10/01/09 "OH... What Did You Say?" & Zac's "Stupid Journey Thing"

I still remember the day when Hanson FINALLY released their "Use Your Sole Tour" dates. Beth and I were with our friend Katie on a end of summer day trip to up to Duluth Minnesota and we were standing outside of a museum when Ciara called us from North Carolina to read us the tour dates. We vowed that we were finally "going on tour." (The photo below doesn't have a Hanson in it but it is too funny not to post... Katie took this candid of Beth and I as Ciara was reading us the tour dates. We were just a little excited as you can tell.)

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.

 

Hanson Made Us Like The Jonas Brothers

June - August 2009

Hanson's definition of "soon" is very different than the general public's definition of "soon". They had pushed off releasing the dates for the Use Your Sole Tour for three months. After the second failed tour date release day, I had had enough. I had a bad day at work and needed a concert STAT. I had been a closet Jonas Brothers Fan for about a year at this point and what do you know, that summer they just happened to have a tour date in Minneapolis. I begged Beth to go with me and much like my first Hanson concert, I bought Beth her ticket and we sat up in the nosebleeds of the Target Center.

We should have known better. When it comes to Beth and I and bands it is all or nothing. Needless to say we liked them and seeing them from nosebleeds was unacceptable so we found ourselves driving twelve hours round trip to see them in Kansas City a few weeks later. A few hundred dollars and we had seats five feet from the catwalk of the stage. It was awesome to be so close to the action and for fangirling to be so acceptable seeing as their general fan-base is a few years younger than Beth and I. We didn't care. We had fun and enthusiastically joined in on the "OMGJOEJUSTLOOKEDATME"s. In my case it was always "i-need-to-sit-down."

The Jonas Brothers drove around an autograph bus so Beth and I decided to leave a little Hanson love on it :)

When Hanson still hadn't released tour dates near the end of July, we decided to go to the Jonas Brother's last US date of their world tour which was in Cleveland, Ohio. We took four forms of transportation to get there the cheapest way without our parents knowing anything about it. We took an overnight megabus from Minneapolis to Chicago, a taxi and train to get from the bus stop to the airport in Chicago, flew to Cleveland, and took a taxi from the Cleveland airport to our hotel. When we finally got to the hotel I was so tired I considered (only for a millisecond) just sleeping and skipping the concert. Beth had won a meet & greet through the Jonas Brothers fan club so she was prepping herself for that as I was fixing my "ITS MY 21ST BIRTHDAY" tiara onto my head. It was a few days before my birthday but close enough for me, this was as good a way to celebrate as any! Side note- I don't remember the last birthday I had where I didn't have a tiara. It just a tradition and I don't know how or when it started but I like it.

Beth was a little relieved to find out that Nick Jonas was too sick to attend the meet and greet. Her favorite Jonas brother is Joe and Nick has always been intimidating, even back in his scrawny days.

All in all, Cleveland was a good experience for us. We learned a lot about public transportation, never to wear skinny jeans to a humid packed concert and Beth got her first picture with Joe Jonas. Oh and Kevin too.

05/16/09 Discovering Tulsa.

There is no doubt about it, life changed drastically after November 5th, 2008. I still managed to get 2nd place in my dorm hall Nostalgia night the next day but every spare minute after that was devoted to learning more about Hanson. We knew we were coming in late to the fandom and needed to do 10 years of catching up in a matter of months. The first thing we did was resource youtube. Beth and I spent endless nights staying up until the wee hours of the morning just watching concert clips and interviews with a nightly ritual of taking a break around 1am to get Taco Bell or McDonalds. That was our life. We joined the fan club on January first and shortly after Hanson announced they would be having a fan club members only event in Tulsa in May. We were going. How would we get there? How much would this cost us? Where were we going to stay? We didn't care. One way or another we were going. 

We ended up meeting some of our best Hanson friends because of the MOE. We had been active on the fanclub forums on hanson.net and had started talking to a group of girls from Minnesota also going. We decided to meet up for lunch at the Mall of America so that we would at least know some people in Tulsa. This was the day we met Julie. And diaper baby. But diaper baby needs no mention other than she drove everyone crazy. "WHEEE" Back to Julie. Julie is now one of our best Hanson friends. I don't know what I would do without her humor, support, quirkiness, patience and general big sisterly presence in my life. It is no mistake that she is an Issac girl, Beth is a Taylor girl, and I a Zac girl; naturally sister-in-laws. (In case anyone doesn't know us, this is a joke people!) Julie was our first Hanson friend, and you will see her mentioned quite a few times throughout our Hanson adventures.

Something very notable happened in between our fan meet up luncheon and the MOE. Beth and I had already planned out our MOE trip way in advance and suddenly Taylor Hanson was part of some side band. The news about Tinted Windows broke and everyone was freaking out without any real answers. My and Beth's reaction was to make a second trip to Tulsa two months earlier than the MOE to attend Tinted Window's first public performance. I still remember the conversation that first took place while at my coffee shop job while Beth was doing homework. This conversation would become all too familiar in the months and years to come. 

"Let's go." 

"No. That's crazy we can't. What about work?"

