Toronto 11/23/2010

I have to say, this show has made me really timid of wanting to go to a Hanson concert in another country ever again. Before I get to that, I'll start with the drive to Toronto.

It was pretty much uneventful until it was time to cross the border in Quebec. I have yet to witness a conversation that did not involve Hanson fans talking to other Hanson fances in which Hanson came up so many times, logically. The person at the border asked a series of questions such as: Where are you coming from, Where are you going, How do you know eachother, How long will you be here, etc etc.

The answer to 98% of the questions that were asked was "Hanson." Looking back, it was quite amusing. The border person ended up allowing us to just go ahead and cross the border without searching the car or any of us.

Once we crossed the border, we continued our journey to the mall that is near-ish Melissa's parents' house and ate dinner there. After that, we went to Melissa's house and she packed stuff she needed for the Toronto show.

Fast forward to the day of the show. We got there really early in the morning and of course, it was cold. It wasn't as cold as Burlington though (which surprised me). Basically the entire day was spent trying to pass time since it was cold and we were tired. We all passed the time by going to the local store/fast food places and using two things that come in pretty handy when there is a time of boredom: a pen, and paper. Melissa and Laura played a very amusing, shall we say, game while Danny and I opted for playing a game of dots.

Finally, it was about an hour before the walk was supposed to start. Melissa, Laura, and I went to the security guard to ask about what we should do since we would be working the walk table. After talking with the security guard, the security guard talking to someone in Hanson's camp, we were able to set up the walk. After the way Charlotte went down, and seeing how well everything went down in Burlington, we talked to the security guard about honoring the number system. It ended up with a lot of confusion on the part of the security guard and people in Hanson's camp, but everything finally worked itself out.

Since most of the walkers had never been on a walk before, we had to explain the registration process to just about all of them and explain a little bit about the walk. Most of the people were acting like it was 1997 all over again during the registration and the walk. Although we told them putting their phone number down was only to receive a text message reminder to donate, a lot of them were convinced Hanson would personally call them if they put their number down on the registration form. When Hanson came out there were a lot of cameras immediately shoved in their faces, girls screaming, and girls swarming them. Melissa, Laura, and I were glad to be working the walk table as opposed to walking with all the crazies.

After the walk and end of the walk speech were complete, Taylor decided it'd be a good idea to walk into us, apologize, then thank us for working the walk table. We replied with "you're welcome" and then Zac walked by and hacked all over us. Surprise Surprise, we all ended up sick.

Anyways, the security guard wanted to allow us to be the first ones in the door since we worked the walk table (Melissa, Laura, and I ended up making friends with him and even took a picture with him) but we ended up just going back to our spots in line. Once it was time for doors, everyone rushed inside to try to get as close of a spot as possible. I think we were about 2 or 3 rows back and somewhat center. I tried to meet up with another friend of mine that lives in Canada before the show started but she couldn't find me in the crowd and I knew if I left my spot I wouldn't get it back. There were already a couple of people leaving front row that were well on their way to becoming drunk even though the show had not even started yet and everyone around was becoming super annoyed. The crowd wasn't too bad when Gorbel was on stage.

It was an entirely different story when Hanson came on stage though. They took longer than usual to come on, but once they did come on everyone started shoving and cramming together trying to get as close to the stage as possible. Several times throughout the show I literally feared I would be trampled because of how the crowd was acting. Some girl behind me kept like sexually dancing all up on me and I really did not appreciate that. Thankfully I had my bulky jacket tied around my waist so that kept her at least a little bit separated from me.

