Yuka Higashino
Report of the show in Astro Hall in Tokyo, Japan on February 9th, 2004

HANSON IS AWESOME!!!!! This is the only thing that I want to say.

I was in the front row (in front of Tay!) so that I could see them clearly. I totally couldn’t believe that I was seeing their show in live ‘cos we Japanese fans only could have seen their show in the video. But now, they were here! It was like my dream came true! For most Japanese fans, songs from Underneath were unknown. Also, Japanese fans had never listened to old songs in live ‘cos this was the first official show in Japan.
So, that was good for us Japanese fans that they played the songs from old albums too. Especially, most fans at the show were glad when they played “IWCTY” ‘cos so many Japanese fans wanted them to play this song. When this song was played, so many audiences were crying. ( Of course, I was too!)

Also, that was great that they played solo songs for each member. I was surprised at the talent for singing, especially of Zac! Zac also played the piano and the harmonica, too. Tay played not only the piano but also the guitar. I thought Tay was good at arousing the audience to enthusiasm. And Ike’s guitar skill was fantastic!! These things may be usual, but everything was new to us. I felt that they had been growing as artists in these 4 years.

It is often said that Japanese audience is quiet. But in this show, I think audience was really excited and we could feel identification. Maybe they felt so too!
Tay sprinkled the bottled water over us and climbed up the piano and the guys threw the picks. ( I caught the one of Zac!) Everyone was shouting!!

When they played “This Time Around”, everyone was singing along. It is hard for us Japanese to memorize the lyrics, but many of us did! That was wonderful!! I can’t forget the Tay’s satisfied face!

After the show, Japanese HANSON.NET members could get a Meet & Greet. We had to choose either taking picture with them or getting autographs. And I chose to take a picture with them. Now, the picture with them is my treasure!! I was so nervous and I couldn’t talk to them a lot. But I was glad when Zac said to me , “I love your tiara” ( I was wearing a tiara in the concert and Meet & Greet) I really had a good time with them.

I really enjoyed the show and I’ll never forget about this show. I REALLY REALLY want them to come back to Japan again soon and have shows!!! I ‘m proud of being HANSON fan and reconfirmed that HANSON IS AWESOME!!!