...what went on in the city.
hanson ¦ baton rouge ¦ august 16, 2000
the sceen: mall of louisiana located in south baton rouge. not to give away my location completly, i live downtown, which about five minutes away by interstate. my friend camille *hi!* agreed to come with me, so i picked her up at one, thinking we'd be about 20th in line. *grin* yeah, well... it seems like i forgot to factor in a whole parish's lack of school, so we were about 200 people back in line. had we gotten there at two, we would have had to wait outside. i don't know how many of you have ever been down here; but, let me just inform you that waiting outside would be a preview to hell. it was really humid today; so, we were glad to be inside. we had two and a half hours to wait and so it began. as we were waiting, the woman behind be looked at the schedule i had for them to sign and was like "oh... they're doing a concert here." thankfully, i was in a good mood, so i just said "yeah." i'm okay with waiting, until the band is late; which, in typical hanson fashion, they were... fifteen miniutes late. this would have been all fine and good if the girls in front of us hadn't been screaming, *wait* yelping like dying dogs, for the entire fifteen minutes they were late. especially when the guys came down the elevator (for those interested, i saw avery and mackenzie and their father, of course). finally, they came and the line slowly began to move. s-l-o-w-l-y moving along... until the female dog from the radio station came over and told us if the line didn't move signaficantly in the next five minutes that we should get out of line and go up to see them. yeah. right. like we were going to do that. within the next twenty minutes we were in the partition to get to see them. we waited what seemed like a long time and then could see the back of their heads. this made everything else obsolete. minutes passed and it was our turn. i, the photography minor using a crappy disposable camera, wanted to take pictures of the guys signing my hob schedule. this wasn't in the cards, so all the pictures i will have are going to be crap. most are atmospheric shots. =( the one thing that crossed my mind as zac looked oddly at the schedule is how big they are. these are three large boys. their hands are big, their shoulders are big, their legs are long... i *almost* said it; but, luckily i held my tongue. zac has really terrific communication skills (*especially* for 14) he looked right at me, said "thank you for coming," stuck his hand out and had a firm shake. plus, he is far better looking in the flesh. he was wearing a black shirt with a white dragon-like design and dark brown pants, for all you zac fans. isaac was next, and i seemed to have thrown him off by what i wanted him to sign. he finally did; but, then still looked bewildered. i pointed them out and he was like "oh! right..." and then continued to look it over, apparently trying to see who else was on the schedule. he put his hand on out and said "thanks" i said "thanks," he shook my hand and i was off to taylor, who was in a really good mood. he was the smallest of the three, wearing a black "wife beater" and khaki pants, and signed my schedule "tay." i don't really remember much about him because by that time i was three sheets to the wind. he said "thanks" and shook my hand as well. that was it. reading it will take longer than the actual time that went by. in the process of a minute three of my favorite people in the world came alive.
i cannot wait for tomorrow.
hanson ¦ new orleans ¦ august 17, 2000
setlist:
-electric-
look at you
smile
runaway run
i wish that i was there
river
save me
can't stop
piece of my heart, janis jopin cover
stories
-acoustic-
sure about it
new song
a song to sing
-electric-
man from milwaukee
minute without you
thinking of you
hand in hand
if only
this time around
dying to be alive
speachless, extended, with band introduction
johnny b. goode, chuck berry cover (for the louisiana crowd)
in the city
-encore-
mmmbop
i want you to want me, cheap trick cover *please note: this is what my friend and i remembered... if you were there, and *ahem* actually wrote the songs down, please email me, zero_starla@hotmail.com. thanks!
