World Music Theater

What was the big hold-up in posting the experiences from Tinley Park? It's taken me this long to recover from all the events surrounding this concert. I had to think of some way to not betray any bitterness due to circumstances that happened earlier in the day. I mean, Taylor has been pretty clear about how he does not like to hear people mock the fans and that the only rule at a Hanson concert is that, "You've gotta' have fun." (When I was in Cleveland - eh, I wasn't going to mention that I attended a FOURTH concert, but . . . yikes, I guess it just slipped out - it sounded like Mr. T was quoting straight from the beginning of their long-form video as he mentioned this rule yet again. AND, at that concert, I noticed he was wearing the exact same pants, if not the shirt from the Beacon performance. Hmmm . . . (c:). So, just to warn you, I'll try my best not to go against his wishes . . .

Let me begin way back in January of this year when my parents first moved to Illinois - They moved within walking distance of The New World Theater in Tinley Park. At that time, I casually mentioned how fun it would be to attend a Hanson concert there. My sister, Janell (who is NOT a Hanson fan . . . which seems to come up again and again if you're a frequent visitor to this page), agreed she would see Hanson with me if they ever played the NWT. In fact, she offered to get a job working there to get backstage passes for us - but sadly, this promise was never fulfilled. (c: Well, as many of you know, the band's original tour schedule did not have Tinley on the map, so we booked lawn seats in Toronto - having our hopes for seats at the Pine Knob concert (near Detroit) dashed in 8 minutes. The Chicago concert was announced AFTER I bought tickets to the 2nd Detroit show at the Palace. So, with huge amounts of guilt, I finally gave in and purchased lawn seats to the concert at New World Theater, my THIRD concert this summer - afterall, it was my idea to have them play there, no? hehe Not only that, it would be a virtual BETRAYAL of my fan status to be literally within walking distance of the band and not pay to see them, am I right? I was planning to visit my parents that weekend anyway, for goodness sake!! (grin)

It was going to be so much MORE fun since we would be meeting up with Jenn, once again, and finally meeting Renee - those esteemed authors of "Here We Go 'Round." And wouldn't it be cool to finally meet Hanson in person, together at the Planet Hollywood press conference?!! Why not? Of course!

Have you heard of foreshadowing? I should have picked up on it while sitting in traffic on Route 80 at a standstill for over an hour on the night before the concert. I later learned, while I was breathing in exhaust fumes, two far more exciting things were happening:

1) Hanson was watching "There's Something About Mary."
2) Aaron - MTV's Hanson FANatic - was checking into this Chicago hotel room preparing to meet Hanson and (little known to him at the time) my sister and me.

If you've ever sat in a traffic jam - because of construction or maybe an accident - then you'll know that it is amazingly irritating and all-around annoying!! If these are things that you would like to avoid at all costs, you may not have the stomach for a Hanson press conference - or, more accurately, waiting to attend one. A visitor to this page asked me if I was one of the people who slept over night on the sidewalk in front of Planet Hollywood . . . (Here's where I'm tempted to mock a fan - I will bite my tongue . . . (c;). Let me just say that I can be a little crabby when I have "sleeping bag hair" and my teeth haven't been brushed. Hey, not that there's anything wrong with you if this doesn't bother YOU. But, it would be unkind of me to try to meet anybody when I'm not feeling completely, eh, fresh. So, no, I did not camp on the sidewalk of Chicago to see Hanson. My sister and I took the 6:00 a.m. commuter train from Tinley Park to Chicago.

It's difficult, even now, to talk about those 7 hours of waiting on the sidewalk outside Planet Hollywood (in the day time). All I know, is that my sister feels I owe her BIG since she agreed to go as a favor to me and she is NOT a fan. Due to that experience, she said she couldn't WAIT for the concert to actually hear Hanson sing their own songs. Why? Because, most of the 7 hours were spent listening to "Where's the Love" being sung over and over and over again by people who probably sound really good when they're singing along with the CD in their OWN rooms . . . Hey, I'm really trying not to mock the fans. (Deep sigh) A few words about screaming? Why? and Why? I mean, as if it wasn't loud enough, news people were actually coaching people to scream on the count of three! Incredible? I think so! My sister and I were ducking the cameras. We did meet some cool fans . . . Nina and Kim, if you read this - Hey guys!! (I wrote a poem about this unforgettable experience, which I'm posting at the bottom of this "review.")

Alrighty - so from all my hostility, you can probably guess my sister and I left after Hanson arrived, since we did not make it into the press conference . . . but, there were some people who disappeared into Planet Hollywood, who had arrived AFTER we got there. Okay, we're not bitter or anything. Really. This is what kept me from writing about the experiences at all. My sister and I are peace-loving individuals. My gosh, we used to own rabbits, for Pete's sake. But when we saw those brazen girls at the show that night - needless to say, we almost had to be restrained from putting some serious karate moves on them.

A cool thing that resulted from those 7 agonizing hours, was that we were able to recognize one of Hanson's close friends at the concert that night since he had gotten off the bus with the band. He came over to say "hi" and that's when we were introduced to Aaron - the FANatic - since he was with him. If those guys read this page - hey! It was fun meeting you two.

The truth is, we did have a good time at the concert (So you can relax, Taylor - we are not rule-breakers ;-D)! We had awesome lawn seats - We were able to stand on a cement embankment that looked right down on center stage. Renee was so generous in offerring us some seats lower, but when we checked them out, our lawn seats actually gave us a better view - and more room. Besides, we sat next to some awesome fans (2 Katies). This was their first concert - and since Janell and I were veterans at this point, we were able to stop them from leaving before the encore songs. Whew!

Admiral Twin played their instrumental song, "Dance of Clever St. Willie." That's on their "Daffadowndilly" album from when they were called "Mellowdramatic Wallflowers." Brad played the recorder, which was cool.

Janell and I exchanged wicked glances when we heard Taylor tell the crowd in the first few rows to step back so that they wouldn't get hurt. Since we had spent all day with most of the people who were sitting near the stage, we weren't surprised by the lengths they would go through to be near the band. (shiver) I can only speculate that the band might have had enough of those fans as well, since the guys decided not to sing those a cappella lines from "Weird" at the end.

A final note, although our parents' house is within walking distance of the theater, we drove there since we were tired from the press conference, etc. Well, we should have walked. The parking lot is about 2 miles square of nothing but white rocks. We spent over an hour searching for my car. Someone finally yelled from his car as he was leaving, that he had seen it two rows back. We don't know how he knew which car was ours, but there it was! Now, that's weird.

Well, Janell has vowed never to attend another Hanson concert with me. But, we will be making a trip to the New World Theater if Admiral Twin makes it there sometime. So, AT, if you're listening . . . (Hey, it worked one time, no? hehe)

PLANET HANSON

Lean fingers, strong hands and energetic arms strum, play and beat instruments.
Thoughtful lyrics and carefully crafted melodies blend together.
Scratchy voices lift pure notes.

The music calls out, Siren-like, drawing a faceless crowd.

Stealthy shoulders slide forward.
Television cameras invite louder screams.
Loud renditions of the same songs are repeated again and again and again.

The faded faces of the band watch from $35 t-shirts that must be washed cold and tumbled dry.

The Albertane Tour