"You'll get it off."

"...What about school?"

"It's fine we'll only miss one day."

"...What about money?"

"We'll work it out, if we split everything it won't cost us THAT much!"

And so we went. I think part of us wanted to go perchance Tinted Windows either became a huge success or the failure of Hanson. We were in Tulsa less than 24 hours and told virtually no one that we were going, which became quite interesting when we had a MAJOR car issue and hour outside of Tulsa in the literal middle of nowhere. We got our first taste of being real adults and handled it all on our own without calling our dads. We paid for the repair ourselves, slept in the immobile car in a parking lot outside of McDonald's and made friends with a nice older biker dude named Berry who was coming home from the casino and thought we were running away from home. Basically, our first trip to Tulsa was quite an adventure and we didn't have time to see much. 

For our longer trip in May we decided to split a hotel room with two other people to lower the cost instead of getting a hotel room for the two of us. Because we were new to the Hanson fan world, we didn't know anyone to room with so we replied to a posting on the Hanson.net forums and ended up rooming with a girl named Ciara and her friend Jonny. I am so thankful we stumbled across Ciara.  She is very straightforward and will take charge of situations. I'm not meaning any of this in a bad way, in the contrary I am very thankful that is who she is. It is good for Beth and I to have someone who will stick up for us and get things figured out when we are naturally quiet and not wanting to cause any sort of conflict even when people are stepping all over us. Basically, I would be scared of her if I weren't friends with her. Ciara also has the best accent I have ever heard in my life. We learned a lot from her on this trip, she told us about traveling all around to see Hanson and how to do so cheaply. We had some very memorable nights running around Tulsa together and you will also see Ciara make numerous appearances throughout this blog.


We got to explore Tulsa for the first time on this trip: center of the universe, MOE house, QT, Dwelling Spaces, 3CG drive-bys, etc. We also took Hanson's advice and ate at a few places they recommended. Casa Bonita was something they probably could have left off that list... We did a lot of shopping, between Beth and I we pretty much bought the entire spring collection at American Eagle when we spent half the day shopping in Utica Square. We also went to Dwelling Spaces and along with every other Hanson fan, bought the original I <3 Tulsa tee and my first pair of TOMS shoes. We attended the walk with all the other 700+ fans and finally got to witness the bombarding of Hansons on walks first hand. It was insane. They announced that after this walk they had reached their goal of exceeding a walk around the world 24,902 miles. It was a joyous celebration. 






For the actual members only event performance, we were in the last session at the Tulsa Little Theatre. There was all sorts of line nonsense and we had to line up across the street while the other session was in the theatre, they gave us a specific time they were going to move the line to it's proper spot and that was that. Beth and I left to freshen up our make up in the car and when we returned the line had already moved across the street, 45 minutes earlier than we were told. We walked up to the girls who had been around us earlier in line and everyone around us were yelling and accusing and trying to figure out what had just happened. Some people tried kicking us to the back because we were not there when the line dashed across the street even though we had been there all afternoon with them. Finally the people in charge explained that we would be going into the venue in groups of 10, they weren't caring about the number system, and anyone who was out of line or cutting would be sent to the back. This girl named Jaclyn begrudgingly let us in front of her and explained she didn't care who was where as long as she got to go in with the same group as the two friends she traveled to Tulsa with. I was very grateful for her giving us our spots back. Jaclyn is now one of our best friends on tour and in real life and we talk almost every day. In the years since, I had a job that allowed me to fly out to visit her virtually whenever I could. Her parents consider me part of their family even though our hometowns are 1,112 miles apart. Whenever we talk about the day we met she reminds me how much she hated Beth and I the first time she met us, but now it just makes us laugh. Funny how a little line drama can bring people so close together. 



When we got into the actual theatre we all ended up front row, including Julie who we got separated from when all the line drama went down. We were not allowed any recording devices or cameras as they were playing us brand new music and recording it for a special EP we would receive later.  We were asked to remain silent for the recording part and that proved to be a difficult task for Beth and I who are commonly known for our not so silent "fangirling" for lack of better words. At one point during some Taylor lead song I received a accidental claw mark on my knee from Beth that drew blood and I had a scar for weeks. Somehow we survived without being "shushed." The only downside to being front row for this was even with our  countless hours of youtubing Hanson stuff, we apparently didn't find enough fan club songs because when we were asked to sing along we had no clue and looked like idiots in the front row just giggling and mouthing whatever to pretend like we weren't horrible fans for not knowing the words to "Letters In The Mailbox" and "Take Our Chances" Forgive us, we were newbies. We DID know "Never Let Go" "I Am" and "Down" and were ecstatic to hear those. "Down" is up there in my list of possible favorite Hanson song ever category and this was my only time hearing it live. The boys were goofy as ever when it came time for Q&A, I remember someone making some naughty comment along the lines of "why don't you ask the dog..." and Zac randomly making up a song about anti-oxidants and frogs on the spot. We got to take group pictures with Hanson and being in the front row made for an interesting experience when it was our turn because the Isaac, Taylor and Zac were sitting on the edge of the stage and everyone just bolted at them when it was our row's turn. I saw someone running for the stage out of the corner of my eye and I was not going to let anyone or anything come between Zac and me on my first ever picture opportunity, so I basically leapt from my seat to the stage in approximately .27 seconds and the rest of my row dashed quickly after us. The guys laughed and made fun of us. Looking back on this moment I'm slightly embarrassed and would never do that today, but I was new and no one knew who I was yet. You live, you learn. 








