It had been a long time coming. I still recall cruising past the Red Rooter on South Rd hearing MMM Bop for the first time and I nearly ran my old man's whip off the road I was so excited. Shortly afterwards, while yet to own my own car, I caught the 600 bus down to Southland to join 20,000 others to catch a glimpse of the Hanson phenomenon.

Then, they went away -- cursed with the huge initial success that soon led to ridicule. They returned late last year, but a work trip up north saw me miss their Hi-Fi gig. This time, I was not to be denied.

With the missus and any of my mates refusing to be dragged into my obsession, I was forced to hit the Palais solo, which afforded me a little more freedom to let loose. As I reached my seat, I looked around and was strucked by how few blokes there were in the crowd. Normally, pop acts will see the odd boyfriend or dad dragged along. But tonight there would be none of that. Filling the awesome arena were scores upon score of Supre clad teenage girls -- those who were eight when Mmm Bop first dropped, now 16. I felt completely out of place -- it was like I was in an assembly for an all-girl's school in the outer suburbs.

It is no exaggeration that, as I write at 5:30pm the day after the gig, my ears are still ringing. This has nothing to do with the smooth harmonies coming from the lads from Tulsa. The screaming from the lassies was close to deafening, but perhaps understandable given the amazing show we witnessed which started at around ten past nine -- way past the bedtime of most audience (but then, school holidays are imminent).

We were all in raptures as the boys belted out tunes from all their albums (sadly, not their excellent Chrissie alb Snowed In but) including This Time Around, Penny & Me, If Only, Underneath and Where's the Love -- a song a billion times better and more heartfelt than the Black Eyed Peas version. Rousing renditions of newies Lost Without Each Other and Strong Enough wowed the crowd. In the middle section, the boys took the stage solo-stylee to display their wares -- each one displaying mind-blowing talent. The highlight here was the achingly beautiful ballad by drummer (and youngest brother) Zac.

Lead singer, keyboardist and middle bro Taylor was clearly the star though -- his snake-hipped movements entrancing most of the crowd (not me) as he gave a performance somewhere between Bono and Jon Bon Jovi's finest moments. Even the less feted older brother Isaac has matured to a point where he now looks sorta like Chris Martin from Coldplay -- ie, not so ugly he can't bag a celeb missus -- he made the point of singing a song about 'cheating on a musician' to prove he's had chicks too.

But, of course, the main reason I went there was to hear Mmm Bop and I wasn't disappointed. It remains my favourite song ever, closely followed by Ignition and Five's Got the Feelin. The passion, the lyrics, the delivery were all top notch. I closed my eyes and soaked it all up. But that was just the begining.

Fortunately, a friend had hooked it up so I could go backstage. I was somewhat sceptical, but decided to swallow my pride to fight what I thought would be legions of comp winners to shake the guys' hands. Little did I know, there was no official meet'n'greet which meant I basically hung out with the band apres-show for awhile. It was truly awesome. Isaac got me a beer (though it must be said, I'd have preferred full-strength to Cascade Light), Taylor and I spoke of their plans and their setting up their own label and Zac and I joked about him becoming a Mormon so he could accept all the marriage proposals (then he called the bird and told her I'd be home late).

I bade my new chums farewell and exited stage right into the cold, foggy streets of St Kilda, aglow with happiness at having met my idols who turned out to be good blokes and sniggering to myself at how lame Andrew G's hair looked. Many thanks to Anthony, Vayro and Count Dockula for making a young boy's dreams come true.

SWEET
Hanson -- Fully rocks. Period.
Alan Didak -- Match-winner. Soon-to-be Cleo centrefold. Playa.
Will Ferrell Best of Saturday Night Live DVDs -- Funniest. Thing. Ever.

SOUR
Returing to work -- Really sucks.
V8 Supercars -- Nikki Webster singing. Get serious, dudes.
Tom Cruise on 60 Minutes -- Just plain scary.

Can you tell me? No you can't coz ya don't know. SSSFoot.