alright... we left here at about 3 o'clock, hoping to beat the city traffic. we did, and after we figured out where we were (this is my 4th time to get lost in the same part of new orleans, thank you very much... this time we drove all the way until there was no more highway. better known, to everyone else, as the gulf of mexico) we walked to the house of blues. to tell you the truth, i cannot believe how many people were already there, with two more hours to go. rumor had it that a few people had camped out there overnight. i love hanson, don't get me wrong, but standing in line for over 12 hours does *not* sound like a fun time to me. i admire all those fans for doing it... and i hope the concert was worth the wait. the line went around the corner, so after arguing with my friend about what to do, we went and got in line. luckily, we were around some nice people and that kept us entertained. finally, it was 6 and the line began to move ever so slowly. we found out later that they had only been allowing so many people in at a time. this, of course, took longer. between 6:30 and 6:45, we got in the venue. i headed for the "concert loot" stand to purchase the event poster, before they sold out, while my friend went upstairs to see if we could see anything from up there. after a few minutes of standing next to a gross guy and a snobby woman, who was smoking, and her annoying daughters i decided to go see if the place i had sat the week before (i saw stroke9 there aug. 8) was available. it was, and we ended up being the envy of everyone around us. the house of blues has three bars downstairs and two bars upstairs; and, we were, in effect, sitting on one of the downstairs bars... with a great view of the stage. the only problem was that the great view had a limited span, so i only saw isaac for a large majority of the time. when i leaned back, i could see zac and when taylor walked over, i could see him. for the acoustic set, i was perfect. the pre-concert music was counting crows' august and everything after (gee, zac, i wonder who picked that out?) which, in polite fashion, they allowed to finish before they went on stage. finally, at around 7:20 they took the stage. isaac was wearing a white button down shirt (which he later took off, revealing a grey wife beater) with brown pants, zac in an old black t-shirt, with what looked like figures on it; and, he was wearing that with non-matching green pants (at least we know two things from this 1: he's not gay 2: he dressed himself *grin*). taylor was in a light blue button down shirt (before the acoustic set, he striped down to a white wife beater) with *gasp* dark jeans. immediatly, they ripped into "look at you," followed by "smile." taking a few minutes to cool down, they attempted to get the crowd to settle down as well. apparently there was a lot of pushing toward the front... during the next songs, the security guard behind me went off and i peeled out the camera, snapping as good of pictures as possible. =) *personal note: thanks to all the hob security that didn't take away cameras. we all apprecaite it.* i hope they come out and you can actually see the guys. next was "i wish that i was there," and taylor did not take zac's part, like he does at the filmore concert! i was glad of that... then came two of my non-favorites, "save me" (my friend loved) and "can't stop" (i still hate). after was a janis joplin cover of "piece of my heart," which rocked. then, came the acoustic set and they played two of my favorites, "sure about it" and "a song to sing" (breathtaking live); plus, some new song that they didn't seem to sure of, because they weren't singing loud enough for everyone to hear. after that, they played new york tons of songs, so i don't really remember what order they were in. i especially enjoyed the middle of nowhere mini-set with "a minute without you," giving isaac his just time. "if only" is their best work to date and live was no different. i love that song!! just when i thought they were going to quit, isaac went into a speach about one of their first gigs being in louisiana, when he was about 12. he said "johnny b. goode" was the first song they ever sang together and he thought we'd love it because it was made down in louisiana. i don't know exactly what he said *thanks to screaming girls* but, it was excellent, i can tell you that... "in the city" was great as well and then they claimed they had to leave. luckly, they meant after the encore of "mmmbop" and a cover of cheap trick's "i want you to want me" (the best of the evening). after, they all shook hands (like regular band mates, not brothers... *hmmm*) let's see... major highlights: isaac tearing up the guitar solos, that boy was terrific on guitar and appeared to be loving every minute of it (plus, he seemed to have some "extra energy," if you *ahem* know what i mean... ;) and if you don't, never mind); zac jumping over the drums for my favorite song of the night, the cheap trick cover of "i want you to want me" *melt*; taylor singing "if only" and blowing on that harmonica (enough said there). most of the people who know me know that i have never had a favorite hanson. not since the beginning of my fan-dom. after last night, i must admit that i have taken a real liking to both isaac and zac. i'm really so impressed with zac's attitude and presence. he went from a hyper, annoying "little brother figure," to a mature and sleek young man. he's so lucky to be out of the 11 and 12 age group; and, not only to be out, but to have learned a ton from the experence.
after all that, i give the concert an 8.5. losing half a point because they didn't play three of my favorites, "where's the love," "weird," and "i will come to you"; and the other point because they played all my least favorites, "hand in hand," "save me," and "dying to be alive." however, they got extra for enthusiasm, presence, coming to new orleans, playing cheap tricks "i want you to want me" with zac on lead, and rock ability. plus, they are one of my very favorite bands of all time, which factors in as well.
*at least they didn't look this small at the concert...*
*note to self: never buy a kodax advantage access camera ever again.*
setlist:
