So, with the absence of questionable movies with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart on my birthday weekend, I was a little worried about the entertainment value. So, when I pulled up the dates for the 3rd leg of the Shout It Out tour one afternoon in early September, I was a little disappointed when there was no NYC date. But my eyes glided to the November 20 date in Wallingford, Connecticut. So, with that, a few phone calls were made, a car was rented in my name (eeekkk) and we were set for 2 shows, in Connecticut and Vermont.And then. Several things happened, we decided to ditch Vermont (:(), but still had a filled car. Since I haven't driven in 3 years and Mapquest told me we were taking the Cross Bronx Expressway (Did fear just shoot down your spine??), we left at 7:30 AM to get a rental car and take the beautiful drive up the east coast (the whole hour and 15 minutes up the east coast). And then the fun began.
Alas. 10 Things You Need to Know about my Hanson Roadtrip:
1) Hanson fans self-number themselves with Sharpees. Due to my fear of the Cross Bronx Express Way and my excessively early personality, I was #22.
2) Where's Tay? Because let's not forget it's Tay time!
3) Sitting outside in 50 degree weather in a line full of Hanson fans can make the day pass pretty quickly.
4) When JP #2 and I decided to go check into the hotel, get Wendy's, and come back and enjoy it while others were doing the Walk. Quote of the hour: "We could have taken the walk. But we ate Wendy's."
5) Hanson still makes me turn into a 13 year old. Example: JP#2 and I may have been punching each other as Zac Hanson was no more than 10 feet away from us after they finished up the Walk and stopped to give the "pump up speech".
6) Evidently, some concert venues can decide to rip you off, and you can pay
$5 to get into the "Fast Lane". Or, you can fear the Cross Bronx and get to the venue at 10AM, have #22, and be #1 in the slow lane!7) I declare myself a sane Hanson Fan. I still declare this even though it was concert #14 (Blame the 5-of-5)
8) Hanson does a cover of Dirty. They did not cover Dirty at this show. They did, however, play SAVE ME 4 songs into the set, then continued to hit EVERY SINGLE SONG I could have every wanted. Playlist. Crazy Beautiful, Where's the Love, Speechless, Strong Enough To Break, This Time Around, Penny And Me, A Minute Without You, Mmm Bop, and when I turned to JP #2 and said "Can this set list get any better?!" Give A Little and If Only happened. But at that point, I didn't even care if If Only happened because that's how good the set list was. How do you follow that up? With song from Snowed In of course!
9) Just because you're jockeying for position and view of the stage with a 6'2" male at a Hanson concert, don't assume it's his tiny girlfriend that's the Hanson Fan. Because half way into the set when he knows every word and is jamming out like it's no body's business, you'll feel stupid. And laugh pretty hard.
10) Still did not meet Hanson. What does this mean? There will be a #15. And I met so many awesome people this go round, there will be concert buddies for the next time. And they're still my favorite band. All these years later.
And I will never view Mashed Potatoes the same way ever again.