Going home from this trip was not easy. A few months before MOE even happened I had decided to put college on hold because I had switched my major three times in two years and had no direction or motivation for school. I was wasting money and I needed a break to figure out life. I stuck out the entirety of my sophomore year but decided I wasn't coming back so why go to my finals? I skipped my finals so we could go to Tulsa a day earlier. Sorry mom and dad (if you ever read this) but I was depressed. Going to my first MOE and meeting a bunch of other people who had the same passion as I did in a wonderful friendly city did more for me than a few credits ever could. I learned what a gem the city of Tulsa is, and after having the best weekend of our lives, going back to real jobs and normalcy in Minnesota seemed dreadful. The only thing that kept me going was a promise of a Hanson tour "soon."

11/5/08 The Oh Darling incident.

November 4, 2008 was presidential election day, the day before we took our first Hanson road trip, and 2 days before I had to perform on stage with my college dorm hall. It was a very busy day for both Beth and I. She had gotten up early to vote, we both attended our classes and packed, I had to finish up costumes and do some last minute details since I would be missing dress rehearsal thanks to Hanson, and beth stayed up all night to see who had won the election. When it all came down to it, I had gotten a small two hour nap in and Beth hadn't slept at all before it was time for our scheduled 2AM departure. We stopped at a Cub Foods in our town before we hit the highway. To our surprise, Cub randomly played a Hanson song over the stereo system. No not "MmmBop" not "Penny & Me" it was "Georgia" a random song that wasn't even a single off of their latest album. Of course we freaked out and said "it's a sign! This is going to be a great trip" but little did we know just how true that would turn out to be.

About 2 hours into the drive beth was getting delusional and turned to me to say "my eyelids won't stay open" We pulled into a rest stop and switched drivers. Since this incident, I have decided that it must be murphys law that if I am driving a vehicle that is not my own in an unfamiliar state, there will be bad weather as soon as I start driving. I am terrified of storms. The second I started driving it started down poring.  By the time we pulled into Des Moines we were both delusional and had trouble reading the road signs. We finally found the venue, and pulled into the closest parking ramp at about 6am. There were 2 tents in front of us so we set up all our pillows and blankets right behind them and made a little bed for us under a tiny cloth over hang. It was still raining at that point but we were too tired to care. We passed out on the cement while it was raining and slept through Des Moines morning rush hour. After the girls in front of us emerged from their tents, they numbered us 6 & 7. We were so excited about those numbers. We couldn't believe we were in the single digits! We brought out a package of chocolate chip cookies to make friends and share with the other girls in line,eventually there were 11 of us. The owner of the venue came up to talk to us around 11am. His name was Tom and he spoiled us. He remembered all 11 of us by face and let us use the restroom in the bar whenever we wanted and promised us front row and even roped off a special section that only we could sit in after the walk when they had to move the line inside the building up the 3 flights of stairs. He even gave us his phone number in case we had any issues later with security or the line.

Beth and I decided to make this our first walk. We still didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into but the walk was taking place on a college campus close to the venue. Drake university was the name of it and Beth actually knew a couple people that took classes there and had made plans for them to find us. It was still lightly raining when we got to Drake so we didn't bother changing out of our mismatched sweatpants and sweatshirts because our camp out clothes were already damp and we didn't want to get our concert clothes wet. We were assuming these walks had big turnouts and it's not like we would be able to get close enough to a Hanson brother for them to see us in our scrubby clothes anyway, right?

Wrong. The turnout wasn't as big as we were expecting it to be and the fans that did show up weren't "bombarding" the guys like we had heard about from tales of previous walks.

Zac was meandering by himself next to Demetrius, one of Hanson's back up guitarists. A fan had just finished telling Zac that she was late for class and couldn't finish the walk. He kind of frowned at her as she ran off so I decided that this was as good a time as ever to strike up a conversation with him.
"Well I'm skipping an entire day of myclasses to be here!" Great first words to my favorite boy in the world, show him my "dedication." He acknowledged me and I quickly changed to subject because beth and I had an ulterior motive and we didn't know how much time we would have to chat with him. We started chatting about set lists and we got the point across that we were trying to get him to cover "Oh Darling" that night. He argued with us telling us he had "just sung it the night before" and how that song is a "struggle" for his voice to which beth adequately responded "it's not even a little bit of a struggle!" He told us he'd think about it and then we let him meander off ahead of us. We didn't care that we had apparently failed at our intended goal for the conversation we were too giddy that we had just had a conversation with a Hanson brother.

When we got to the halfway point of the walk, we were somehow in the front group of walkers and Taylor was standing on a bench directing people with his megaphone. Beth and I stood off to the very left side of the group because we just wanted to observe and with this being our first walk we didn't really know why we were stopping in the first place. Isaac appeared on the bench next to Taylor as the last few people trickled into the gathering. I still didn't know where Zac was but Taylor started a speech about the reason behind the walk and how it all started. I was half listening to his speech as I was frantically texting every person in my phone "I JUST TALKED TO A HANSON!" As I was looking down at my phone, I heard beth turn and say something to someone who I assumed was one of her friends from the college finally meeting up with us. 

I felt an arm go across my back and a hand grasp onto my shoulder/ neck area and a red flag went off in my head. Beth does not initiate physical touch. She hates cuddling and there would be no reason for her to be touching me like that. Also any friends of hers from this college meeting up with us I had never met before and that would be super awkward for them to be initiating physical touch before even meeting them. I whipped my head up to left to inspect the hand grabbing onto my left shoulder. It was definitely a mans hand... no... WHAT... I whipped my head around to the other side and sure enough there was  Zac Hanson. One arm around me, the other around Beth and his beautiful face about 4 inches from mine. I looked at Beth's face. Her eyes were bulging, her mouth was quivering from trying not to laugh and I can only imagine I was doing the same. I embraced the moment and placed my right arm around his back and then he started to sway back and forth with us. Is this real life?! By this point, people had started to notice that Zac was over by us and something was going on so they turned their attention from Taylor's speech to us. I remember an entire section of girls pointing their cameras in our direction. (yet still to this day i haven't been able to find any of these pictures online anywhere) Then all of a sudden along with the swaying came singing... As quietly as he could muster, Zac began to sing the first verse of Oh Darling just loud enough so beth and I could hear. Okay I had to be dreaming now. I somehow remembered that I was holding Beths camera in my left hand and had thought that it was left on the video setting. I pushed the button hoping to record this moment, even from holding it at mid torso level (not wanting to scare him away or know that it was recording) so that I could prove to myself later that this was not a dream and Zac Hanson was actually swaying with me and my best friend and personally serenading us with our favorite song of the moment... However, we were later disappointed to find out the camera was not on record like I had thought and it turned out to just be a picture of the 3 of us up our noses.

But a picture is better than nothing and I'm grateful I even thought to push the button. He finished a few lines of the song and realized all the attention had turned on us instead of Taylor's speech so he let go of us but as he turned and winked at us he said "That's just in case we don't sing it tonight... Just incase..." he ran up to finally join Taylor and Isaac on the bench and beth and I just burst out laughing as silently as we could but it didn't matter the attention was already on us anyway. Did that really just happen? I could not really control myself, I started flailing for my phone and quickly pacing back and forth on the sidewalk that was right next to us wanting to call everyone and anyone to tell them what just happened. Beth tried to to calm me down by informing me "he can see us! He's watching!" so that at least got me standing in one spot just mildly shaking. The rest of the walk is honestly a blur to me. I remember calling either my mom or dad almost in tears and calling my ex boyfriend. I remember Beth's friend Clay finally meeting up with us very shortly after this incident and he was really interested in the walk and what it was about. Beth talked to Isaac about singing "Oh Darling" that night. We had to cover all our bases. Isaac told us he took a mental note that it was "crucial" for them to sing it.

We finally got to the end of the walk and it was raining so they invited us into the lobby of a college classroom building. We gathered around them but we were in the back and couldn't see anything. We found a ledge to stand on by a window that elevated us about 2 feet above everyone's heads and had the perfect direct view once they stood on top of chairs to play a song. They busted out with an acoustic version of "Great Divide" the song that is the anthem of the one mile barefoot walks. As Zac was bobbing his head with the beat and looking around the room his eyes glanced at us, looked away, then darted quickly back to our faces just as the lyrics hit "(they say blood is) thicker than oceans" and his eyes started to light up as he recognized who he was locking eyes with. The side of his lip curled up into a smile that was beginning to take over his whole face and then he jerked his head sideways looking up at the ceiling still smirking. It's a look that makes my stomach hurt and my heart skip a beat. It's his recognition look and from that day on weather we wanted to or not, we'd have to get used to it.

We said goodbye to Clay (he actually admitted that Hanson was not bad!) and made our way back to the venue. When we got there the other girls who had camped were waiting for us and we all went into the little bar & grill to eat. A few of them had witnessed the personal Zac serenade and started asking us questions which we still to this day have no answer to. "What made him do that?"  Between the two of us, i think beth and I managed to chow down a half of a burger and six french fries. We were way too excited and nervous to eat. As we walked back to the venue we were greeted by glares from all the girls in line and Tom who led us to our roped off section at the top of the stairs. As soon as we sat down on the cement platform, the tiredness kicked in. Beth sprawled out on the concrete floor and somehow with all the noise and the commotion she passed out. I remember hearing bits of soundcheck and I remember a lady calling names for meet an greets. Meet and greets! How do I get one of those?! "Fan club." Ohhhh I'd have to look into that when we got home...

