Taylor’s Walk speech under the bridge

Hanson – The Story, about the theme of some songs

Hanson – Carry You There

Hanson – Voice in the Chorus

Hanson – Rock ‘n’ Roll Razorblade

And I said I would find a video of the crowd dancing to Thinking ‘Bout Something:

So, here’s my report from the final day in London last year:

This was the day that I felt the most like a crazy fangirl! I won’t go into details about how early me, my sis and our friend got to the line at the venue – but it was early in the morning, and we weren’t alone. There were more fans who had the same idea – to queue the longest time on the last day to get as good spots as possible, we didn’t get any more chances this time… The waiting in line was okay most of the day. Of course it got really cold during sunrise (yeah, I did say we got there early…) but other than that the weather was pretty good most of the day. Except, of course, during the Walk… Then it was pouring down!

The Walk? Oh yes, London got an official Walk! It was the first official Walk (= together with Hanson themselves) outside of North America, so it felt really special to be a part of it. During the walk in Stockholm a few years ago I think I supported health care. This time I chose HIV/AIDS research.

Soon after noon the guys came outside, but even though they stood at the top of the stairs we could hardly see them because of all the umbrellas… But we still did the Walk – who chickens out because of some rain? Me and my friends joined Taylor in the front. In the middle of the Walk we stopped under a bridge where Taylor held his Walk speech (I’ll add a video in the next post). That was one of the few moments when Taylor removed his sunglasses. I was pondering about that, I remember – why did he wear sunglasses when the rain was pouring down?? Well, he is Taylor after all… After the Walk they talked a bit more with us from the top of the stairs, even Isaac – who didn’t seem to get it that he had to use the megaphone to be heard… (Photo evidence of that further down in this post…)

Sadly I don’t remember much of The Story – I didn’t even directly after I was there. Nothing really stood out, they just simply told about the recording process. Which in itself was interesting at that time. Shout It Out is a very different album compared to earlier ones. Me and my friends were lucky and got really good spots, second row right in front of Taylor. I couldn’t have wished for a better spot (because I realized early during the week that it was no use in hoping for a spot in front row…).

The show was amazing, and that’s not just because it was the final one. The songs on this album are really good live songs. Around me there was a big group of girls who had practiced the TBS dance earlier during the week, and of course we danced as best as we could during the show! That was the only chance we got to show it (except for when Isaac saw us dancing on the street in the beginning of the week, but that doesn’t really count). Apparently there were fans in other places of the audience who also danced, and even on the balcony. But our group danced the most, haha! There are videos on YouTube, I’ll try to find one of them again and show it here…

Apart from the favourites Thinking ‘Bout Something and Give A Little, I think Voice in the Chorus and Me, Myself And I were the most special songs to me. They are also two of my favourite songs on the album. Voice in the Chorus has such a special rhythm and Me, Myself And I is simply beautiful. And then I rejoiced about the last encore – Rock ‘n’ Roll Razorblade. That song is special to me – it was one of my favourites back in 2005 and they performed it in Stockholm, and now I got to hear it live again. I hadn’t counted on that!

We hurried to the back door this night as well and ended up in the front line again. But this time the security crew had put up riot barriers… I understand them, because the chaos had gotten worse each night, and I found that to be very sad. It’s sad that the fans can’t behave better than that, so that barriers are necessary in such a small place… Anyway, of course it started raining again while we stood there waiting, and of course the guys didn’t come out for a long time. We waited for two hours and by that time I think only half of the fans remained. My group was also close to leaving, but I was stubborn enough for us to stay… But the guys did join us eventually, and this time even Zac signed stuff! I was so happy about that, because that means that I now have all of their autographs!

I also have photos with all three of them – but do you think they turned out great? Not really… Not after two hours in pouring rain and darkness, and everyone being tired and grumpy… The photos with Isaac and Zac turned out okay (the pic of me and Zac is at the bottom of this post). The photo of me, my friend and Taylor is something that I can laugh about now, but at the time I was very disappointed. Because right when my sister took the photo, someone called out to Taylor and he looked away… And this was after we had tried to make him look into the camera for about a minute and he was on his way away from us… But as I said, I can laugh about it now.

As usual the most hype was surrounding Taylor, which could be why he was so easily distracted. It was much calmer around Zac and Isaac, they payed a lot of attention to each fan and still made their way fast forward. They smiled, took photos without hurrying, and so on. They had plenty of patience. Sadly, the same can’t be said about the fans, or rather – many of the fans, not all of them. And those impatient fans are the ones who make me feel ashamed of being a fan myself. There were some girls beside me who were shouting for Taylor all the time, even when he still was on the other side. And when he was some metres away from us, heading our way, one girl tried to make me and my friend pass her object on to Taylor to make sure it got signed. Finally there was a group of fans – beside her and behind her – who shouted at her to calm down and wait for her turn. Those impatient fans annoy me so much, for having so little patience and not caring about other fans around them!

Anyway, when I recall this week it still feels so unreal that I have experienced it all. I got to go to one concert in 14 years, and then suddenly I have been part of 5 concerts, 5 VIP sessions and 1 Walk during just one week! I got good spots during all concerts without waiting outside the venue for hours and hours every day. I have so many wonderful – and less wonderful – memories: Isaac’s comment about him still being blonde, Taylor’s frustration when he thought the others had talked too long (according to him) during a Story session, getting all wet during the Walk, the happiness of getting all the autographs, the disappointment of the Taylor photo when other fans had so nice photos with him, the happiness of having been a part of all this, the feeling of all this being so unreal. Memories that I will remember for the rest of my life!

