The best part was we didn't have long to wait, the tour started in Tulsa and worked it's way through our home domain: the Midwest, before working its way out east and finally to the west coast. Like any new fan club member, the thing we were most excited about was the potential of a meet and greet, but we knew enough fans that still hadn't had a meet and greet who had been requesting every show they attend for years. So without getting our hopes up, we requested for our first chunk of shows we were for sure going to: St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Chicago (x2). At this same time, Beth and I were moving into a house with six other females from our college. Things were a little hectic and we didn't end up getting our internet connected in the house until a few months after we moved in. Beth and I would go to our local Caribou Coffee to use the internet once every couple days. Sometime towards the end of September, we both received and e-mail from Hanson.net inviting us to a meet and greet -- to the same concert. The catch was we had to respond within three days and we were going into the third day when we first saw the e-mail. I'm not quite sure how Beth and I A) got a meet and greet together and B) got it on the first show we ever requested but I'm not complaining!
Beth and I did the 9 hour drive to St.Louis, Missouri a couple of days early. We had some friends (Shout out to Eric & Heidi Wallace!) that lived just across the border of Illinois in a small town called Mascoutah. We had a great time with them relaxing in their small town and eating some of the best Chinese food ever before heading off to my uncle Steve and aunt Kim's house closer to St.Louis where we were staying the night before our concert. We got to see the church my uncle is the Pastor of and meet some of their congregation, including Emma's mom. I don't even know why we tried to get a good night sleep that night, but it was not happening. We were so excited and nervous we decided it would be a good idea to go through all 20 outfits we packed and have a fashion show until we found a perfect outfit. After that we did some light aerobics (which hopefully did not wake my cousin in the next room, sorry Chaney!) and finally fell asleep. In the morning my awesome aunt had cooked us a nice big breakfast and we were on our way to a local college for the charity walk that Hanson hosts before every show. (Hence the "Use Your Sole Tour" name.)
We arrived early and as our luck would have it, it was raining. Since I didn't want to ruin my m&g outfit, I put on a pair of black sweatpants and a black zip up over my clothes. So I looked like a bulky emo child. Great. Towards the end of the walk we got to talk with Zac Hanosn a bit and Beth informed him that we "had" to meet him later that day. He replied with "well you don't HAVE to" and then Beth tried to say that yes we were obligated to but it came out sounding like "obligator... obliv..." to which Zac had to finish the sentence for her. (Which is quite hilarious if you know anything about Zac Hanson, he of all people should not be correcting others on words and grammar haha.) When we got to the end of the walk we all crammed into the college bookstore where we were graced with a lovely acoustic version of "Great Divide." After the walk Beth and I went to have lunch at Fitz's, a place just down the street from the concert venue (The Pageant) that my relatives had suggested. The had awesome root beer and cream soda brewed there that came in frosty mugs but we could hardly eat due to nervousness.
We met up with the other meet and greeters, had our IDs checked and got led into the venue. There were 10 of us total. We were waiting by some tables off to the side of the stage and without warning, all three Hansons walked through a backstage door to greet us. We took a group picture first which is not even worth sharing because it is probably the worst group picture in history, you can't even see Zac's face and Beth and I were crouched down in front. After that the guys just started mingling with the ten of us, asking if we wanted anything signed, etc. Beth and I kind of hung back a bit mostly because the only thing we had for them to sign was our drumsticks that Zac had given us the last time we saw them in concert and we didn't know what to do around Taylor or Isaac. Taylor finally came up to us and Beth decided the best thing to tell him was that his eyes are so pretty when he smiles. Mind you this is her very first conversation with the man of her dreams since she was 14. Taylor responded favorably but Beth got scared of him and ran away. We made some small talk with Isaac, then Zac made eye contact with us from across the room and walked straight up to us, did not say a word, grabbed the drumstick and began writing "OH ..." Beth and I looked at each other with wide eyes... Was he actually going to write something about Oh Darling? (Aka the whole reason he knows and recognizes us in the first place?) No. He finishes it off by writing "OH... What did you say?" Then signing his name. He handed the drumstick back to us, hugged Beth, turned and hugged me, then turned 180* and walked straight for the door without saying a word. The other fans in the meet & greet then started asking Zac for hugs on his way out. He obliged but looked at Beth and I and stated "Oh. I guess I'm hugging everyone now apparently." I felt bad for the girls asking for hugs, however as selfish as this sounds, it made me happy that he made it a point to verbalize that he was the one initiating the hugs for Beth and I.
The next thing I know, it's time to go claim our spots in the front row before the venue let in the remainder of the ticket-holders in. There were 3 openers (I'll get to that in a different blog post) and it took an eternity for Hanson to get on stage. They opened up with "World's On Fire" and to this day it's the song that brings me back to this whole tour. Hanson was really animated and they were really into this concert. Most likely because it was the 2nd show of the entire tour. At one point Zac yelled at us from stage to "CLAP" with an angry face because apparently we were not participating enough. I don't know what our reasoning was but my best guess is it was starting to dawn on us that they do in fact recognize us and we need to be more careful about looking like fangirls in the front row.
The concert was really good and then it came time for the encore. Hanson covered Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" with Zac singing the lead vocal and Taylor on drums. Zac got really into it and ended up jumping down off the stage to the space between the barricade. He ran around and gave out a bunch of high fives before climbing onto the barricade. He was about 10 people down from us when he turned his head, made eye contact, and smiled at Beth and I. He climbed the barricade towards us then stopped right in front of me, where he grabbed my hand and held on for dear life as to not fall backwards off the barricade. Meanwhile, I was getting squished against the metal barricade from fans trying to push their way to him. I didn't let go of Zac the entire time until he used my hand to help leverage himself back on stage. I died. I was dead. Done. Did that really just happen? I was in heaven.
After the concert, Beth and I decided to wait around the tour bus with about 50 other fans to see if any of the guys were going to come out and sign autographs and take pictures. After waiting awhile Zac came out and worked his way down the line. When Zac go to us he immediatly started yelling at us about not fully participating while being in the front row and how he can see us and needs better participation next time. I specifically remember him yelling "If you're gonna be in the front row, at least PRETEND you're having a good time!" We laughed because we all knew that we were actually having the time of our lives. Beth and I came up with a plan earlier in the night that I was going to "prank" Zac Hanson if he came out to the buses. I don't know why we thought this was cool but we did. So the plan was that we actually had one full drumstick (which Zac signed at the meet & greet) and a half drumstick that he probably didn't remember giving to us. During Zac's performance of "Don't Stop Belevin'" he was standing on the barricade benches where our purses (and drumsticks!) were laying. So I started off by saying "Zac do you remember what you signed for us earlier?" and I pulled out broken in half drumstick. Zac replied "No, no I don't!" and I said "Well you signed this for us and you stepped on it during your stupid Journey thing!" "My stupid Journey thing... well glue it back together! It's not my fault it wasn't in your hands being cherished all night long!" At this point I pulled out the in tact, autographed drumstick and said "Just kidding!" He laughed and was started to say something else when security came and told us all to move out of the way. We took our picture together with Zac and told him we would see him in a few days and then ran away.
It was a long nine hour drive home through the night but we managed to make it on caffeine and adrenaline.
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