It was time for the doors to open and things were getting crowded and crazy in that stairwell. They took our tickets from the first 11 of us and let us file into the venue. There were only 6 or so girls already in there but Tom's promise had come through, and all 11 of us were in the front row. Beth and I were as centered as we could be which was between Zac and Isaac. The stage was tiny. It was not even as tall as my waist and the "barricade" was a small grey fence that was smaller than most venues would use for autograph lines and such. There was no room between the "barricade" and the stage either. That meant that we would not have any security blocking our view and we were able to set our waters and cameras on the stage.

The openers were Matt Wertz and Everybody Else. Matt Wertz was great and we had some friends from home who were fans of his so beth took a bunch of video clips of his set. We had seen Everybody Else at the Walk Around The World Tour in Minneapolis and I liked that they played upbeat fun dance type music. However as this was our first time "camping out" we were too exhausted to get into the music or even move at this point. I didn't know if I'd be able to make it through the concert, much less drive home that night. But I soon forgot my tiredness as the roadies came out to swap the instruments to set up for Hanson. Then came the set list. We were so close to the stage that no matter if I wanted to or not, I could read all of the songs on the set list that was being taped down by Isaac's spot. I was skimming down the list until beth clenched my arm and started hyperventilating. I joined her in this reaction half a second later when my eyes hit "Oh Darling" towards the end of the page. There it was. We didn't think it would even be a possibility after the whole personal serenading thing. The event that happened on the walk alone was enough to make us happy for a lifetime.

The lights finally dimmed and they came on stage. From where we were standing Zacs face was being blocked by a cymbal most of the time, Isaac was right up close to us, almost too close for comfort and Taylor was off to the side with his back to us most of the night. When the acoustic set came, Zac moved up to front and center with his jambe drum and as soon as they started the first acoustic song he was nonchalantly observing the front row but when his eyes finally found us, his eyes locked with ours then his face lit up in a smile and I'm pretty sure I gave him the biggest smile my face could hold. For the remainder of the acoustic set he kept glancing at us, then to Isaac's set list, then he would tilt his head towards it like he was trying to motion to it. Don't worry Zac, we already knew what was coming. Somewhere between the acoustic set and Oh Darling, we got to witness Zac grabbing an acoustic guitar and sitting in Taylors spot while Taylor hopped up to the drums. What was going on? Since when does Zac play the guitar? And Taylor the drums? We were so confused. When they started to play, I recognized the song but I was later told that we got to hear a rare rendition of "Fire on the Mountain" as for that tour it was usually a Zac solo and not a full band affair.

Then it was time. We had been watching the set list so as soon as the song before oh darling was finished we started screaming like 12 year old girls. Everyone in the front row had witnessed or heard about our story from the walk so everyone around us was excited for us and understood what all the commotion was about. During the guitar solo in the middle of the song, Zac leaned his head away from the microphone and down so he could see us better, then mouthed something to us. It was a whole sentence and I couldn't make out any of it. I mouthed "What?!" back to him but he was out of down time so he laughed, shook his head, and started to sing again. To this day we still have no idea what he said to us. It drives me crazy every time I watch the video clip of it. The song ended and we had planned on mouthing "Thank You!" to him now that he initiated this whole let's talk to Beth and Laurel from stage thing, but they went immediately into the next song- "Running Man" without barely giving Zac a chance to breathe. We were on cloud 9.

The rest of the concert was like any normal Hanson show, with the exception of a few moments. There were a few times when Zac would either duck down or peek over the cymbal to interact with us. One time he was looking so I stuck my tongue out at him. Don't ask me why, I have no idea how my brain thought that would be a cool thing to do... But he laughed and did it back to me. Another time he broke a drumstick and dropped it and he was leaning over to grab a new one he looked at me mouthed "Do you want this?" motioning to the broken drumstick in his hand. Shock hit me like a ton of bricks but I somehow managed to nod yes and then hold up two fingers at him so that both Beth and I could have one. He nodded back and went back to playing. People around me caught on to the whole he's talking to me from stage thing "what are you guys talking about?!" He just asked me if we wanted drumsticks... I suddenly felt awful because the girl literally next to me who we had waited with all day had a poster held up that said she's been trying for 5 years to get drumsticks. Why would he give them to Beth and I when she's right next to us with a big poster? I was feeling guilty.

At the end of the show Zac stepped off the drum set without the drumsticks. Oh no he forgot. As soon as I was starting to panic inside he ran behind and grabbed a handful of sticks. He walked straight to me and handed me three drumsticks. Two were full sized and one was broken. I looked down at them to be sure there were three and made a split second decision. I turned to the girl with the poster and handed her one of the full drumsticks. I will never forget the look on her face as her eyes started to tear up. So that left Beth and I with a full one and a broken one which was fine by me. It's the thought that counts anyway and Beth was a genius and was thinking clearly enough to video record the process of him handing them off to us.

