Sam's Charlotte N.C. Concert Review
Let's see where to start...Sunday, August 9th, my friend, Jessica Hess, and I woke up at 6a.m. to get ready and leave by 7 for Charlotte, NC, to see none other than the best band ever...HANSON!!! We were out of our hometown in southwest VA by 7:30a.m. and on the road. We arrived in Charlotte by about 11:30a.m. We basically went to a mall looked around a while then my parents, Jessica, and I went to see my dad's sister and her family who lives in Charlotte. We ate lunch there and then left her house at 4:00p.m. to head to the Blockbuster Pavillion in Charlotte...(duh!) So anyway after finding our way there and getting through the traffic and into the parking lot we were parked and out of the car by 5:30p.m. Jessica and I made sure we had our purses around our necks with our cash to invade the merchandise table and walked toward the end of the parking lot to the extra long, long line way down the hill. The gates should be opening at this time so we took a place at the end of the long long line and stood about 5 minutes until my dad suggested that we go on to the merchandise table and come back to the line since we have reserved seats and no one will take them. Just as we stepped out of line and started to walk in the road around the line a million ear piercing screams filled the air. Jessica and I looked up like, 'What, where, huh?' and my dad shoved us out in the road and said, 'Get the cameras!' I looked up and saw a shiny white limo coming down the road. I was surprised that the over enthusiastic girls weren't running toward it, but I think a lot of them thought it was just someone arriving at the concert in a limo, but we knew better. Jessica and I were about 3 feet away from the side of the limo when it reached us and I looked in the windsheild and into the back and saw Taylor in the corner waving and smiling. I was like, 'Oh my God!' Then they rolled down the window just enough to stick their hands out and wave and I could've touched them, but was too busy snapping pictures. I definately know it WAS them because one: Not only did I, but my dad and Jessica also saw Taylor in the limo, two: the limo had Oklahoma tags on it that read on the license 'is OK' and three: it went through the parking lot and around the building to the back so they could go in the back doors. All the 'coo' people that just had to arrive in limo's were parking in the VIP section near the gate so we know it WAS Hanson. After that thrill that totally shocked Jessica and I, we headed to the merchandise table and I rushed up in the crowd to tell what we wanted. We both got the same things: 'The Albertane Tour' t-shirt, 'The Albertane Tour' book, & 'The Albertane Tour' poster which is very very large. (About the size of a full bed mattress.) We were mostly concentrating on buying the things that were totally tour stuff and that you could only get on the tour. We all know the '99 calendar will be in stores soon. Anyway after that we walked back to the car and put our stuff we had just purchased in it because it was getting ready to rain and we didn't want the oh so treasured Hanson merchandise to ruin. We put it all in the trunk then headed to the gates to go in. After finding out that they made an acception to let people bring umbrellas in, my dad then went BACK to the car while Jessica, my mom, and me went on inside. I was wearing overalls which made it easy to sneak in our cameras so I stuffed Jessica's and mine cameras in my back pockets which were covered by the sweatshirt I had around my waist. They looked in our purses and any bags anyone was carrying and then let us through. Jessica and I were so excited that we ran up the hill and up the stairs and found our seats leaving my mom to toddle along behind us. We didn't think Admiral Twin would ever come on we were so psyched about them as well. It began to bug me because every time the curtain moved and a stage crew guy walked on stage the crowd screamed their hearts out, but then again at least the crowd wasn't sitting like knots on a log, which made us even more excited. They played Aerosmith through the sound system and everyone was so enthusiastic. It was rather funny because when they played that old song on the sound system called 'My Girl' or you know what song, the crowd changed it and sang 'talkin' 'bout Hanson, my Hanson.' So that was cool. Anyway, it was soon 7:30p.m. and Admiral Twin ran out on stage in matching black suits. They kicked it well playing great and sang about 5-7 songs which lasted about 30 minutes. The crowd was so hyped for them and Jessica and I were clapping and dancing to their music and now we want their CD! After they went off stage, they dropped a silver curtain in front of the stage and started switching sets for Hanson. During this time it was raining and everyone's hair was wet, but that made it even more fun. It also started to get dark. Being in the 45th row had a really great advantage. We four had isle seats and my dad was right at the end of our row next to the next section and then my mom, me, them Jessica and I looked over and saw WALKER! He was wearing a black stage crew jump suit thingy and I believe he had a video camera as well filming the crowd. (Hey, now my fam might be on the tour video!) I was like, 'Jessica, Jessica, look it's Walker!!!' I was so excited. I mean being about less than 10 feet away from Isaac, Taylor, and Zac's dad was a cool