From Jamie
Monday, August 3rd, 1998 HAD to have been the best day of my whole 14 years of life. Everyone knows (well, everyone in my little town of Somerset, Kentucky) how much I absolutely LOVE Hanson. I finally got my chance to see them live in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Riverbend Music Center. I have liked Hanson ever since March 6, 1997 when "MMMBop" was released and my life hasn't been the same since then. Most of my friends can't even remember what I was like before I loved Hanson. But, enough about me, the concert kicked MAJOR ass!!! I swear, I can't even hardly describe it in words, but I will try. My mom drove me, my brother (he's 13), and my two friends four hours from our hometown to Cincinnati. We left at about 1:30 P.M. and got there at about 4:30 P.M.. As soon as we entered the state of Ohio, there was the Riverbend Music Center and I started crying. We immediately went to Riverbend. There was this guy with long hair standing at the gate telling everyone where to park. My brother asked him if he had met Hanson yet and he said yes, so that made me cry even more (and scream). I must have scared the poor guy because he looked startled. I asked him if I could shake his hand and he said sure. I think he thought it was like his three seconds of fame or something. ANYWAYS...my mom drove us up to the gate, where there were already like 50 girls standing in line. I am so glad we got there when we did, because like five minutes later there was a HUGE line and we were like at the very beginning. We met this really cool girl named Katie and she was a junior in high school and she had already been to a Hanson concert before, where she actually got to meet Hanson! She was really awesome, REALLY awesome, but you'll find out why a little bit later. While standing in line, one of Hanson's bodyguards walked by us and I went up to him and shook his hand. He was a big, black, bald guy, like one you would see playing football. He had this really awesome pass on and it said "The Albertane Tour: All Access." I told him how much it rocked. Then I asked him how he got a job like this and he was like "Well, um, I don't know." I think it was like he couldn't tell, you know, like the secret service for the president? And then he said, "But sometimes, it's not all that fun you know." I said, "Why? Because of all the girls screaming?" And he said, "No, like when Zac shoots me with a water gun!" I almost died right then and there. That was the cutest thing I had ever heard! Then we went back and stood in line. We met a few more Hanson fans and talked with them for a while. Then, everyone started screaming, which made everyone else look up. Two girls, obviously Jessica and Avery, were walking with a woman to this white van. They were so cute! They waved to all of us and I took pictures like crazy. I bet they thought we were all nuts! After about two hours of standing in line, they finally started letting people in. I went to the merchandise thingy place first because I figured if I waited until after the concert was over that the stuff I wanted would be sold out. I was like second in line, so there wasn't that much of a wait. I got two tour posters, the tour program, a 1999 Hanson calendar, a Hanson pin, and a lanyard. I also got binoculars when we first got there and I got a glow stick thingy, but that was a little later. Then, we ran as fast as we could to the lawn (since we had lawn seats) and got up close, but there were these two big pole thingys in the way, so we couldn't see that well. I was so pissed. Plus, there was like this woman behind us who was complaining about us standing up. She was a real bitch! It was so packed, but it was awesome! It was about 7:25 P.M. at this time, and the concert started at 8:00 P.M. with Admiral Twin, whose drummer is hella hot! When you're in lawn seating, there are like these guards in front of you, and one of them was really, really hot. His name was Ivan and he looked sorta like Usher (and for those of you who know me, you know I love Usher)! We talked to him for like 45 minutes from him meeting Snoop Doggy Dog to the bitches behind us. Then he told us that he got his sisters pit seats and backstage passes really cheap since he worked there. Then we started offering money to him for the backstage passes, but he didn't want to make his sisters mad. All of the sudden, Admiral Twin came on, which I thought they were great. I really couldn't see them, but I could hear them. All I could see was Jarrod's hair. =) Ivan saw how pissed we were, so he said he would try to go get us closer seats, like in the seat part. I was like I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! This is where the really awesome Katie comes in. See, all through Admiral Twin playing, Katie was telling us to try to sneak up because some other people from lawn had just done it, but we wanted to wait for Ivan since we could see him looking for seats for us. Ivan came back finally and said that he could only find two seats. Well, that was fine with me because I knew I would get one. My mom had just dropped us off and she wasn't there so she didn't need it and well, my brother had an idea. Katie gave Ivan her ticket stub and told us to meet him at the top of lawn seating. The plan was that he would give me the stub first and I would go in and stand by Katie (everyone was standing anyway, so it