and I hoped they would make it one of their singles. I remember I was disappointed when "Runaway Run" never got to be one of their singles off of "This Time Around," since that is my favorite song off of "This Time Around," and I always thought it should have been one of the singles, but it never was. So now, finding out that "Lost Without Each Other" will be their second single now, is just terrific news to me -- music to my ears! (No pun intended, haha). Although I have to say that their performance of "Lost Without Each Other" sounded a little different live, but I think that was probably because everyone was so loud, so the noise kind of drowned out the volume of the song and the music, I guess. But at the end of the song, Isaac slid down and did one of those slides that rock guitarists do, and it really got the crowd going wild! It was awesome.

After "Lost Without Each Other," Hanson thanked us, waved to us, and then got up and left the stage. At first, that made me initially think that the concert was over, but no one in the audience was leaving, so I decided it couldn't be over just yet. Everyone started chanting loudly, "Hanson! Hanson! Hanson!" obviously wanting an encore. And sure enough, it wasn't over yet. Hanson came back on stage, and played their last and final song for the night. Right before they started playing, Taylor said, "This is a song we haven't played on tour before." Then he went over to Isaac and whispered something to Isaac (my guess is to probably verify which song they were going to play), and Isaac nodded. Then they started playing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" -- a Stevie Wonder cover! Awesome! I know the song from the soundtrack of the movie "Now and Then," and I like it. It's a great song, and their cover of it was so cool! The audience loved it, too; everyone got really excited and started shrieking when we recognized the opening notes of the song. It was great, and a nice song to close the concert with.

When the song finally ended, now the concert was really over. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac came out, took a bow, and waved to us. Isaac threw a few of his guitar picks into the audience, but of course I didn't get any, since I never have luck with getting things like that. They were also reaching over to touch the outstretched hands of some of the fans in the audience, mostly the ones in the front near the stage (since that's within reaching distance for them). But then Zac got a different idea. I saw him glance up briefly at the upper left level (the right-side for him, from the stage), and then suddenly he hopped up onto these huge black blocks on the left side, jumped up, and touched the hands of the lucky fans who were on the left-side of the upper level. Naturally, those fans started screaming in delight when Zac touched their hands. I saw those fans' gleeful reactions that got to touch Zac's hand, since I was right below them on the floor level; they looked really exhilarated and astonished, since I guess they didn't expect to get to touch a Hanson brother from where they were on the upper level. Zac certainly surprised them! After Zac touched their hands, he looked down from where he was standing up above, looking below at the fans on the floor area around where I was standing. Then, on impulse, he suddenly leaned down and reached his hand down below to us! Unfortunately, though, I wasn't quite close enough to touch Zac's hand (I was a couple feet too far away from his hand), but that didn't stop the fans around me from trying. It was crazy; as soon as he extended his hand down to us (the fans on the left-side of the floor), everyone around me immediately thrust over to the left, trying frantically to reach Zac and touch his hand. I lost my balance when people suddenly pushed madly over to the left, and I almost toppled over, had there not been so many around me, so I was able to steady myself and regain my balance. I think Isaac and Taylor laughed when they saw how the fans made a mad dash in an attempt to reach over to touch Zac when he did that; I guess it probably did look pretty funny from their point of view. So I didn't get to touch Zac (almost, though -- it was the closest I ever got to touching a Hanson brother at a concert), much less Isaac or Taylor, but I'm not really disappointed, since I got to shake their hands when I met them last April. Even though getting to touch them again would be cool, I'm content that at least I got to shake their hands once, finally, after waiting almost seven years to do so. I guess it was just a matter of patience and chance.

After Hanson said their last goodbyes and waved to us for the final time, the concert was finally over for good. The good thing about me being near the doors was that I was able to make a fairly quick exit and get away, which was exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't want to get stuck or caught up in the chaos of the huge crowd of fans, not being able to move or go anywhere, and just being sandwiched in between people (which I experienced at my second Hanson concert in 2000 -- and I can say from experience that it wasn't fun). Once I got out of the floor room, I hurried down the stairs and immediately went over to the bag check room to retrieve my back. Thankfully, since I was one of the first fans out, I didn't have to wait long to get my bag, which was what I had dreaded (waiting forever to get my bag back, because of a long line). I was glad to avoid any lines at that point. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to go buy tour merchandise, though. It was midnight, and I knew my father was waiting for me, and that I was over an hour later than scheduled to go meet him at 42nd Street. So I didn't have any time to spare, so getting tour merchandise was kind of out of the question, under the circumstances I was in. Right after I got my bag, I called my father. I could barely hear him, even though the concert was over and there was no more screaming, because my ears felt numb. The concert and the noise of the screaming fans had been so loud that I felt like my hearing had gone and that I went deaf. But somehow, I managed to tell my father on the phone that the concert had finally ended and that I was on my way up to meet him. It ended up taking a while, though. On the way, I bought a bottle of water ($1 -- yet another rip-off) from a news stand, since I was pretty thirsty. I realized that perhaps one of the reasons why I felt sick earlier was because I was dehydrated, so I decided I needed to get some cold water to replenish my body with electrolytes. It helped a little. Then I went to the Union Square 14th Street subway stop and waited for a yellow line subway to come to go back uptown to Times Square. During the wait, I saw a rat scurrying around in the subway tracks below. That's Manhattan's cleanliness for you, haha. But if you've ever been to Manhattan before and know New York City, seeing rats around the subway tracks isn't really unheard of.

It took a while waiting, maybe about ten or fifteen minutes until the subway finally came. It felt so good to be able to sit down for the whole ride up to Times Square. Believe me, after standing for about five hours straight, getting to finally sit down feels like heaven. I was so tired and completely worn out. I haven't felt so exhausted in a while. I felt like I had no energy, and that it had all been drained out of my body. And the funny thing is, the concert wasn't like a physical athletic workout or anything that energy-draining -- yet I felt so much more drained of energy than I have from doing a physical activity. I was just so drained.

All in all, the concert was great. There were certain parts about the day that weren't so good (particularly when I suddenly felt sick and felt like I was going to die -- or at least collapse any minute), but the concert per se was awesome. It was a great show with great music. Hanson always put on a fantastic and exciting show on tour; I don't think I'll ever be disappointed by their live in concert performances. They rock! And so, that's the story of my 2004 Hanson concert experience.