Well, one of the coolest things a Hanson fan can do is sing along with their favorite band, right? Well, that's what *we* got to do at the Albertane tour concert in Nashville.
I don't know how Rachael heard about the concert, but the day we got back from our family reunion in Fall Creek Falls state park, she called me up and said, "Guess what."
"What?"
"Just guess."
"Uhhhmmmmmmmmmmm... Hanson's coming to Chattanooga?"
"CLOSE!!!!"
As it turns out, Hanson had so kindly added a few extra stops for their Albertane tour, including... dum-da-dum... NASHVILLE! The only problem is, we live about two hours away from there, so we had to get someone to drive us. Our mothers, who must have been feeling *very* generous, actually volunteered. 'Course, we had to pay for our tickets and everything, but that was okay. It was only $28 for the Golden Cirlce (up front), so we forked over the money, Rachael's mom called Starwood to order the tickets, but they were all sold out of Golden Circles. And the regular seats. So we were stuck with THE LAWN. Wahhhhhhh!!!! This girl I know called me up to tell me that she had gotten *free tickets* through her aunt for the Golden Circle seats in the Atlanta concert, and she had an extra, so she let this girl who was going to be in the lawn sit with her. She said that from the lawn, "you can't see anything, they look like *specks*!" So I was kinda dissapointed.
Well, Thursday-the-sixth-of-August finally rolled around. I had to go to the dentist to get a couple of fillings that morning, so when I got back my mouth was all drugged up with novicaine. I could just *barely* eat my ravioli that I had for lunch, and when I talked I sounded like Sylvester-the-cat-meets-Scully-the-FBI- agent. And Rachael and I both had colds. So I was like, "Cough cough-- hewwow!" And we were afraid we wouldn't be able to scream. So we told my sister to scream really loud, to make up for both of us.
We piled into Rachael's car, all seven of us: me, her, my mom, her mom, her sister, my sister, and my other sister. We rode and drove and rode and drove, munching on Twizzlers, mini-goldfish crackers, and sour gummy worms on the way. I finally got the feeling in my mouth back (instead of saying, "I wuv wu, Hathon!" I could say, "I love you, Hanson!" But I didn't say either of those), and we finally got to the Starwood amphitheater. We were just about to enter the gates and there was this limosene parked right beside us. We were climbing around in the car, trying to get a good look at who was inside, and the window rolled down halfway and someone waved at us! But I don't know who. I think that question is going to bother me for the rest of my life... Anywayz, we waited forever in this huge crowd of girls who screamed every time someone walked past the gates. We ran up this little hill-thing to look through the fence, but we didn't see any of the Hansons. They finally let us in, and whaddya know! The lawn wasn't that bad after all! We could actually see the people, tell what they were wearing, see what instrument they were playing, etc. And with binoculars, we could even make out facial features!
The concert wasn't supposed to start until 7:30 or 8:00, and I wanted to buy something. So Rachael and I made our way through the lawn to the souvenier stand. On the way, we passed this little girl in ponytails who couldn't have been more than three or four years old, and she had on this extra-extra-extra small, like toddler-size, Hanson tank top! I didn't even know Hanson shirts came in such small sizes... Heck, I didn't know Hanson fans came in such small sizes. Anywayz, we waited in this really long line while I thought about what I wanted to get. I only had $20, and I was going to get an Albertane Tour T-shirt but it was $25. So after much debating with Rachael, I decided to get an official Albertane Tour poster (wow, it was only $15...oh, yeah, great deal...), which was the next best thing. I could have gotten a fake backstage pass necklace, but what's the point of paying twenty bucks for a laminated picture of Hanson on a string? So I bought the poster and we somehow managed to find our spot in the huge mass of girls, which had only gotten larger. We just hung around there for a few minutes, then me, my youngest sister, and Rachael's sister started getting hungry. So we decided to get some food. Rachael came anyway, even though she claimed that she couldn't eat a thing. By this time, the crowd was absolutely HUGE, so we had to hang on to the backs of each other's shirts so we wouldn't get separated. We got to the hot dog place, there was a line only half as long as the one at the souvineir place, and we were just waiting there when we heard all ten-thousand girls (or hundred thousand or two hundred thousand or however many were there) start screaming. So we ran like the devil up to the stage, but we didn't see anybody. So we went back, the line had become much shorter, and I was just about to order when they started screaming again. Rachael and her sister (who had the money) ran off to the stage, even though I kept telling them that we still had at least thirty minutes before it started. My sister was about to go, but I grabbed her shirt and pulled her back. Then I realized that I didn't have the money, so I told her to go find them, and luckily they came back right when the food was ready. So we each took a hot dog, a bottle of water, or a "popcorn cup" and grabbed each other's hand and walked in a sort of semi-circle back to our chairs, where we ate our food (even though the hotdogs were pretty disgusting) and waited some more. These girls started throwing around this beach ball, and Rachael got to hit it twice, but it never came my way. I think it went off to the other side of the amphitheater. Soon there were about four beach balls flying over our heads. They were doing sort of a final light-check, and each time one of the spotlights would come on, everyone would scream. It got kind of annoying after a while, but you can't go to a Hanson concert without screaming, can you? :-)
Finally, the lights on the stage dimmed and Admiral Twin just... walked on. Everyone was screaming, but I think they were kind of dissapointed. I guess they didn't do much research... I mean, what would you do if you were expecting Hanson and these four guys that you've never seen before just walk on and start playing like it's their concert? I thought they were pretty good, actually. Not as good as Hanson, but not bad... They played one song, then introduced themselves: "We are Admiral Twin from Tulsa Oklahoma!!!" And everyone screamed and they played a few more songs, and then they left (boo-hoo!). After that came an eternity of suspense... at least the stage crew put on some music while we waited. It was mostly oldies stuff; they played "My Girl" and everyone, I mean *everyone*, was singing along and dancing. That was pretty fun, but I'm thinking that maybe it was some kind of weird conspiracy, because all the other concert reviews I've read talk about everyone "singing and dancing to My Girl". I think Hanson planned it that way. Then for some reason they stopped the music for a few minutes, and I heard Zac on his drums. And then I saw his drums! They were right outside the curtain. But... I didn't see Zac.
