Back to the Albertane Tour Reviews

Heather's Atlanta Review
July 5, 1998

The Atlanta concert was a long awaited occasion for the "mad ferrets". Along with other people, Amy, Diana, Tiffany, Kelsey, and Heather (that'd be me) have all been frequenting our cozy Hanson message board since sometime last summer. With the exception of Kelsey, we all arranged to get tickets together. Amy succeeded in her task (and got 4th row at that!), but there was a small problem. She could only get 4 tickets. Problem being...her mom had to go too. Diana and Tiff being twins obviously left me as the odd man out. After much worrying, mostly on my part, a friend of mine sold me his two extra tickets. (Thank you!!) Granted, they weren't 4th row...they were good seats. They were first row of the second section...all the way on Ike's side.

With a lack of planning, we all headed out for Atlanta. I came from Illinois (11 hours). Diana and Tiff came from Ohio (12 hours). Amy drove in from Alabama (2 1/2 hours). Kelsey came from Mississippi (5 hours). My *wonderful* mom drove straight through the night to get me there. :)

I was the first one to our hotel, The Renaissance, so I decided to just take a shower. Not much later, I got a call from Amy inviting me to meet her at her room. Now I didn't know what to expect. I'd never met anyone from online before, but it was cool. Nothing to worry about.

Later, we saw a redhead and wondered if this was Kelsey. She knew what I look like, so she came over and said hi. It was Kelsey! After waiting what seemed like forever, Diana and Tiff arrived, and the reunion was complete. (Guess who else I met at the hotel. The butt girl!! Ever heard of "MMMButt"? She was there with her "Moon us Tay" sign. Hehehe...she doesn't remember me, but it was cool.)

We all talked and exchanged our "Hansonmas" gifts, and we finally decided to head out to Lakewood. We made a quick stop at McDonald's...not to say that wecould eat much though.

Lakewood was just craziness. Cars were fully decked out for Hanson. Some actually had some cute sayings on them..."Hanson or Bust". It was cool. A little boy proudly announced, "Peace, Love, and Bullet ProofMarshmallows" to us...aw! An Arby's guy took our picture. (He better hope that we're noted any near future ad!)

After waiting an hour or less in the miserable Atlanta heat, they started letting people in. My mom and I made our way to our seats while the other four went to their 4th row positions. After listening to every Aerosmith song known to man (I actually really like Aerosmith) and complaining with Kelsey about not being in 4th row...hehe...Admiral Twin came on. I don't remember much about them. I do remember, however, that I really wanted to get up and dance, but all the girls just sat there impatiently. That's when I came to the conclusion that the first section was so much more lively.

After Admiral Twin, some more music was played. I met another online friend (the guy who got my tickets). Then I made the fastest potty break ever. (It could be a world record.) Since my seat were all the way on Ike's side (only one seat from the doors), I saw Hanson behind the curtain while others could only hear the first beats of "Gimme Some Lovin'". I couldn't contain myself...I danced, clapped, and sang to the first set of songs. (Note: I did NOT scream through a song for no reason...ugh!) '

Taylor asked the lawn section if they were hot (Duh!) and proceeded to take off his top shirt leaving only a white tee. (Oh, this hurt my ears but was definitely worth it.)

During the first set change, Amy's mom came back and traded me seats!! (Thank you!!) I ran up next to Tiff and screamed, "I CAN SEE!!" It was totally different being up front. I could see all details so clearly...and could hear better too.

Ike was wearing some awesome silver, shiny pants with a maroon shirt. Zac had on a red shirt with blue pants. Taylor was in black pants and that white tee. They all looked really good. (Diana sure did approve of Tay's pants...hehe.)

So they started playing their "3 Car Garage" set. Tay and Ike were pretty chatty between songs. (Wonder what they were saying.) This is when I had my best view of Zac. He looked at me once or twice...such a cutie. :) It seemed as if he really enjoys making those little faces of his. When his dad stuck his infamous camera in Zac's face, he positioned himself and was actually playing for the camera. My favorite, however, was when Isaac sang "More Than Anything". He messed up at first and started over, but he did really well. If this song just didn't make you "swoon", something's wrong with you...hehe.

I don't know the order of the rest of the night, so I'll do my best to focus on highlights.

They brought out some kind of sling thing for water balloons after the 2nd set, but Zac couldn't get the balloons to stay. After several tries (and Tay and Walker getting a good little laugh), they decided to just throw them. *This is where it gets good for us.* Taylor takes a balloon (red...hehe) and just completely bombs Amy with it. It hit her right in the face. (What a gentleman! Hehe.) She and Tiff got soaked. (Diana and I got a tiny splash too.) After realizing what just happened, they went crazy! That was their 10 seconds of "teenie-ness" at the concert. They then frantically searched for the balloon pieces...only to discover that the girl behind us "stole" THEIR Taylor balloon. (If you're reading this, you know who you are...hehe.)