As we made our way out of the venue, it started to rain outside again. We bolted to the car  and moved it right across the street from the tour bus. Hunger was finally hitting us like a semi truck and we started shoving anything edible we could find into our mouths. I'm pretty positive we polished off an entire family sized bag of lays cheddar and sour cream potato chips and the carton of chocolate chip cookies from Cubs bakery. After the hunger came the tiredness. There was no way we were going make it home without falling asleep at the wheel, yet we had to get home by the time classes started next morning. How were we going to pull this one off? Clay. Beth's friend from Drake college that had gone on the walk with us earlier that day came to our rescue. He made last minute plans to visit some friends up in Minnesota and in turn was able to drive the 3 of us through the night. I don't remember much about the ride home other than waking up a few times because it was storming pretty bad out, and Clay was voluntarily listening to Hanson the entire way home. Other than that I spent the entire ride passed out sprawled across the backseat with my broken drumstick still clutched in my hand with a smile on my face.

As I write this, currently 50+ Hanson concerts later, I've realized that nothing can ever top this day for me. Yes I've had other rare and special Hanson experiences since that day that would probably rank #1 by someone else's standards, but this will always remain #1 in my heart. This was the day that changed me. Suddenly traveling hours to see Hanson seemed like a rational thing to do. Camping out for front row was normal and completely worth it. Something happened to me that day that I can't express in words. The best I can do is to say: I got it. Actually, they got me.

9/26/08 It's all Isaac's fault.

It had been 9 months since we had last seen Hanson. At this point in our fandom we didn't really know how to keep updated with them. They had done a "Wisconsin tour" (an easy couple hours drive from us) somewhere in that 9 month dry spell but for some reason we thought that throwing a Titanic party, taking midterms and spending time with the guys Beth and I were dating at that time seemed more important to us... But come September Beth got an email notification that they were coming back to First Ave in Minneapolis and we were excited to go. We were so excited that we decided we wanted to get there a little earlier than just the time of doors so we could try to get closer to the stage. We didn't really know much about camping out but Beth had informed me that at the Hanson show she went to in 2004, girls camped out for days. We decided we weren't going to be THAT crazy (yet) so we just decided to head to the venue when we woke up. 


One problem. Sherlock Holmes. I had an exam that morning in my college Lit class that I couldn't miss. I went and took my exam (which I got graded a D on by the way, I blame pre-concert excitement... Or more so the fact that I was starting to not care about school in general) and then we were off to First Ave by 9:30am. 

We were numbers 28 and 27 in line, which to us was the best thing in the world. The MN street team had made official name tags with our official numbers on them. Beth brought homework and did an entire book report while sitting in the sidewalk outside of first ave. We brought pillows and blankets and a whole grocery store worth of junk food. I even dressed in camp out clothes to "look like a Hanson fan" and try to blend in. (Which apparently worked because a few girls in Starbucks started talking to me about the show while I was in there to use the restroom. They even said "is she a fan... she looks like a fan!" before they started up a conversation with me) The truth was we were still what we self titled ourselves- "fraud fans." We still didn't know every song, barely knew any aspects of their personal lives and didn't even own more than 1 or 2 of their CDs. But we were exited to be there early to try and get a closer look at the whole experience of a Hanson concert. 

Hanson eventually came out in the early afternoon to do this thing called a walk. We still had no idea what that meant or what it was for but we knew one thing. We were not going to leave our spots in line so we volunteered to be the ones that watched everyones stuff while they were out on some walk with Hanson. 


A few hours before doors, we ran back to the car to change out of our "camp out" clothes and into our concert outfits. On the way back from our car we had to pass the back door to the venue. I heard the door open and close but I didn't think anything of it until I heard a person clap their hands at the back of our heads. Both beth and I whipped our heads around at the same time then looked back at each other like "is that?... Yep." we slowed our walking and he was smiling at us as he walked toward the tour bus. Our faces immediately lit up and I started giggling and grabbing on to Beths arm. Apparently Zac Hanson thought this was amusing because he stuck his head back around the corner of the bus to watch our reactions again. This time I couldn't help it I let out a small girly squeal which immediately was covered by my own hand covering my mouth in embarrassment. We had just had our first up close and personal encounter with a Hanson brother. 


It came time for doors and we rushed in to the venue (after being flagged with underage black Xs on the back of our hands of course) we opted for the closest spot to the stage, which was 2nd row directly in front of Isaac. Taylor's side was already up to 3 or 4 people deep. 


The concert was awesome. It's hard to explain to anyone who has never experience it, but all the waiting all day paid off and it makes the concert experience better than normal just by being that close to the band in action. Being so close to Isaac in particular was great. If he catches your eye, he will lock a gaze with you for what seems like forever. It made the concert that much more personal and meaningful. I remember the song "Get Up And Go" was a real bonding moment for Isaac and Beth and myself. 

From where we were standing and the height of the stage we couldn't see Zac at all up on his drum set. I made a mental note to not let that happen again next time we were choosing our spots to stand. Zac came down to where we could see him during the acoustic set and I remember him looking quite primate- like which is not my favorite look on him. (Let it be known, the less hair on Zac Hanson, the better. In my book anyway.) For the past 9 months, it had been my goal in life to get a picture with Zac... So while he was over on the piano (btw when did that happen?!) belting out a song we didn't recognize ("On the Rocks") beth and I turned around and took our picture with Zac in the background on the piano. It was my favorite photograph for a long time. 