Just as I was wondering if they would ever come on, the curtain dropped and they were just... there. Taylor on the left on his Kurzweil keyboard, Zac on the drumstand banging away at that cool set with the Hanson symbol on them, and Isaac was on the far right with an electric guitar, wearing this really cool outfit that was made from this silvery, shiney stuff. He had his hair pulled back, but Zac and Taylor were wearing theirs down (no braids on Zac! boo hoo!). They were sooooooooo much cuter in real life than they are in pictures and TV. ARGHH, I forgot which song they played first! I think the second song they played was "Weird", then Taylor goes, "It's weird... the last word in that song is the title of our next song." He was refferring to "Sometimes", which I used to not think was that great but buddy, it sounded a heckuva lot better live than it does on the album. But after they played a few more songs, they left (everyone was begging them to come back), the curtain dropped, and a few long minutes later it rose and there was a different backdrop, a different drum set, the same keyboard, and a green armchair with a Gibson guitar beside it. Ike, Taylor and Zac ran back onstage and Isaac said, "This is our three car garage." Then they played "Stories," "River," and some more songs off 3 Car Garage. Then they left, everyone screamed for them to come back, but only Isaac returned. He sat down at the keyboard and played this song from Boomerang, called "More than Anything." He had his eyes closed and was making that hurt-puppy face while he was singing, and he looked so adorable... It was soooooo sweet, because when he sang this one line that went "Cause I can't live my life without you," he pointed to us! That was one of the best parts of the whole concert... Rachael and I were squealing and jumping up and down and she turned around and said something like, "He can't live without you!!" This one girl who was standing right behind me screamed "ISAAC!!!!!" as loud as she could, right it my ear. It was very... sponataneous, and annoying. Anywayz, I could gush on and on about how sweet that song was forever, but I'm not, because I have better things to do with my life. :-) Hee hee hee...
After Isaac had finished (I swear, I could have listened to that all day), Taylor and Zac (who was looking a little zoned-out; Rachael said something like, "give the boy a nap!") ran out and I think it was then when they took these supersoaker water guns and squirted everyone. They introduced themselves and the backup singers, playing a very repetitive measure on their instruments, which they kept on switching around; Isaac had already done the piano, then Zac got up from the drums and squirted everyone and Taylor took his place. Man, can he PLAY! I'm still trying to decide who was better, him or Zac. When they were done with all that, they switched back to the original backdrop (no more acousitc Gibson guitar, boo hoo) and played a few more songs, including one of my favorites, "A Minute without You." Then they said that this was their final song (cries and wails and boo hoos from the audience), and it was "Man from Milwaukee." That was one of the funnest songs that they did. Isaac was acting a little... wild... and he jumped up on the drumstand with his guitar, danced around a little bit, then leaped off and landed kind of violently, on his knees or something. Then he rolled over so he was laying on his back and he KEPT ON PLAYING! Taylor got up from the keyboard and said, "Are you okay?" (you couldn't hear him, but I'm pretty sure he said *something*). Isaac nodded and, with this insanely happy, giddy look on his face, jumped up and they finished the song... somehow.
They left and we were still screaming for them, so they miraculously came back (you'd think they'd had enough of us by now... :-) and did a couple more songs. The last one they did was the absolute coolest. It was called "Summertime Blues," it's one of those classic rock songs from the 50's or 60's. There was this one part that Isaac sang in this really deep voice, and there was also this line that went "Well there ain't no cure for the summertime blues". Somewhere in the middle of the song, Taylor goes, "Okay everyone, sing along now!" And so that's how I got to sing with Hanson. I was wondering if me and Rachael were the only ones singing, because expect for Hanson playing, the only other thing I could hear were nonverbal screams. I swear, that's one of the coolest things I've ever done!