August 17, 2000
House of Blues, New Orleans, La.
My day started early at 4:00 a.m. in the morning on
August 17th 2000. Myself, my neice Beth who is 13 and a friend Sheena who is 12 woke up bright and early that morning although we were still excited and tired from the autograph signing from the day before. We were anxious to get our day started.
I had over 60 miles or so to drive to New Orleans. We arrived in New Orleans around 6:00 a.m.. When we were just about there my niece got all excited and said, "Look is that Hanson's tour bus?" And I said, "I think it is." We were right along side it. I rolled down my window to see if I could get a look inside but, I couldn't see anything because the windows were tinted black. I later found out that it was the bus that part of Hanson's crew used. It was dark blue and had an Alabama liscense plate.
We found a place to park at one of those pay one price for all day parking lots. We walked two blocks to The House of Blues where the concert was to be held later that night. The House of Blues is located in the French Quarter in an Old Historic Section of New Orleans. As we turned down Decatur street there were already about 20 or so fans in line most of whom had slept on the sidewalk the night before. I was happy to be one of the early ones. We meet people from different parts of the United States. One girl we meet named Candice was from Tennessee and she said she had been to several Hanson Concerts including the Tulsa one. She was very friendly and sweet. We exchanged E-mail addresses and I gave her my website addy.
We had a long while to wait in line. The concert didn't start until 7:15 p.m. that night so it was quite a long day. We found things to occupy our time while waiting. We talked to different Hanson fans waiting in line and shared interesting conversation while waiting.
Later we noticed a tour bus coming up the street and we all got excited! I can't remember what time it arrived, but it was early in the day. It wasn't Hanson's bus, but one that belonged to their crew. Later another one pulled up and this bus held their stylest and other members of their staff. Another vechile holding all of their insturments and band equipment was there. Their road crew was busy unloading all of their equipment. The stylest walked out of the bus carrying an ironing board and brung it inside and then she walked out with an arm full of clothes. One girl asked her who's clothes are those and the lady said, "This is Taylor's jacket and this was such and such's shirt and so on". One girl got so excited she took a picture.
Several TV stations showed up and took a few shots of the crowd. The guy with the camera walked closer to where I was standing and I asked him "Can I be on TV too"? And he said, "Sure". He was from News 26 out of New Orleans. I asked him to take a few shots of my T-shirt. It read "I'M NOT THE MOM OF A HANSON FAN I AM A HANSON FAN". Since I'm a older Hanson Fan everyone thinks I came with my daughter, so I decided to make a special shirt for the concert. He also filmed the back of my shirt which had an advertisement for Monica Geist of "Masterpiece of Hanson" website, she was netpick # 5 in Moe magazine and is a professional portrait artist. I got her permission to use some of her portraits for my shirt and I did a little advertising for her. The guy with the camera said that it would air at about 5:00 p.m. that day, so I don't know if I made the news or not!
The day was long and hot and we couldn't wait for 7:15 p.m. to get there. Waiting was at times unbareable. We walked around alot to pass the time. Security guys from the House of Blues decided to move us down the alley way and out of the sun. It was much cooler there and was off the sidewalk. We waited a bit longer when a van pulled up. Scott Hogan was in the van. He is the bass player for Hanson. One girl got to take a picture with him.
Later the crowd noticed another bus coming up the road. And Yes, finally it was Hanson's tour bus! This one is maroon in color and it pulled up next to the barracades and parked there for a minute. We all had our cameras ready to snap pictures. First a lady came out of the bus, but she got back in right away. She got back in and she pulled the curtains shut so we couldn't see inside. We waited a little longer and then the curtains opened and first Ike came out and he went inside so fast that I didn't get the chance to take a picture. They all came out one by one. Next was Zac and all I managed to get was a picture of was the side of his head. Then Taylor came out last (all of us know that Tay takes the longest to get off the bus), and I managed to get a shot of the top of his head. Not a very good Kodak moment, but an exciting one! One girl was so excited about seeing them that she was crying and broke out into a sweat! She said she got to touch one of their Hands!
Now...more waiting was ahead of us. We heard rumors that if we had our Moe card that we would be allowed to do a meet and greet with Hanson, but that wasn't the case. You had to have a special VIP pass to do the meet and greet, so about 20 or so lucky few got the opprotunity to do a meet and greet with Hanson. A few girls got upset about not being able to meet them and they were crying. Someone misunderstood what was happening and what was said about the Moe cards.
Still more waiting! We seen a lady with a video camera and her daughter. They said they were doing a "Hanson Documentary"! She asked if she could film my T-shirt and I said, "Yes of course!" I said a few words about my shirt. And she went down the line asking who wanted to be part of the Documetary and lots of people wanted to be in it. (My friend Alaina was part of it also!) Who wouldn't want to have been a part of it!
Finally my friend Alaina, Stephanie and Jessica showed up. I had saved places in line for them. I hope that the other people in line didn't get upset about it. But alot of people were saving places in line for their friends.
We waited in line yet a bit longer. When... finally 6:15 p.m. came around and we were allowed to go inside where it was much cooler. The House of Blues holds maybe a thousand people max, so no matter where you stood you have a good view of the stage. Yes, we were all about to have one of the best Hanson experiences of our lives! We were finally inside! I couldn't wait any longer. I waited a total of 12 1/2 hours in line (Is that a record or what!), but it was all worth it! Only one hour till show time. While we all waited we chantted "Hanson...Hanson...Hanson"! Now and then we could see a hand wave at us from a window at the top of the stage off to the side. The crowd went crazy! We didn't know who's hand it was, but we didn't care. It was one of Hanson's hand! It was now 7:15 p.m. and we couldn't stand it anymore! The crowd began chantting again "Hanson...Hanson...Hanson"! And we all started to stomp our feet on the wooden floors to let them know that we couldn't wait anymore!
Then finallly they burst on to the stage excited and ready to go! And we went mad for them! They looked just great and we loved it. Here is the set list found at Hansonline:
