London Review
Oct 25, 2003 |
By Cheli
I left Scotland Monday morning at 6.30am not knowing what to expect from this show. Over the past 6 years I have read so many reviews on how amazing Hanson are live and everyone telling me I was in for the time of my life. Every word those people told me was true.
My friend and I arrived at the concert venue around 5pm after getting lost in cab with a driver who didn’t speak any English (How typical when you are in a hurry to get to a Hanson concert not to mention London's traffic issue!) We started to line up at the side of the venue where we got chatting to Sinead (sinead51) - it was great to meet a fellow HCL for the first time. We stood chatting to various people when my friend pointed out a sign being waved that said "HCL Cheli are you here?" Being a bit shy I hesitated to go over and I was surprised to see a sign with my name on it, but I went over and I’m so glad I did. Hanson fans are the best and everyone was so nice (thanks Kelly (wunna) for the infamous Cheli sign!). The wonderful thing about Hanson.Net is that it has formed some great friendships. I'm sure most of you in the US and Canada who have met each other this past year at the shows etc can agree on that. It's great to finally meet people you have know for a so long online. Hope its not long until we can meet again!
At around 6.30pm a black taxi cab arrived and the guys came out they waved and headed into the venue I didn’t see much as there was a surge of people rushing towards them. Just after 7pm they started to let the fans in and we were told to wait by the left side of the stage for our M&Gs and were handed our passes. We were escorted downstairs to the backstage area where I met some more hnet members and we discussed being nervous. I was actually pretty calm by then. I managed to get flu on the way down to London and didn’t have much of a voice so I was more concerned about the sore throat I had than being nervous. Finally the guys came out and I took the M&G pics. The show was running late so I talked briefly while the guys signed my cd then headed upstairs to catch the show. They really are so very nice!
The crowd was very excited and ready to hear the show. It's been 5 years since Hanson played in London and most of the fans have never seen the band live. The guys took to the stage and kicked the show off with Strong Enough to Break but as they began Isaac broke a guitar string but luckily he had a spare guitar nearby and they started the song again.
I have seen many bands from The Rolling Stones to Travis perform live but nothing was as amazing as this. I truly enjoyed every minute. Usually I get claustrophobic and want to leave shows but I didn't even think about it once I was too busy enjoying the music to care about anything else. The set was tight and the harmonies were wonderful. I kept waiting for Zac's drums to break each time he would hit them so hard. After waiting all this time it was great to hear a mix of songs from Middle of Nowhere, This Time Around and Underneath. I particularly loved their cover of "Rip It Up" and the crowd was treated to an exclusive when the guys performed a new song that was awesome. They mentioned it was so new it wouldn’t be on the new album. I didn’t manage to catch the name however. As Isaac introduced "Ain’t No Sunshine" he mentioned that Bill Withers did a great version of this song on a TV show (Old Grey Whistle Test) which he mentioned that some of us may have heard of, and after speaking to some Hanson fans, to answer that, yes Isaac some of them have. The crowd interaction was great, I always think this is important as a performer, I have seen bands where they are disinterested in the crowd they are playing to, but with Hanson it was nothing of the sort. If you didn’t have Zac climbing up towards the balcony or Taylor and Isaac grabbing hands, the mic was swinging around towards the audience as we all sang along to the music. All three are wonderfully talented musicians and to witness how wonderful their music truly is I urge you to go along to a show if possible. With Carnegie Hall coming up as the final venue for the acoustic tour I would certainly if possible do my best to get to it if I could. Thank you Isaac, Taylor and Zac for a great night. One I won’t forget for a long time to come, don’t leave it too long til the next time.
Set List:
Strong Enough to Break
If Only
River
Runaway Run
Rock N'Roll Razorblade
Zac's solo (I think this is called tightrope)
Teach your children well
Hand in Hand
Ain't No Sunshine
I Will Come to You
With You in Your Dreams
You Never Know
Deeper
The New Song
MMMBop
Where's the Love
Penny and Me
Underneath
Hey
Rip it Up
This Time Around
Encore:
Wish That I was There
A Song To Sing.
(Photos to be posted soon)