After the show was over, we went to the bus once again to get autographs since we didn't get the chance to get all the autographs we wanted at the last show. While we were waiting for the guys to come out, I spotted William. He was goofing around and having a good time. At one point he came up and started acting like a lot of fans at the show (jumping up and down screaming "omg it's Hanson!"). He then went to the back (behind all of the fans) to hang out with some people he knew. At one point, I walked over to him and asked him to sign my card. He opened it up, let it play MMMBop for a few seconds and then closed it. He said something along the lines of "I'm sorry, I had to." I would imagine he is probably very tired of playing that song. I know out of all the full concerts I had attended thus far (not counting member events, walks, things like that) MMMBop was played at every single one of them. Though, he wasn't part of their crew for the first show I went to. I can't remember who was, but I remember one of them was a white guy with shabby-ish blonde hair and a kind of goatee. But to get to my point, I know he has played MMMBop many, many times. I didn't mind him closing the card, especially since he signed it.

When the guys finally came out to sign stuff, the fans REALLY acted like it was 1997. One fan even asked "will you sign my bossum (sorry not sure how to spell that)?" When Zac came to us, Laura joked that we could drive the bus back for him since it's from Tennessee and we were heading to Tennessee. He understood we were joking and took it very well. Eventually, Isaac made his way to us and he signed my card but skipped signing something for Laura. Laura didn't even realize he was there, but she made some sort of comment to Melissa and she jokes that her comment is the reason he skipped signing something for her. After that, it was off to the hotel for some sleep.

The next morning was the journey home, which really wasn't too eventful so I'm not going to bore you with the details.

Burlington 11/21/2010

This show was the coldest show I have ever attended, temperature wise. I definitely made use of my heavy jacket that I brought with me. Before I get into the show, I'll start with the beginning of the journey:

On November 19, Laura and I drove from our houses to Holly's (freeze) house in Nashville since we had an early flight the next morning. I had planned to meet up with a friend of mine in the Nashville area for dinner (I had invited Laura and Holly to come along but they declined the invite because at the time they were not hungry), so I met up with her first and we had dinner at Red Robin. After that, we spent some time hanging out with each other then she went home and I went to Holly's house. Once I arrived, Holly and Laura said they were hungry so we went out again. We went to some pizza place that I can't remember the name of but instead of eating real food, I opted for chocolate cake since I had already ate dinner.

After that was over, it was back to Holly's house where operation: Whit and Laura share one suitcase began. It sounds like a difficult task, but it really was not. We packed most of our stuff in our own carry-on bags. The suitcase was just for blankets, jackets, and stuff that we were not allowed to have in our carry-on. I had put the blankets in one of those vacuum sealed space saver bag things, but luckily even when it was un-sealed there was still plenty of space for everything because the airport unsealed the bag even though you could clearly see what was in it.

After that was done, we spent some time talking and just enjoying each other's company. Then it was time for bed.

Early the next morning, I drove Laura and I to the airport (we left Laura's car at Holly's). It was definitely an adventure figuring out where to park, but we finally figured it out and took the shuttle to the portion of the airport that we needed to enter so that we could check our luggage, go through security, and board our plane when the time came. For the most part, everything went smoothly and quickly. There were a lot of people traveling most likely to get home for Thanksgiving, but I didn't feel like we had to wait a long time to get through security.

I don't remember much of the plane ride except people freaking out swearing we were going to die because the plane ride from Charlotte to Vermont was a little bumpy (the oxygen masks didn't even come down). I am used to flying by now so I just kind of quietly laughed and flipped through the magazines on the plane to pass the time. Once we landed in Vermont, we took a taxi to the hotel. I remember thinking Vermont probably has more trees than Tennessee. Once the cab driver dropped us off, we checked into the hotel (that was another adventure, the entrance to the lobby is not designed for people with one or more suitcases, especially if one of them happens to be on the larger side) and went to our room. It was extremely cold outside and wasn't any better inside. We turned the heat on but it never did work. We pretty much stayed in our jackets the whole time.

Melissa and Danny finally arrived on the day of the show (they had went to the show the night before as well so that's why she didn't get to the hotel when we did). We spent some time in the hotel room basically just getting ready and gathering up everything we wanted to take with us (blankets, gloves, jackets, etc) then headed off to the venue. I don't remember much about the venue except there was a Dunkin Donuts literally like right in front of the venue so that's where everyone went for bathroom breaks and to warm up. For that walk, no one (not even Hanson) took their shoes off due to how cold it was.

