Going to the Milwaukee Hanson concert definitely made July 25th the best day of my life. I (15) loved this day so much that I’m going to bore you with all the details that happened before and after the concert. We left my neighbor’s house at about 1:30. I rode in my neighbor, Katie’s (15), minivan with Katie; her sisters, Kristen (11) and Sarah (10); Kristen’s friend, Courtney (11); and my friend, Erin (15). Our friends, Amanda (15) and Theresa (15), were in Theresa’s car behind us. Both cars were armed with a Hanson pin up each to hold up to the windows and a sign that said “Honk if you like Hanson.” Unfortunately, the windows of Katie’s van were tinted, but Amanda and Theresa sure got some negative attention with there sign.
Once we got to the Marcus Amphitheater parking lot, we hopped out of the cars and played MON out of the little tape player I brought. It didn’t go very loud, though. We found the Marcus Amphitheater and set our stuff down outside of the gate. A lot of people were holding up their Hanson signs, so we decided to get ours out. Our sign was two white sheets sewn together. It was tie-dyed yellow and red, and it said “Get High On Hanson” in black spray paint. At the bottom was the address of mine and Katie’s web page (which is called “Get High On Hanson)--http://hansonkrum.cjb.net. A girl asked us if she could take a picture of us holding our sign. Of course, we said yes. Then, we sat down, and Katie and Amanda started braiding our hair.
When Katie started on my second braid, tons of girls started running out into the parking lot. All my friends started running, too, leaving me behind with one braid. I didn’t think Hanson would get there that early, but I followed anyway. It turned out that the merchandise stand opened, and that’s why the girls were running. I bought the T-shirt with all the cities on the back and the program. After that, we went back to Katie’s van to put our stuff away and eat dinner. It was about 3 o’clock--too early for dinner--but we didn’t want to chance missing Hanson when they came. Katie finished my braids when we were at the van, and then we headed back to the Amphitheater to wait for Hanson. More people were there, so we didn’t have as good of a spot by the gate as we had before, but that was OK since we had reserved seats.
An hour later, some girls ran out into the parking lot again. This time, we had a feeling it was Hanson. Everyone but Katie, Sarah, Erin, and I sprinted out into the parking lot. Katie had to wait for Sarah since she couldn’t run that fast, and I stayed back by them just to be nice. Erin somehow got behind me, too. Maybe a hundred girls sprinted after the bus until it passed through a gate, and the gate shut behind it. We all crowded against the gate. Katie and Sarah got to the front since they were short, and some nice moms let them through. I think Theresa and Amanda got a pretty good view, too. I was a head taller than everyone there, so I could see perfectly, too. Someone thought they saw Hanson, but they weren’t really there. As we were walking back, this lady told me that she had saw the bus pull in, and she was sure she saw Zac standing in the front. But being a mom, she told me, she didn’t have a camera with her.
We came back to our spot and played MON. We wanted to hear “Man From Milwaukee” since that’s where we were--in Milwaukee. At about the middle of the song, the music stopped, and all we heard was screams coming from the tape. Courtney admitted that she pushed record on the player instead of stop when we were running after Hanson, so she got our screams. It sounds cool, though.
Katie’s mom took all of our cameras home with her, so we wouldn’t get them taken away. I was hesitant to give it to her at first because I wanted pictures, but the security guards said we would be ejected if we were caught with a camera.
About an hour later, no one was sitting anymore. We were all pressed up against the gate of the Amphitheater, hoping they would open the gates or Hanson would come out. Hanson didn’t come out, but that didn’t stop most of the girls from screaming. Whenever anyone would walk by, they would all scream. Some girls behind me were getting mad at the screaming ones for screaming for no reason. I was giving the play-by-play of everything that was happening behind the gate to a girl behind me who was too short to see. Again, I was a head taller than most of the gilrs in front of me, so I could see fine. They weren’t gonna open the gates for a while, so I went off with Kristen to find the six girls I was supposed to be meeting (let’s see--Melinda, Monica, Ali, Erica, Anna, and Leah). I couldn’t find any of them, so we went to wait with Amanda for her cousin, Haley, who was meeting us there soon. Haley still didn’t come, so Kristen and I left Amanda to find the others in the huddle. When the gates opened, Theresa, Kristen, Sarah, Katie, Erin and I huddled close together, so the crowd could file past us, and so we wouldn’t get knocked down. We couldn’t go through yet because we still had to wait for Haley.