My favorite memory from this concert came during the encore- "Ugly Truth" while Taylor was bouncing around on stage and getting into the song. He decided to plop down onto the edge of the stage in front of me. I was freaking out, beth was freaking out and then Taylor Hanson reached past the girls head in front of me and grabbed onto my hand. The second he let go I started high pitch screaming like a 12 year old girl. Hanson seems to have that effect on people... Well maybe its just me. Also, as Taylor and Isaac were both exiting the stage, they both stopped and looked directly at us and waved goodbye.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNLl065x75U


It wasn't until we got home and we were watching our video clips of the concert back that we decided that we had liked a certain song but we couldn't figure out exactly who was singing it or what the song was called. Thanks to google and YouTube we found out the song was a Beatles cover called "Oh Darling!" and Zac sang lead on it. Now that we knew who sang it an what it was called, we learned the song better in hopes that we would hear it again the next time we were to see them. We were suddenly hooked and couldn't wait to see them again. I looked up their tour schedule and calculated road trip times- Chicago (6 hour drive), Des Moines (3.5 hour drive) and Wichita (5 hours drive) were our next closest options. We had done a couple of road trips to see a music group before we liked Hanson, but somehow this felt different. This other music group we traveled a bit to see knew us by name and were always surprised and happy to see us. Apart from the few eye contact moments with Isaac and the clapping incident with Zac, Hanson barely knew we existed. Taking a road trip for Hanson was different. It was more about the love of the music. We didn't want to miss too much school so we opted for the closest drive, the Des Moines, Iowa show. We immediately started counting down- exactly 40 days until our next Hanson concert!

12/9/07 Little Did I Know...

Of all the Blogs that will be posted here, this one might be the most important. It was the beginning of... well everything. This day changed my life more than I could have ever contemplated even now. 