I just continued to "dance my little heart out" as the others put it, and I noticed that during "A Minute Without You, Walker taped me a whole lot. I'm hoping to be on the tour video. :) I'll be the 16 y/o with brownish hair with a blue striped shirt on..."dancing my little heart out". Hehe.

*Another cool thing* During "IWC2U", Diana (who's known for her Tay addiction) blew him a kiss. He gave her that "sexy", innocent smile of his. That made her night. :)

Later on, they came out with more water stuff...guns this time. They decided that we needed to be more wet. Zac got our section wet with his water bottle though. (I got a good picture of that.)

Taylor was awesome on the drums! I almost missed it though. Zac ran off stage to give his drumsticks away and actually into the crowd. (*Amy touched Zac before he ran off stage.*) Then I realized Tay was playing the drums. He bangs on those things with a lot of talent. (Is there anything that he can'tdo? Hehe.)

Throughout the night, Isaac was teasing us in the front by jamming on his guitar close to the edge of the stage. (He does this little headbanging thing. Amy does the funniest impression.) I actually danced my way up closer the stage and really wanted just to touch Ike...no such luck. :(

Ok, I must say that my favorite song of the whole night was "Good Lovin'" by the Rascals. I absolutely loved this cover. I really, really want to hear this one again. Does anyone else agree?

**On to my favorite part.** Hehe. Well, I believe that it was during "Summertime Blues"...Tay was roaming the stage a bit. He was letting the crowd sing along and stuff....anyone remember that? Well, as I stood there, "dancing my little heart out" (Hehehe.), Taylor looked at ME, pointed at ME, and said (to ME), "Move up!" TAYLOR HANSON SPOKE TO ME! OUT OF 19,000 FANS, HE TOLD ME TO MOVE UP!! In a state of shock, I looked back at Tiff like, "Oh my God!!" I might have screamed or something...don't recall. So what do I do?? I move myself right on up! I was holding the railings, baby! There was a small girl in front/ beside of me. I made sure that she didn't get squashed by the mob of teenies...hehe. Back to the point...Taylor HANSON told ME to move up. I still don't know why he picked me, but who cares?? He did! Too bad that was the last full song, and I didn't get to be there for very long...hehe. Ike ended this song by jumping from Zac's drumset trying to slide on his knees but really only kind of landed on them. A cool finish nonetheless. :)

Next they did their acapella verse of "Weird". *The last cool part* While touching audience members' hands, he actually grabbed Amy's. Though she (actually her hand) was mauled directly after, she just stared at her "Taylor germed" hand...hehe.

They took a bow and left the stage for good. We didn't even think about staying. We needed to do some major gushing. This is when we turned into *gasp* teenyboppers.

We found our moms right outside the doors. If you could only have seen us..."Mom! Mom, Taylor talked to me!!" "Which hand Amy? Let me touch it! Zac AND Tay??" It was funny. Hehe.

After buying some more Hanson concert merchandise, we headed to the parking lot. Oh no, we couldn't go back to the hotel that easily and cure our near enough dehydration. My mom just had to get lost...hehe. I bet that she was gone for a good 30 minutes or more.

In the meantime we were dying of thirst! Diana wouldn't, so I asked these people sitting in the back of a van for a soda or two. They were so nice to happily give them to us. (Thank you Diet Coke guys!!) So we just sat there and listen to all the Hanson music playing cars go by. Some girl yelled, "I love Taylor." I yelled back, "So do we!!" She got up and acted like she wanted to fight me...hehe...I just laughed.

We finally found my mom and got back to the hotel. We took our showers (Ew, I felt nasty!) and stayed up until 3 O'Clock. We came to this conclusion: Taylor was definitely flirting with our group. Hehehe...yep, that's right! :)

We all decided to leave the next day. It was awesome to meet each other face to face finally and to see Hanson perform live so close! I loved being at the hotel because practically everyone there was a Hanson fan. You could scream, "I LOVE HANSON!!!" and not get ridiculed. So Amy, Diana, Tiff, Kelsey, and I say our good-byes. *Sniff, Sniff* We've always got the message board, e-mail, and IM's to keep in touch. "Green Skittles rock!!" Hehehe. :)

One more thing (like this isn't long enough!!)...Yesterday I went to the mall to pick up some pictures. There were two ladies working there about 20 years old. One says, "No Hanson pictures this time?" I said, "Oh, you saw those?" "Yeah, where was that?" "Atlanta, Georgia." "All the way there just for Hanson?" "Yep, it was fun." The other worker: "Which one do you like?" "Oh, I don't have a favorite." "I like the middle one." "He talked to me!" "Wow, that's cool!" (I though that was funny.) :)

PS -- Taylor, I'll be in Chicago for the concert on the 31st...section 204! Hehe. :)

This page is in no way associated with Hanson or Island Records. All thoughts and writings are the sole property of me. Please email me with any comments or questions. Thank You.