It was about an hour until concert time, and Haley still hadn’t come. The crowd had passed through the gates by now. We all wanted to get in and get to our seats. I had to make sure I walked through with a crowd, so security wouldn’t check my bag. I had my tape player in it. We couldn’t wait any longer, so we left Amanda with Courtney, and went through the gates. Katie and I went to the bathroom, met the others outside, and worried that Amanda wouldn’t find us. We started walking back toward the gate to find Amanda, Courtney, and Haley coming toward us. After ordering 7 cups of water from some restaurant (we sure got weird looks from that), we went into the Amphitheater. By this time, Theresa and Erin were getting really nervous and hyper.
First, we had to lead Kristen and Courtney to there seats in section 7, row V. Then, we head over to section 5. I went down to row J and sat by myself. Everyone else was in row R. That was just fine with me, though, except for the fact that the two girls in front of me had this annoying sign they kept holding up. The girls in back of me were yelling at them to put their sign down, but they wouldn’t.
Before the concert started, dates other performers would be at Marcus flashed across the big screens. When Spice Girls came up, everyone started booing, but when BSB came up, everyone screamed. After all the dates ran through, they would show the audience for a little while. Every time they showed the audience, I look back to row R to make sure my friends were holding up our awesome sign. They were, but some punks in front of them each had a sign, so no one could see ours.
At 7:30, Admiral Twin came on. They were better than I thought they were going to be. Jarod Gollihare (or however the heck you spell it) rocks! Katie and I really wanted to meet him, but we didn’t get a chance to. So they sang some songs. I don’t remember that much because I wasn’t concentrating on the music at that point. It lasted about a half hour.
When 8:30 came around, my half of the Amphitheater saw three blond guys dart behind the curtain. We all started screaming, so the other side did, too. It seemed to take forever for the curtain to drop, but when it did, there was an ear-shattering shriek from the audience.
The first song they sang, as everyone knows, was “Gimme Some Loving/Shake Your Tailfeather.” I love when they sing that live. All their hair was down, but Ike put his up later. I don't remember what they were wearing, but I do remember Zac had a tight red shirt on, and Taylor had a dark colored short sleeved shirt also. I was disappointed because I assumed he couldn't really take his shirt off then. The next song was "Thinking of You." After that, Taylor started talking. I got really agitated because I wanted to hear what he was saying. Apparently, no one else in the audience did since they were screaming. I screamed "shut up" as loud as I could, but obviously, no one listened to me. At some point, they asked how the lawn was doing. Well, there weren't many people who had lawn seats, so their was really no answer to that question.
Next was Where's the Love, encore included. Then, they sang "Weird." All the lighters and glow sticks appeared at that time. That song always sounds so good! The next two songs were from 3 Car Garage--"River" and "Sometimes." Every time they showed Zac on the big screen, the audience would go crazy. It was obvious that Zac is the favorite in Wisconsin.
Hanson walked off the stage, and the stagehand people came on to switch it to the 3 Car Garage set. I thought it would take longer than it did. The guys came back out pretty quickly. When they came back out, Zac took the drums which were closer to the front now I think, Ike sat on the couch with his guitar, and Taylor sat at his keyboards. They sang "Stories" first. That's my favorite song on 3CG, but I didn't even recognize it when they started the song. It wasn't until they started singing that I figured it out.
Taylor found a heart balloon on stage from some fan. He held it for a while, deciding what to do with it. When I saw it, I screamed "Nice balloon, you pansy!" Don't ask me what came over me cause I don't know. Tay finally decided to let it go. It floated to the top of the Amphitheater. That was mean.
Then, they played "With You in Your Dreams." I guess they dedicated it to their grandma. That's what my friend said, but I didn't hear it. Well, anyway, that song is my favorite on MON, so that was cool. It was the sweetest thing in the world. Kristen, Katie, and I were doing hand motions that they had made up a long time ago. We said that our hand motions "bonded our seats" since we were in different sections. Taylor started talking again, but I still couldn't hear a thing. I tried cupping my hand behind my ear to hint that I'm trying to listen, but again, it didn't work.
For the next song, "Madeline," Zac shakes his castanets or whatever from behind his drums, and Taylor plays his tambourine from the keyboards. Of course, Ike is on the couch. For some reason, I thought Zac was really cute at that part.
Then, they played "Soldier." After that, Taylor and Zac got up and left the stage. I was about to sit down because I thought they were going to change the set, but then I noticed Ike was still on stage. I started getting excited because I heard so much about his solo, and I was finally going to hear it myself. Sure enough, he explained that "More Than Anything" was a song from their first Indy record. At that point, I was screaming "I love you, Ike!" and "Boomerang rocks!" I was singing as louad as I could through the whole song. I figured not many people knew the song. I was right. The two girls in front of me kept turning around, wondering how I knew all these words. It was awesome. Ike sounded so great, and he played just as well.
