Hanson

I have seen Hanson a few times in concert but never thought to try and meet them afterwards, I…don’t…know..why.

When I found out they were coming to the House of Blues on October 19th, we jumped into action, added them to the Stalktober calendar and set out to accomplish that goal.

Shari and I waited until the last minute and had yet to have tickets to the show, we were actually going to this one but as luck would have it I won 2 free tickets off the radio station earlier in the week.

The plan was to get downtown around noonish and wait outside their bus hours before the show, this way we could avoid the angry mob of 30 year old crazy Hanson fans after.

Saturday morning was horrible, it was cold, rainy and once again Shari and I were never prepared and thus had no umbrellas. It was ok though, we managed. Upon getting into downtown, we had the good idea to park on the street right out back of the House of Blues. I had a pocket full of quarters already ready to go, we figured it was close to the bus and we could keep warm and dry at the same time keeping a look out. Well it seemed like we drove around for 30 minutes because Cleveland was building a walkaway and had the street we needed to go on blocked off, so we ended up parking a small walk away for $6.

The bus was already there and when we got closer there was someone waiting off to the side under some ghetto building thing, so we joined her. It was just the 3 of us, she informed Shari and myself that Issac had walked by her and was inside the building.

The rain was picking up along with the wind and our faces were cold and our fingers frozen but we continued to wait. Finally Issac came back out, he walked right by us and waved, put his head down and disappeared into the bus. My video taping skills have NOT gotten any better, I apologize. I think my problem is, is that I don’t want to look like I’m recording but it just ends up looking blah. Anyways, I missed the wave but got the quick pace back the bus.

 

We kept checking Twitter but The Hanson brothers were not being sociable, however that didn’t stop me from tweeting them and asking if there was a bathroom on that bus. I’m sorry, I had a redbull and my bladder was on the verge of spilling down my leg. Anyways, we got no response..which I thought was RUDE.

There was a lot of movement from the bus to the building on and off, in which I got video. Two of the guys were William Birkhead and Demetrius Collins, musicians that play with Hanson. We were actually able to get Demetrius to come over and take a picture with us.

The video is a bunch of short clips put together and at one point I put the camera in my pocket while it’s still recording. Rookie move but you can still hear what’s going on. 🙂

 

 

By this time a small crowd  of women had arrived, we were afraid they were going to charge the bus and ruin it for us but that never happened. The good thing was, that because it was super cold and rainy most of them didn’t stay long.  We lost a few girls and then new ones would arrive, they would leave and maybe come back but it wasn’t a mob and they played it cool. Especially when Zac came out!

I’m not sure what time or how long we were out there but finally one of the brothers came out, Zac and he walked right over to us. He took pictures and signed autographs, he talked and was very kind. He even informed us that it was cold and rainy outside. He then disappeared into the building. Enjoy the short video.

 

 

Ok, 1 down 2 more to go and so we waited some more. At this point it was getting late and we knew they had a sound check to be getting to but the others had yet to come out of the bus. It was close to 5 I think at this point and Shari and myself were getting annoyed. Finally Taylor and Issac come out but they didn’t even acknowledge us, especially Issac.. but that’s another story. We spoke up, asking them for a quick picture but Taylor responded with they had to do a sound check. They then continued to walk into the building and fade into the shadows, away from us.

At this point everyone that was waiting left, while Shari and myself discussed further actions.

1) How long would sound check take?

2) Will they come back out afterwards?

3) Do we leave and come back?

These were all good questions but we decided to hit up Starbucks, use the bathroom and get warm. Shari got a coffee and I released my bladder and then we chilled discussing our next move while we warmed up our bones.

We decided to head back and scope out the joint, while walking through the smelly ally way we stopped and hid in a doorway to keep out of the elements AND listen to some sound check.

When the music stopped we made our way back to our original space but stopped to talk to the HOB staff, we made a few friends. We were chatting away with 2 of the guys, since it was just Shari and I they allowed us to chill so close. At this point Issac came out, only a few yards away talking on his cell phone. We never yelled at him or tried to make contact but we know he saw us and never once made any attempt to say hi. He was slowly making our shit list. Then Some other girls came by messing up our mojo and at this point the security asked us to go back to our normal spot.

 

Shari and I chilled for a bit longer and it was a good thing because Zac came back out, he is super sweet. In the video some girl tells Zac Happy Sweetest day, he replies with “Swedish day?” and is apparently confused by Ohio’s made up Holidays. Very short after that he exits the tour bus with some items and comes back over to us to accept some birthday gifts from our stalker friends. We ask him about his brothers but he pretty much states that he has no control over them and that they probably wont be back out since there are dressing rooms inside. Check out the video below.