After the walk, we gave our blankets and stuff to Danny to take to the car. When it was time to start going into the venue, we gave up our jackets. I was the sender that night for the set list, so I decided to text the set list to the receiver, Holly, and twitter since the place that has a good bit of setlists posted asked for someone to tweet the set list. Overall, it was a fun night. I got to hear I Will Come To You and that made my night. I've only heard it two times so far in concert. I also loved that the encore was Merry Christmas Baby and Run Rudolph Run.

After the show was over, we went to wait by the bus. Even though it was cold, I had no issue with waiting by the bus because I really wanted to get my MMMBop birthday card signed (Beth had sent it to me back in '08 I believe, and I knew I wanted Hanson to sign it but I never attempted to get them to sign it until this show. I got Zac and Taylor to sign it, Isaac never came out to sign stuff. When Zac saw what it was, he kind of giggled and then signed it.

Once we all got the autographs we wanted, it was time to back to the hotel and get some sleep since the next day was the drive to Toronto.

Charlotte 11/12/2010

This concert was sort of a spur of the moment concert. I originally had no intentions of going (don't get me wrong, I wanted to, but I knew I couldn't afford to go to Charlotte as well as Burlington and Toronto) but Laura got in touch with me one day, asking how I would get to Charlotte if I did go. At the time I wasn't exactly sure why she was asking, but I told her I would drive if I were to go to that show. She then offered to buy my ticket to the show for me and asked if I would give her a ride to the show. Of course, I agreed. Plans were made almost immediately after that (surprising how quickly planning can be done when the time calls for quick planning) and we decided to keep the fact that we were coming a surprise since the show happened to be on Valerie's birthday. Keeping our arrival a surprise went very well, we never talked about the show and just did everything the way we normally would if we were not going to the show.

Laura came to my sister's house the day before the show that way we could get on the road sooner as opposed to later. I took her to Mr T's and I attempted to take her to this one spot on the mountain, but it's hidden and the fact that we tried to find it in the dark didn't make things any easier. Maybe next time!

After that, we came back to the house and went to sleep. The next day I drove Laura and I to my school because I had a test that I could not miss in my first class. After I took the test, I walked back to the car and then Laura and I got on the road. The entire drive there, I kept Whitney "Ginch" informed about our ETA because I knew she wouldn't tell anyone we were coming and I was super excited to meet up with her at the show.

When I finally arrived, I said hey to Whitney since she was the person I came to first. Whitney then went with Laura and I to say hey to the others and to wish Valerie a Happy Birthday. I was super excited to be there and to hang out with everyone. A lot of picture taking happened, which obviously included a group photo and a jumping picture. Those are our two traditions when it comes to photos. The next main picture was Whitney cubed since there were 3 of us with the name of Whitney. I don't really know other Whitney (not "Ginch" Whitney, the other one aside from myself) too well, but Whitney "Ginch" knows her decently well I think. I remember the jumping picture took a couple of tries to get everyone in the air and other fans were staring at us, but we really did not care.

When it was time for the walk, everyone walked in the dark and I remember hearing some fans plotting ways to ensure they could skip to the front of the line after the walk. It really annoys me when fans do that, but I tried to not let it get to me. I remember some guy with a big truck getting mad at Taylor for standing in front of the truck while the rest of the walk was crossing the street and Taylor mocking the guy. I think he takes the role of daddy with him on walks. It's not the first time he has looked out for the safety of the fans while on walks.

Once everyone was back from the walk, things got super chaotic. Everyone just stopped right where they were in line so it really did not matter what time you got there, it was more of where you were at when the walk was over. Taylor had all the walkers form a special line because a bunch of fans tried to skip the walk so they could get in first. What made everyone mad is that they registered to walk and planned to try to mix in with those that did walk. When Taylor said he wanted the non-walkers to be kept in a separate line and for that line to go in last, venue staff respected his wishes. A couple of people ended up threatening Trish and claiming she ruined the concert for them because she helped, along with venue staff and some other fans, to enforce Taylor's request that non-walkers be kept separate and let in the venue last.