didn't matter that I didn't have a seat) and then Ivan would come and get the stub from me and he would give it to my brother who would come in and stand and then Ivan came back and got my brother's stub of Katie's and it went on like that until all four of us got in. I hugged Ivan and told him I loved him! He risked losing his job to get us better seats! (I got his e-mail addy cuz I love him so much! Too bad he had a girlfriend...) Well, by that time, Admiral Twin was done and the Albertane Crew was setting up Hanson's equipment. Every time someone would scream everybody would, which I thought was too funny. All you had to do was scream and point and the whole center would scream their heads off. There was a big curtain in front of the stage, so you couldn't see Hanson's equipment yet. I was already crying and screaming. Katie (my new best friend) was doing some kind of dance. My brother was picking up all kinds of girls! They were like "Forget Hanson, what's your name?" I thought that was really funny too. I think I was a little too hyper, but hey, who wouldn't be? I was about to see Hanson live, my lifelong dream since they became known as "Hanson." Then, all of the sudden, the lights went down and Isaac began playing the first guitar part to "Gimme Some Lovin" and I went ballistic! Then, as Taylor started playing the keyboards, the curtain fell (it sort of looked like it disappeared) and there were the one and only HANSON!!! I swear, I thought I was going to die, right then and there. I have never screamed so loud in my whole entire life. The guys I have been obsessing over for more than a year were right before my eyes. I thought I was dreaming, I thought it was heaven. I mean, I never even knew that many Hanson fans existed since I am one of the only people in my town who even likes Hanson. Everyone was screaming, even my brother who "claims" to hate Hanson, even though he knew every word to every song they played. Katie was so awesome to let us use her ticket! Me and her jammed to Hanson all night. After they played "Gimme Some Lovin," they played "Day Has Come" which is one of my most favorite Hanson songs. I started crying more and my brother hugged me. He had never seen me freak out so much, so he was scared! On the screen behind us, they would show close ups of them, so that would make everyone scream even louder. To me, it seemed like the crowd liked Zac the most because when it would do a close up of him, everyone would scream louder. It made Zac smile, which was the cutest smile! After that, they played "Weird" which made me cry even harder. (No surprise right?) So I was like screaming, crying, smiling, laughing, jumping around, and singing all at the same time. I was a mess! After a few more songs, (I can't remember the order they played everything in) they left and the Albertane Crew in these awesome orange suits started doing something to the set. They made it look like a three- car garage. They played "Stories" first which is my favorite "3 Car Garage" song so I was screaming the words. After they played some more songs of "3 Car Garage," Taylor and Zac left the stage and Ike played the piano and sang "More Than Anything." This was the part where I cried the hardest. (And I think this has what has made Ike my favorite now...) Ike looked so hot up there in his red leather pants! He has the most beautiful voice and finally people could hear it. After Ike was finished, they all came back and the Albertane Crew changed the set again to what it was like before. They played some more songs and then they played "I Will Come To You." At the end, Taylor pointed to the crowd and I thought I was going to die. My brother just kept giving me weird looks. I was jumping up and down! (I really liked it when Tay would jump up and down while playing the keyboards...) After "I Will Come To You," they played "MMMBop," which Katie said you probably be the last song. I was sad because it was almost over! "MMMBop" had never sounded so good. There's nothing like hearing it LIVE! After "MMMBop" was over, they left the stage and said "Thanks for coming out everyone..." But the stage lights were still on, so Katie said they would probably come back and do another song. They did! They came back and played "Man From Milwaukee," right after they squirted everyone with water guns and stuff. Zac rocked at drums! (Taylor also played the drums at one part and all I can say is WOW! He kicked ass on drums!) After "Man From Milwaukee," everyone thought it was over, but Tay kept saying how much our audience rocked, so they did another song. "Summertime Blues" was the last song they did. Everyone was pumped by now and you could tell Hanson was tired. (Who wouldn't be?) They all three held hands and bowed two times. It looked so cute! After they left stage, people were already leaving and the Albertane Crew was already putting equipment stuff in big black boxes. We sat there for about 15 minutes until someone told us we HAD to leave. I was sad, but glad that I had finally gotten my chance to see Hanson, LIVE! So now it was about 11:45 P.M. and our concert was over. I was still crying and screaming. I started singing "MMMBop" at the top of my lungs and like 50 people joined in. I thought that was really kewl! Well, I guess you know now why August 3rd, 1998 was the best day of my whole 14 years of life! I can't wait to see them in concert again!
