The Walk Around The World- Hanson Concert

Last night I went to a Hanson concert. (You can judge me all you want, I do not care!) It was amazing and fabulous and I cannot even begin to describe how much fun it was. It will go down as one of the best memories of my life. Seriously, that’s how much I love Hanson. (Edited to add: I went to the concert alone because NB had to work and all my friends were busy. It was totally cool though because I met people there and we became “hanson friends” and danced and sang together all night long.)

I remember the first time I heard Mmmbop. It was the last week of May 1997 and I was at my best friend’s BatMitzfah. To be completely honest, at first I thought it was a girl singing, but that didn’t matter. It was love at first… sound? I begged my mom to take me to Target the next day so I could buy their cd. From that moment on my life was never the same. I listened to Middle of Nowhere on repeat for months and learned every single word. I covered my walls with posters, watched VHS tapes over and over again, and bought each subsequent record that they released. Some may have said I was obsessed. I didn’t argue.

I saw them in concert once when I was 16. One of my friends and I bought tickets to their concert at Six Flags, but our seats were miles from the stage; or that’s how it seemed at the time. We had fun, but she wasn’t as much of a fan and didn’t even know the words to half of their songs. When we left, I was a bit disappointed. My first Hanson encounter was a bit of a let-down.

Last night? I was about 15 feet from Taylor. I could see the sweat dripping off his face. It was perfect. For an hour and a half, I sang at the top of my lungs, jumped up and down, and took about a million pictures. The venue was small-ish and the guys seemed like they were having such a good time. They sang Mmmbop, If Only, Strong Enough to Break, Penny and Me, This Time Around, Hey, Great Divide, and Where’s the Love, just to name a few. They ended the show with an new acoustic number that gave me chills.

Between sets Taylor look a few minutes to talk about their inspiration behind The Walk and how they are helping fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by organizing and leading 1-mile walks before each show.

And on top of it all, they sounded great live.

To summarize, last night completely made up for my first Hanson experience. I sang, danced, and screamed like all the other girls. I created memories that will last a life time. Isaac, Taylor, and Zac? Perfection.

Now if only Taylor wasn’t married…