~*|_@rr|$@'$ Re\/|e\/\/*~
My family and I got to the Hartford Civic Center at 4:52 PM. First we
bought some merchandise. Since my sister and I are MOE members, we
wanted to look for that guy Ashley, who was giving out 10 backstage
passes. We walked all over the place looking for him. We would have kept
looking, but I'm on crutches right now because I had surgery on my foot
a couple weeks ago, so we stopped after while because we were having no
luck. Then we just sat on this bench waiting until we could sit in our
seats to wait for... HANSON!!!
At about 5:50, we were sitting in our seats watching the stage crew set
up for the opening band, Admiral Twin. They are from Tulsa, like Hanson.
Actually, you know the Official Hanson Biography? It's written by Jarrod
Gollihare. That same guy is the drummer in Admiral Twin. Also, I heard
that when Hanson was just starting out, they went to Admiral Twin for
advice. It's kinda funny, cuz now Admiral Twin is just the opening band
for Hanson. Anyway, Admiral Twin was pretty good. After about 6 songs
(I'm not exactly sure), they went offstage and all of their instruments
were taken off. This was around 6:40. At this time I was practically
hyperventilating. I was soooo psyched!!! I knew that Hanson would be on
soon!!
Hanson came onstage at 7:00. They didn't say anything at first. They
just started playing "Gimme Some Lovin'". Oh, Taylor kind of screwed up
at one part. You know how he talks and says, "When I heard about the
fella you've been dancing with..." or something like that? Well, the
words kind of got jumbled up. You couldn't really notice though. Besides
that, it was sooo awesome!!! I couldn't believe that I actually was in
the same room as Hanson!!!!!
Soon I calmed down (kinda) and looked at what Hanson was wearing. Ike
was looking awesome with gray pants and a navy blue shirt with a tan,
long-sleeved shirt over it. Zac was looking sooo cool in red pants (Yes,
bright red pants) and a black shirt. Oh, he also had on yellow and brown
shoes. Taylor was wearing maroon pants that were on the tight side and a
white zipper shirt.
Then Hanson sang "Thinking of You". It was GREAT!!! Then they sang
"Where's the Love" and then "River".
Next, Hanson sang "Weird". Guess what happened??? You know how in the
beginning Taylor sings, "Isn't it weird. Isn't it strange...."? Well,
Taylor messed up that part. He sang, "Isn't it strange... Oh, sorry." I
felt soooo bad for him!!
Then they sang "Sometimes". During this song, Tay kept trying to get
everyone to sing, "Sh-na-na-na-na-na..." along with them, but it didn't
quite work.
At this time, Hanson went offstage. The set was changed to a
house/garage thing. Over the Hanson sign on the floor, they had a round
rug. They also had three chairs around it. Zac sat on the left end, Ike
sat in the middle, and Tay sat on the right side of Ike. There was a
pretend lamp in between Tay and Ike. It had a silver lampshade and a
twisted, metal post. When Hanson came back on, Tay was wearing a tight
white T-shirt. Also, Ike and Zac put their hair up, but Tay's was still
down.
They sang "Stories" and Tay played the keyboards, Ike played the
acoustic guitar, and Zac played red mini maracas.
Then they sang the 3 Car Garage version of "With You In Your Dreams".
Zac played the drums with these drumsticks with red, horizontal stripes
on them.
Next, they sang, "Madeline". They dedicated it to anyone who's name was
Madeline. Tay played the tambourine.
Then Hanson sang "Soldier". There was this cool harmony when Hanson
sang, "And he was lonely, so lonely for a friend."
At this time, Tay and Zac walked offstage, and Ike stayed on. As Zac was
leaving, I was watching him. he was waving to everyone, but when he got
to the corner, he bumped into the set!! I don't think a lot of people
noticed, though. It was kinda funny.
Then Ike sang "More Than Anything", from Boomerang. It was beautiful!!
Even better than on the actual album. Ike played the keyboard. He's
REALLY good.
As the stage got back to normal, Hanson came back onstage with water
bottles. They squirted the people in the front.
Then they sang, "Speechless". During "Speechless", Ike walked over to
Tay while playing his guitar and nodded his head a couple times to the
beat. The he went next to Zac and did the same thing. I don't know what
he was doing. It was weird.
After "Speechless", a guy from offstage ran up to Zac and whispered
something. Then they did this really cool rap thing with background
music. They introduced the backup instruments like it was a song.
The Zac ran up to the front of the stage and Tay took over the drums.
Zac kicked off all the balloons and this beachball that said stuff on
it. Some people had thrown that onstage. The Zac handed his drumsticks
to these girls in the very front row. Then he got a Super Soaker and
shot everyone. Then Tay got a Super Soaker.
Then Hanson did this song, "Everybody". Zac's drumsticks were the
light-up kind. Ike played a brown electric guitar for this song.
Then Hanson sang "I Will Come To You". Ike had his black electric guitar
again.
Then Taylor said something like, "This song is for all you out in the
back because you know we can't live without you." When Tay first started
talking, Zac accidentally started the song. Ike and Tay kinda looked at
him like, "Uh, Zac??? I'm trying to talk."
Then Hanson sang "A Minute Without You".
Next, Hanson sang a Rascals song, "Good Lovin'".
After that, Ike and Tay started to talk about MOE. Zac went over to the
right corner of the stage and threw balloon or something to the people
over there.
Then they sang "MMMBop".
After that, Zac wiped his face off.
Then they sang "Man From Milwaukee". Ike played the maroon guitar.
During this song, Ike did that thing where he nodded his head near Zac
and Tay.
At the end of this song, Ike ran and jumped onto Zac's little podium for
the drums and then Ike jumped off it and slid on his knees!!!!! It was
awesome.
Then they shot everyone with Super Soakers again.
After that, it was supposed to be over, but they said something like,
"Well, since you guys aren't leaving, I guess we'll play a couple more
songs."
Then they sang "Look at You".
Next they sang, "Summertime Blues". Halfway through, Ike took over the
keyboard and Tay leaned over the edge of the stage and let the girls
sing into the microphone, "There ain't no cure for the summertime
blues." Then Ike played the guitar and Tay played the keyboard for the
rest of the song. Towards the end of the song, Ike started bouncing up
and down while playing the guitar still.
Then Hanson said, "Bye! Come back soon!!" and all that kind of stuff.
Zac said, "I love you man!"
Then we left and we ate at a place in the building because we didn't
want to get stuck in traffic. That was at about 8:45.
At around 9:45, we were on the road heading home. There was still a long
line of cars. When we drove up a little bit more, we saw Hanson's two
buses. There were all these girls waiting for Hanson to come out and get
into the buses. I felt sooo bad for Hanson and their family.
I had a lot of fun at this Hanson concert and I would definitely go to
another Hanson concert...but only if I brought earplugs! :-)
~Larissa
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