It’s about 6 or after 6, I don’t even know anymore but we had another stop to make before the concert tonight. Johnny Mathis was also in town and performing at The Playhouse, I wanted to very much meet him. The original plan was to grab all 3 Hanson brothers super early and then walk to The Playhouse but a few unexpected events happened.  1) Mr. Taylor and Issac Hanson never came out to take pictures and didn’t leave their bus till super late. 2) It was cold and rainy so the walk we had in mind was out of the question. However we were still determined to grab Johnny and we hopped in my car and headed his way, but not before we grabbed some Chipotle. We found the door he most likely would head in and we stood outside in the rain eating our chicken bowls. Many people dressed in tuxes and carrying instrument cases kept going inside. I finally asked about him and we were informed he was already in and that they rehearsed earlier in the day. I asked a few of them to send him out but that never happened, it was close to his show time and we decided to head back to HOB. At this point we figured to leave the Hanson concert early and make it back to The Playhouse by 10 and catch Johnny on the way out. However once the concert started, which was like after 9 we figured there would be no way and decided to forget about Johnny and focus on Hanson.

We got back into the car and headed for The House of Blues, couldn’t find any parking again. Ended up going back to the same place, paying again and paying $4.00 more. I even asked the guy for a discount since we were JUST there but he laughed.

 

Got inside the venue and picked up our free tickets, thanks to the radio station 102.1 and made our way inside. We snuck to the front and had the same spot we had for Icona Pop, only this time it was 99.9% more crowded. Below are some short clips of a few of their songs, I have other video but for some reason the sound is not working. #Lame

We enjoyed ourselves a lot, it was a great and upbeat concert.

We left before the encore so we could get outside before the rush of people and get a good spot in line. We still had 2 Hanson brothers to meet, we were very determined. When we arrived outside there was about 3 girls before us and we got behind them as security instructed us to do.  HOWEVER! When the concert was over a wave of screaming bitches came flooding from all different directions and formed their own line. Needles to say, the front became the back and we were not happy with it.

To make this story even longer, we tried to get people to move but it wasn’t happening. Security had pretty much given up and was only focused on keeping people away from the bus and back from the brothers when they came out. Shari and myself were not to worried, we figured it would happen just would take longer to get to us and it almost didn’t happen because where we were was on the other side of the fence. However we made it happen. Zac came out first..and pretty quick I might add, he started by us but didn’t get to us because we were to far back. We were ok with this because we had met him earlier in the day. Next came Taylor, he started out on the other side and worked his way towards us. When he got closer, we had to push our way to him because bitches weren’t moving. Shari got her picture and then I took a picture with my camera for two sisters who’s camera had died earlier that night. When that was all said and done Taylor started to say bye and turn around without getting a picture with me, I almost shat. So I was like hey, he looked at me, I gave him the puppy dog face…which worked because he signed my Middle of Nowhere cd and took a picture with me.

 

Him and Zac had returned to the bus and we were informed by our new HOB security buddies that Issac was NOT coming out.

 

So. This is how I feel about this whole experience and Shari feels the same way. I would like to hear what everyone else thinks about this, please comment below.

When myself and Shari woke up and spent hours in the cold and rain (our choice) we figured it would be an easy grab, get them before the show this way it’s done and out of the way. Zac was the only one who came out and took the time to sign for us AND he came out early enough. Issac walked by us, there was only like 10.. if that many fans out there and he couldn’t take 60 seconds for a few pictures. Issac didn’t even come out after the show to sign or take pictures, which leads me to believe that he has anxiety or IBS. Taylor did come out afterwords along with Zac and took their time with the crowd, which was awesome. I just can’t get over the fact that they knew we were standing outside in the freezing cold before the show, only a few of us and you couldn’t pop out real quick. Even when going to your sound check and seeing us out there, they still had hours before showtime. They could have come out 3 minutes earlier took pictures with us and then been on their way.

I’m not ungrateful and they didn’t have to talk to us or come back out after the show but it just  makes me wonder why.

Personally I would feel it better to satisfy a few then a giant crowd, I mean we were well behaved and very polite.

Some celebrities think they are to good and don’t need to interact with their fans, lucky for us we have been lucky on our adventures.

Hanson was a tough one and we got 2 out of 3, don’t worry Issac… you’ll be back and when you do.. I’ll be waiting.

 

Thank you again.

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Much love.