experience! Hehe. Meanwhile after that they started shining Hanson symbols and 'The Albertane Tour' signs all over the curtain to I guess get the fans even more excited while changing sets. Every now and then I could see along the side of the silver curtain because we were on the left side (Isaac's side) and I could see on that side of the stage behind the curtain and every now and then someone would open the door in the back which would let light in from backstage and they would go in and out and that person had long hair (like Hanson's) and I believe it was Taylor or someone, but you know I don't know, that's just who it appeared to be to me. Then it happened. The sound system music stopped and it was even darker outside at this point and the stage lighting dimmed a lot. Then I saw Isaac standing in the dark behind the curtain with his guitar and I barely saw Zac sitting in the dark behind his drums. Then I heard what Jessica and I had been waiting for all day. I heard the bass guitar do it's little 'duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh'. You know the beginning of the song by the Spencer Davis Group, 'Gimme Some Lovin' and the crowd shrieked. Jessica and I jumped and screamed with all our might. We were pleased with our seats because we could see them very well. The silver curtain raised and Zac did a drum roll and the lights flicked on and lit up the stage. It was soooooo exciting. Jessica and I were jumping, dancing, screaming, and singing along with not only that song, but ALL the songs! Here are the songs they sang and I racked my brain to figger out the order, but they are close enough: 'Gimme Some Lovin'/'Shake Your Tailfeather' (oldies), 'Thinking of You', 'Where's the Love', 'River', 'Weird', 'Sometimes', 'Stories' (dedicated to everyone in the lawn section), 'With You In Your Dreams' (dedicated to Hanson's late grandmother), 'Madeline' (dedicated to as Isaac said it 'All the young ladies out there named Madeline.'), 'Soldier', 'More Than Anything' *sigh*, 'Speechless', 'Good Lovin' (oldie), 'Ever Lonely' (A song they wrote recently and was just recorded onto their live album due out in October), 'I Will Come To You', 'A Minute Without You', 'MMMBop', 'Man From Milwaukee', 'Look At You', 'Summertime Blues' (oldie), 'Weird' (a cappella). I believe those are all the songs they sang and in the best order as I can remember. It was truly the best. The hightlights of the concert? Well, when Taylor and Zac left the stage and Isaac sat down at the keyboards and sang 'More Than Anything'. He was incredible. His voice was so strong and outstanding and he can play the keyboards really really well. You could honestly tell that when he sang it, he was singing it from the heart. At one part in the song where I believe the words say 'without you' or something, but when he sang that he pointed out to the crowd and all the girls screamed even more! Hey, so did I!!! After that Taylor and Zac came back onstage and they sang again. I believe before they switched the set to the '3 Car Garage' set before they sang 'Stories' they played a little instrumental deal that they must've wrote while they introduced the back-up band and then it was so cool. Taylor left his keyboards and went and stood up on Zac's drum stage behind him and then pushed Zac out of the way. Taylor sat down and played the drums while Zac ran around on stage squirting the crowd with water guns and bottles. Taylor was awesome on the drums, especially considering that he's right handed and he played them left handed because you know Zac is a lefty. Then Zac went and pushed Taylor over and took his drums back and Tay went back to his keyboards. Another highlight was that when they sang 'Summertime Blues' at the end, Isaac stopped playing his guitar and went and took over Tay's keyboards while Tay held the microphone out in the crowd to hear everyone sing 'there ain't no cure for the summertime blues!' That was cool. And the one thing that I remember most about the concert that was just the most absolute coolest thing ever was that at the end of 'Man From Milwaukee' when you know the part where Zac has to really pound on the drums to get louder at the very end of the song? Well at the very end when he was doing that Isaac took a huge run and go WITH HIS GUITAR AND STILL PLAYING and ran and jumped up on Zac's drum stage and on the last big drum roll, Isaac jumped high in the air STILL PLAYING HIS GUITAR and he ended up beside Tay's keyboard stand on his knees. That had to be the coolest thing I had ever seen. I mean that was so cool for Ike to do. I mean just to see him run very fast, jump on the drum stage, then jump off in the air and end up on the knees still playing was cool and he did all that in like 2 seconds! It was definately cool. Also at the end of 'I Will Come To You' where Taylor sings 'i will come to...youuuuuuuuuuu', you know? Well, he pointed out to the crowd like Ike did and the crowd screamed even louder and of course so did I!!! Okay so that's basically the concert. I took 1 roll of pictures and Jessica took 3! I have a picture of the limo with their hands sticking out and the rest was of the show. It was so much fun. Just being there and screaming, dancing, and jumping. It was the best concert ever. And you have to admit that they are very very talented. And to prove I had a blast, my feet are sore, my legs were sore and if I could, I would do it all over in a second.