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Monica's Milwaukee Review
July 25, 1998

I can hear! It's a miracle! "You guys are screaming so loud it's painful!" -Taylor. Okay I admit, I was screaming myself, but that was only to umm drown out the sound. This concert was the most amazing and most fun experience of my life. Starting from the beginning straight down to the end.

Before the Concert

My parents drove us, my friend Jenny and I, down to the Marcus Amp. to drop us off around 6:00. We were left alone to do whatever (whoohoo party party). There were 3 merchandise stands set up outside of the closed gate so we decided to shop around a little bit before the theater opened at 6:30pm. After spending over $50 in record time, we walked over to the gate to wait for the guards to let us in. And I'm telling you, it was no easy task walking over there. Ohh no, there was some pushing and shoving involved. It took some great strength just to get up in front. I was literally stuck next to this overly obsessed fan for 25 min who continued rambling on about how much she loved Zac. Something I would be interested in. I could already tell Jenny wasn't having a ton of fun. I could definitely relate. So finally after all agony of being pushed around and after all the chanting of "LET US IN" or "WE WANT HANSON," the gates finally opened. STAMPEDE! And the guards strictly told us no pushing or shoving. Nobody cared to listen. We survived getting up to the amp (thank god) and went in to find our seats. But that was no piece of cake either. There was a long and I mean LONG line just to get into section 5. So that took like 20 min. Finally we found are seats, section 5 row B. Okay so we got comfortable, went back up, got some drinks, came back down and waited.

During The Concert

THE OPENING-At 7:30 the show began well, sort of. Admiral Twin came out to play a couple songs for us which ROCKED! These guys are good! Everyone was up and dancing, including myself. So after 5 or 6 songs they went off stage to let the other people set it up and get the equipment out for Hanson. The curtain went down. Five songs of oldies music went by and still no Hanson. These two parents right in front of us must have been having some kind of flashback or something 'cause they were up and dancing to the music. I feel soo sorry for they're kids. They looked pretty embarrassed. Poor guys. As for the crowd itself, they began chanting "WE WANT HANSON" ( I decided to join in on this one) or they would scream every time the wind would blow and move the curtain. So after the screaming and the retro flashback thing the lights went out. Screams, flaring lights, a drum beat, and a pulled up curtain. There they were, Hanson singing one of my favorites, "Gimme Some Lovin" It sounded awesome! Everyone was jumping up and down. It looked like some sort of gigantic mosh pit. I'm not going to go through every single song and every single detail of the show. If you would like to hear these things just email me at SpinDoc5@aol.com :) Here are the highlights:

ACOUSTIC- I really thought all their acoustic performances were amazing. It was like you were interacting with them in some way. Of course you do this for all the songs, but here it's different. It's like a gather around for storytime.

WHIRL AROUND TAYLOR-Taylor while singing an oldies song did this thing on the keyboard playing all the keys down the scale and when finished he whirled around doing a half turn. Sort of like he was whacking someone in the face. It's not exactly what you call a highlight but it just looked kinda....weird.

SCREAMING COMPETITION- I have to say more people screamed when Zac was on the big screen. I thought it would be Taylor. Well, I was wrong. Actually both Isaac and Taylor were pretty close when it came to the screaming fans. I think the audience liked Isaac more when he was playing plugged-in than acoustically. I don't see a difference ::confused:: I think he rocks either way.

ISAAC GONE SOLO-Isaac's "More Than Anything" performance. I ALMOST cried. Keyword: almost. I'm telling you everyone loved Ike during this song. He has the most awesome, soothing voice and he kicks at piano.

IWCTU-Right before they started playing this amazing and beautifully written song (I might add) Zac shouted "I WILL COME TO YOU!" And it was really funny because his voice kept cracking.

THE DEDICATION-They dedicated "Man From Milwaukee" to all us Milwaukee living people. hehe

GETTING STUCK WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE-This really doesn't have to with Hanson but there was this really annoying guy who must have been in his late 40's. He kept shouting "PLAY MMMBOP HANSON! THAT'S MY FAVORITE SONG! WHEN ARE YOU GONNA PLAY MMMBOP?!?" It was hilarious.

THROWING OF THE WATER BOTTLES-There was space between the front row and the stage. Taylor would always jump down in the space and shake everyone's hands or maybe give them his water bottles. Glad he survived that. Which sort of leads to another highlight. Whenever the guys would leave stage and come back out each of them would have a water bottle. They would all throw 'em out to the crowd.

WATER GUNS AHHHH!- Zac squirted the audience with water guns while Taylor got on drums. How many instruments can these guys play?!?

CHEESE HEAD-LoL probably the most funny and amusing part of the show. Since they were in Wisconsin, the dairy state, towards the end of the show Hanson put on cheese hats and threw them out to the crowd. Go Green Bay!!! Then came the water guns.

GONE DEEP-If you saw the "Before They Were Stars" thing on VH1 you'd know that Ike made a really deep sounding voice during "Summertime Blues" He did this at the concert. Funny. Speaking of deepness....Zac? Also Isaac went over to Zac and jumped off the platform that held the drum set. Ike did this for "Good Lovin" too. Pretty awesome tricks you got there Ike.

KARAOKE-Taylor went up to the audience and got them to sing during "Summertime Blues" Well actually it was more like screaming it rather than singing. "You guys rock!"-Taylor. Umm yea right.

GLOW IN THE DARK-I love Zac's glow in the dark drum sticks. Those were pretty cool. We also had glow sticks so Taylor always told us to wave them in the air.

ALL THE FUN ENDS-They went out they came back singing "Look At You" and "Summertime Blues." Then came more water. I swear they would've created some kind of ocean in that place if they wouldn't stop squirting the stuff. So after this they thanked us for coming and told us how much fun they had. The good-byes ::sniff sniff:: They then sang "Weird" accapella which sounded fantastic. It was over.

OVERALL-The concert rocked! Hearing Hanson on the radio or on your CD and watching them on T.V is one thing but seeing them in concert is just a whole new level. I respect Hanson a whole lot more than I did before. I think I'm starting to look up to them now, as musicians and as people. They're truly amazing.

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.