My first Hanson concert: December 9th, 2007

"You owe me" I griped at my blond best friend shivering next to me.
It was six degrees outside. Yes, six. We had left our winter coats in the car because we decided against spending an outrageous $8 each on coat check fees. After exhausting all her other options (including trying to find a way to get her 16 year old sister into an 18+ venue) my best friend Beth had finally asked me to go see Hanson with her. I reluctantly agreed to go as long as she paid for my ticket. 
My face was numb. I could not move my toes. 
"I don't even like Hanson!" I made sure to whine just loud enough to collect a few glares from the girls in front of us in line. 
The doors finally opened. I looked at the time on my phone... I had just spend an agonizing 45 minutes freezing my butt off to go see a band that I had liked when I was nine. My only hope was that they'd cut their hair since 1997 and that they would play "I Will Come To You" and "MmmBop" two songs I had remembered loving when I was a pre-teen. 
The line slowly inched it's way through the doors and the girls directly behind us in line kept talking about how this concert was going to be such a big deal. Why? It was the last concert stop for the tour and they always do something 'special' for the last night of a tour. What tour? The Walk Tour. That was a strangr name for a 'rock' tour. Were they against vehicles or something? Amish? No. It had something to do with charity and Africa. Hmm. 
We finally made our way through the doors and I was thankful to find out that I had not permanentally lost all feeling in my body. The main floor was about half way filled with a bunch of running, pushing, frantic looking mid- 20 year old women cramming themselves like sardines to try to get a couple centimeters closer to the front. I laughed at them. Psychos!
Beth and I found a sopt towards the middle- right side of the stage, directly under the stairs that led to the 2nd floor of the venue. It was and elevates section of the floor with a raling so we had a perfect view over everyone's heads and no one could walk in front of us. People kept coming and cramming into the main floor. Did Hanson really have this many fans still? Someone said something about it being sold out. Strange. A couple feet belows us in the pit were a group of already buzzed women who kept the beers coming. The show hadn't even started yet. Next to them was a couple who seriously needed to get a room. 
The opening band started. They were a local group of three siblings and called themselves The Abdomen. they were actually pretty decent, musically. As their set came to a close, you could hear the excitement in the room pick up. The screen between the front row and the stage wnet down, though from where I was standing we could still see most of what was going on. The roadies were switching up the stage, the drunk girls were ordering more beer, I could finally start to move my toes and security was escorting a girl down the stairs. Wait a second... I knew that girl. We'll just call her Lady... Lady and her scantilly clad self was being escorted out of the venue, a security guard on each arm. (We later found out she had been caught drinking and trying to scrub her black X's off her underaged hands in the bathroom. We had met Lady through another band we used to like a few years ago and she hadn't changed much since then.) Great. These were the kinds of people that liked Hanson. 
I looked to my left and recognized two girls from high school. Twins named Madelyn and Jaclyn. They were sweet girls. I remembered from old conversations with jaclyn at our high school lunch table that she liked Hanson. I didn't think much of it at the time, never expecting to find myself at a Hanson concert. Jaclyn held a sign that read "My twin's name is Madelyn!" I didn't understand it at the that point in time. Did they want a shout out? ("Madeline" is now own of my favorite Hanson songs and I wished they had sung it for them that night. :( They did not.) The twins noticed me and smiled and waved in my direction. I returned the gesture.
The lights went down. 
Screams.
I saw some silouttes walk onto the stage, the screen was still in the way. The screen slowly inched its way up and the screems escalated. 
I noticed Taylor first. Honestly, he hadn't changed much from what I remembered of him. Same blond hair, same baby face, same energy. Beth was already gushing about how attractive he was and I think I heard the title "number one!" more than enough times form her that night. 
Then I saw Isaac with his buzzed hair. Nice, the Hanson boys HAD cut their hair! 
Then I saw the youngest one, Zac, strut straight to his drumset. When I was nine, Zac had been my favorite because he was closest to my age and of course my logical nine year old self had to pick the one closest to my age because it would be weird to marry an older man like Taylor or Isaac. Zac didn't look anything at all what I remember him looking like. He was actually... was I going to let that thought pass through my head? No, not yet. It was hard to see him way back at his drums, the lighting in First Ave, the venue, was awful and the spotlights seemed to be on Taylor and Isaac.
I was bummed I couldn't see him but I didn't have much time to be bummed before the music started. The first song wasn't "MmmBop" or "I Will Come To You" or anything else I would have recognized, but whatever it was, i liked it. I was watching Taylor Hanson pound on the piano and belt out lyrics with an undeniable passion for his music. At the end of the song he looked at the cheering crowd and just smiled. I realized I was smiling too. Oh no. A few songs into the the set Beth prompted me with "OH! It's the roundy-round song!" she yelled in my ear while doing a circular motion with her hand. I stared at her blankly. "You' know it!" As soon as the song hit the chorus, something clicked and I all of a sudden found the lyrics to "Where's The Love" buried deep in my brain. I remember how awesome it was to watch all 1,000+ people in the venue, including Taylor himself, simultaneously whip their hands around their head in that "roundy-round" motion Beth had shown me. I joined in. Wait... I was having fun... at a Hanson concert.
Before I knew it, Taylor was announcing that they'd be right back. The lights went out. What? Already?
"What's going on?"
The roadies were moving stuff around on the stage.
"Acoustic set" I heard a girl behind me say.
I didn't know what that meant, but I'm glad her explanation did not include the word "encore" or "end" like I had immediately assumed when the lights went out. The lights went up. The first thing I noticed: a smaller, African looking drum on the front center of the stage. All three of them waked onto stage again, but this time Zac walked straight to the center front drum. Finally with the help of sufficient lighting and Taylor not blocking my view, I noticed something and was ready to admit it to myself: wow, Zac had gotten much cuter since 1997. His hair had gotten darker and it was puled back into a tiny pony tail, with a perfect amount of sweeping bangs and flyaways to frame his face. I was busy studying the features of his face when something life-altering happened with no warning: the boy smiled. I'm pretty sure I had some sort of mouth-gaping reaction to that. He had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. I could not hold it in any longer: "He's gorgeous"
"Who Tayor!!?"
"NO! Zac."
Then the next thing that came out of my mouth, I do not understand, but is none the less relevant to reasons why I decided that Zac Hanson was one of the most gorgeous men I had ever seen: "see HE doesn't have any facial hair" I must have been creeped out by Taylor's pedophile looking goatee he had going on.
The acoustic set was by far my favorite part of the whole concert. I was finally able to see who was singing which parts, and began to admire their three distinct voices... yet when they sang together or harmonized, it was the most beautiful sound I had heard. A couple songs into the acoustic set, Beth leaned over "You'll like this one, it's their new single... it's a Zac solo." My reaction: I whipped out my phone and activated the audio record setting. I wanted to have something to remember this moment. It was the first time I heard his voice so clearly by itself. He hit every note perfectly and his voice had a tone unlike anyone's I had ever heard before. It was unique but a good kind of unique. I did not understand how someone so beautiful could have such a beautiful voice too... did this boy have any flaws? The song "Go" is the song I attribute to my becoming a "Zac fan" again after nine years. The song that I attribute to me becoming a full-blown Hanson fan came towards the end of the concert.
After Beth freaking out about her favorite song "Crazy Beautiful," after jumping up and down to "If Only," and after Zac danced around on stage with a shiny string of red garland (see video at the bottom), after hearing a creepy sounding song that I later found out was a rare song called "Yearbook" it was prank time. There was suddenly a giant stuffed ape on stage and the boys had changed clothes. The beginning notes of the ballad started and cheers erupted everywhere. I didn't know why yet, but from the crowd's reaction I knew this song was special. 

"Lovin' you..." after the first line of the song I had already decided that I gave in. I was officially a Hanson fan. The lyrics, the notes, their voices... I was undeniably in love with the music and the band.
For some reason we had decided to leave a few songs early because we wanted to beat the traffic out of there. After all, it was late, I had been up since 4am because of work, and Beth and I both had classes the next morning. The entire way home to my college dorm I could not stop taking about Hanson. I asked question after question. Then came the information I was freading: "I think they're all married..." But this night wasn't about that. It was about the music and the band and me admitting to myself that liking Hanson wasn't just something from my past, it would become something very prominent to my future.


I remember this like it was yesterday and re-watching it today got me a lil teary- eyed.

This video isn't mine but it's all the evidence I have as to why I fell in love with Zac Hanson.