Despite that, my friends and I had a great time in the balcony dancing with each other and just spending time with each other. After the concert was over, Valerie waited by the bus to get a birthday card signed (that was decently large in size) by the guys. Once she accomplished that, we told her she was not allowed to leave and brought her over to Holly's car. That's when we surprised her with cupcakes and I gave her the gifts I bought her and the card I made for her. Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and once we were finished eating, there was a bit of stalling as per usual when some of us are continuing to the next show and some of us are not. In the end, we all said our good-byes and went to wherever we were going. Laura, Valerie, Trish, and I shared a hotel room and the others continued on to other shows.

It started at a bus stop..

Well, not really. I have been a Hanson fan ever since 1997 but I was not able to attend my first concert until August 22, 2000. The concert was in Atlanta, Georgia and held at The Tabernacle. Although it is now 2010, I still remember a great deal about that concert. I remember I had a dentist appointment that day, and my mom had the dentist write me a note saying I was there for a longer amount of time than I really was so school would count my absence as excused. Once I got out of the dentist, we went to be with my sister for one of her doctor appointments (she was pregnant at this time, but only in the first trimester). I don't really remember much else about before arriving, except that the reason for my dentist appointment was to get my braces tightened. When my mom and I finally arrived in Atlanta, we got lost. No surprise there, especially since the wonderful thing called a GPS had yet to be invented. Anyways, I remember my mom turning the wrong way on a one way street, and I told her. Her response was "I don't care!!" but then she saw cars coming at her and said "Nevermind I do care!!" as she drove the car up on to the sidewalk to get out of the way. Anyways, we finally got to where we needed to be and took our spots in line. The line was REALLY long by this time (it was around 3 PM, doors were probably somewhere around 6 or 7). My mom and I were both surprised at how long the line was, but I was happy to be there.

I'll skip past the pretty much boring details of waiting in line and get on to the show. All I remember is wanting the balcony because of how short I am, and it was also my first ever General Admission concert. My mom and I got pretty decent spots in the lower balcony (there were two). I remember being very thankful I had chosen the balcony because everyone on the floor was so crowded, Hanson had to keep stopping the show and asking people to back up to allow breathing room for everyone there. I was also told about fans kicking other fans, but I didn't see that. I know a lot of fans were having to be crowd surfed to security guards to get out of the crowd. One girl came up to the balcony to stand where I was. I remember finding her very annoying because the entire show she kept slinging her long, red hair and hitting me in the face. She told me that she had been down in the crowd but had to come up to the balcony because she got so over heated that she started throwing up. I also remember some girl threw her bra on stage, Zac got pissed, and kicked it off the stage. Other than that, all I really remember about the show is my mom asking me if I wanted a t-shirt or something else (merch wise) and I chose the t-shirt. I still have the t-shirt to this day. I haven't worn it many times, but I don't know that I'd ever want to just get rid of it.

My next concert was not until October 8, 2007. I went to that concert with my step sister. I also saw a couple people from school there. It was a fun concert, but she was only going just to say she went to a Hanson concert because she liked them as a kid. It's almost as if for her, Hanson did a reunion tour, it was a one time thing, and she went just to relive the memories. But she's content with that, so I really do not care. I had a great time, and that was definitely not the last time I went to a Hanson concert. Since then, I've continued to go to plenty more shows thanks to meeting an amazing group of friends that gradually gets bigger and bigger. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends! Most of them have all been to way more shows than I (I've been to a total of 15 and also took part in the Thinking 'Bout Somethin' video shoot), but we all still have a great time together each time. I don't plan to make an entry for every show that has since followed, but I will make entries for my most 3 recent shows: Charlotte, Burlington, and Toronto. Those entries will follow "soon." Well, hopefully soon instead of "soon."