Taylor and Zac rejoined him on stage, dumping water all over the front row. I noticed that Taylor had either changed his shirt or taken his short sleeved shirt off because he was then wearing a tight gray T-shirt. So Milwaukee didn't get to see him take off his shirt. This next part was really confusing to me at first, but I figured it out eventually. They started off playing their respective instruments. In the middle of their playing, they introduced their back-up guys. A spotlight shown on each man as he was introduced. I screamed "Scott rocks!" when they introduced their bassist because he had been with them the whole time they were famous, and I knew him best. Then, Taylor left his keyboards and ran behind Zac. He raised his arms up in the air. I started screaming and jumping up and down. Taylor took some drumsticks from behind Zac and waited for his brother to get up. When he did, Taylor sat down and drummed just as well as Zac almost. He was supah (ha, Erin). Zac ran off somewhere. Sometime, Isaac went over and played Tay's keyboards for a while. When it was time for Zac to sit back behind his drums, he took a pair of drumsticks from behind Taylor, and they switched. Then, they went back to their instruments and played the next song. I'm not sure what it was. "Ever Lonely?"
Next, they played "I Will Come to You." Lighters. I was almost in tears at this song, but I was way too happy to cry. At the end, I screamed (yeah, again) "I love you Erin and Katie!" It's our song. Hehe. Then, they played "A Minute Without You." I actually heard what they said for this one. They were dedicating it to everyone at the concert. After that, they sang "Good Lovin." I only knew two words in the song, so that's all I sang. It was still cool, though."
When "Good Lovin" ended, someone pushed Tay's bongos beside his keyboard. I probably started screaming "MMMBop" or something then. As expected, the next song was "MMMBop." Finally, everyone around me was singing. It had to be the loudest during that song. Some time during the concert, Zac had a super soaker and squirted the first 3 rows with it. At one point, he gave it to Taylor to try. Tay was a bit more fair and shot farther back so more people could get wet.
The next song was dedicated to everyone in Milwaukee. Yes, that's right--"Man From Milwaukee!" I enjoyed singing that song so much. Every time Hanson would say "Milwaukee," I would scream it at the top of my lungs. I got some weird looks for that.
After that awesomely super song, they left the stage for a second. When they returned, they came out in CHEESEHEADS! I don't think I screamed louder than I did right then. It was sooooooo cute! They should put that part on the tour video--or at least Hansonline. Zac said, "Look what we found backstage!" Then, they gave them out to the audience. They sang "Look At You" and then "Summertime Blues." It was really funny how Ike did his weird voice just like he did on VH1 Before They Were Rock Stars II. The last song was "Weird" a capella. The brothers gathered in the middle of the stage. While they were singing, Ike was plugging one ear, so he could get the harmony right. Then he and Tay both were swaying with one arm. It was sweet. After that, they left.
I said a quick goodbye to the little girl I met during the concert and made my way to section 7. That was tough, but eventually, the nine of us were reuinted and walked out of the Amphitheater. There was a huge group of girls peering over a railing where the tour bus had come in. My friends and I crowded behind the railing also, draping our sign over so Hanson would see it if they in fact did come out. I couldn't see that well because I was in the back. My height wasn't as much help in this situation. Security guards from below told us Hanson had already left, but we stayed put. After minutes, I saw a little blond girl with a woman walking out of the door. It was Avery and their nanny, we thought. We were convinced Hanson was still there. A white van pulled into the restriced area, proving our point even more. Before we could see if our guys would come out, a security guard on our side of the railing made us all leave. Not a moment too soon because my dad came storming over with fire in his eyes and commanded us to follow him back to the car anyway. We said goodnight to Amanda, Theresa, and Haley, and walked to our car. None of us talked very much on the way home. Sarah fell asleep. We were all disappointed about not having our cameras since a lot of people were taking pictures, including a girl behind me.
The next day, I was terribly depressed and cranky. I called it my Hanson Hangover. My mom said it's like a drug. The highs are really high, but the lows are even lower. Not a bad metaphor. I learned a lot of things from that concert. 1. Hanson fans are the coolest fans on earth. 2. Milwaukee security guards are mean. 3. Bring cameras no matter how much you are threatened. 4. Hanson really do love what they're doing and love their fans. Even though I have no picture to look at, I'll carry the memory of that day with me forever and a day.
