Marriage proposals for 12-year-old boys aren't usually socially
acceptable, but parents indulged a lot of wishful thinking at Red Rocks
on Saturday night.
It was teeny-bop heaven as Hanson came to town on its first tour. Where
Is the Love?, the band asks on one of its biggest hits. Here's your
love, 8,000 fans answered, shattering the muggy mountain air Saturday
with shrieks of innocent adulation.
The blond mop-tops, Isaac, Taylor and Zac, returned the kindness with a
solid 90-minute set of exuberant pop and rollicking soul as only a trio
of Midwestern brothers could play it.
No surprise, the noisy Red Rocks throng was predominantly pre-teen
females and the lucky parents who drove them and opened their purse
strings for $25 T-shirts and $15 posters. The younger ones came with
signs saying, "Zac, will you marry me?" and, "Blow me a kiss." Their
older chauffeurs came with earplugs and patience. But those parents
should be proud of the choices their offspring are making early in life:
Unlike other teeny-bop bands of today, Hanson is more than pop fluff and
video magic. The boys' learned their craft from their parents' Time/Life
oldies collection and learned their instruments in their garage. That
oldies rock and soul vibe was evident Saturday as Hanson peppered its
set with songs that parents could recognize, such as Good Lovin' and
Money (That's What I Want). Indeed, the group opened with the Spencer
Davis Group's Gimme Some Lovin', but the screaming reached new heights
when the trio (with the help of three backing musicians) lit into their
own songs with Thinking of You and the R&B rave-up Where's the Love?
Later, the band took a break to "get in touch with our quiet side," as
15-year-old Taylor put it, unplugging their instruments and settling
into overstuffed easy chairs for a set of more mellow material. That
part of the concert best showed the band's abilities on simple but
affecting songs such as Stories, I'll Be With You in Your Dreams and
Soldiers. In the quieter setting you could hear how the three blend
vocal harmonies like old pros.
The stripped-down setting also showed that the three can handle their
instruments better than their critics would care to admit. In
particular, the elder Hanson brother, Isaac, 17, carried the load on
acoustic guitar, and when he took over on keyboards to play More Than
Anything he showed why he was the lead singer before Taylor's soulful
pipes developed.
Even 12-year-old Zac, who did little more than add backup singing on the
acoustic songs, got in some good drumrolls and fills on the neo-funk of
Speechless.
July 19, 1998