Hanson – The Story, about the album and the trip to Africa

Hanson – The Story, about some of the songs

Hanson – Been There Before

Hanson – Running Man

Hanson – Blue Sky

Hanson – Change In My Life

“The Story” was mostly about how it was that Hanson went to Africa and began their charity project there. I had heard parts of it before, but not all of it, so it was interesting. We also got to know that the song Your Illusion actually was written for Underneath, but that it didn’t fit in the end. Zac pointed out that the albums have been very different, varying between pop sounds and rock sounds, and they started joking about how the next album will be a hardrock album. Someone in the audience shouted a name, but I didn’t hear what band she mentioned, and I think it was Zac who objected and said “no, good hardrock, those don’t make good hardrock”, something like that. Then everyone started shouting different bands and Hanson commented on them, and suddenly Taylor exclaimed something like “wow, you guys are taking this seriously!” Well, of course we do! No really, I guess it was mostly because it was fun, and because of the interacting with the band.

The show itself was great of course, but not without issues. There were quite a lot of issues, actually! That they sang and played wrong sometimes is nothing I really care much about, it’s a live show and those are not album perfect, that’s part of the live experience! But, Isaac broke a string on one of his guitars, Taylor managed to bring down his mic stand again, and in the middle of a song the electric base stopped working. So that guy played the base on a synth for the rest of the show. He received a lot of cheers and applauds later!

The encore made me so happy. They sang Change In My Life. I never thought I’d get to experience that song live! I know, it’s not their own song, but it’s good. And they always sing it a capella – completely without music – standing together at one single microfon at the front of the stage. It’s something really special about their voices and how perfectly they fit together. I’m almost teary-eyed just thinking about it. Perfect, they sound simply perfect.

This show is also the one that made the strongest impression on me regarding passion. Hanson always sing and perform with passion and everyone can see how much they love music, but I noticed it more than usual during this show. And their The Walk story also made the strongest impression on me, when they talked about their journey to Africa, their work there and how important it was for them to make a difference. Here I also noticed the passion, and Isaac held a little mini speech that has been etched into my memory ever since. I don’t remember it word by word, but what he said was something like this: That everyone should do the small things they can do, it doesn’t matter how small a thing you think it is, it can still make a difference. And that he believes that what matters in life is not what you have, but what you do for other people. During the evening they also talked about doing things you’re passionate about. There’s no reason why you should be doing things you’re not passionate about. I often think about these things they said. It’s obvious that Hanson do the things they are passionate about, and they always inspire me to find that thing that I want to do, the thing I’m passionate about, and to help others.

After this show I got Isaac’s autograph, and I took the chance to thank him for this and the other shows. I also got a second autograph from Taylor (this time I had a better pen…). The night ended with me, my sis and our friend taking a walk past Piccadilly Circus on our way back to the hostel.

And here are some photos from this show!

Hanson – The Story, about the record label problems

Hanson – Dancin’ in the Wind

Hanson – Lost Without Each Other

Hanson – Broken Angel

Hanson – Get Up And Go

Hanson – Believe

Hanson – Lulla Belle

Most of The Story wasn’t really new to me, since I have heard a lot about their record label troubles before, and watched the documentary Strong Enough to Break. Still, they being Hanson, they made it all interesting again and they were joking around with each other as always.

Then it was time for the show. And it was great! All those songs that I love – Dancin’ In The Wind when Taylor plays the guitar and tries to look so cool, Get Up And Go, and Lost Without Each Other which is one of my favourite songs ever. The funny thing is that Underneath in fact is in no way my favourite album as a whole. There are many songs there which can be placed in the lower half of my Hanson song list, songs that I think make the album worse rather than better. But when I hear the songs live it is like listening to a completely different album. It’s such a huge difference! Live is probably always best!

But two of the highlights of this evening were these:

• Broken Angel, with Zac on piano and Taylor on drums. This is one of the most beautiful songs I know, and Zac sings it so well with so much feeling. It was very touching to experience this song live, so up-close. And of course it was great to see Taylor playing the drums up-close too… ;)
• Lulla Belle. Looks like all the Zac solos are highlights? But yes, it’s something special about those times when he gets to be in the centre, the one who all the lights shine on. And especially so during a song like this, when he and only he is on stage. Just Zac and a piano, and a slow song like Lulla Belle. So beautiful!

At the end of the show, Taylor jumped down to the audience and started taking peoples’ hands. But no matter how far I stretched, he didn’t take my hand but only those beside me… Rather disappointed I joined my sister and a friend, and together we hurried outside to the backdoor entrance. The night before, we noticed how some lucky few got autographs and photos there, and now we wanted to take the chance too.

We stood there for almost an hour, until it was like 11:20 pm, and by that time a lot of fans had gathered and there was a lot of pushing and shuffling around… Finally, Taylor and Isaac got out, and the pushing got even worse. As if that was even possible! Me and my sis were lucky to be right in the front, and we were also quick, so we reached Taylor very quickly. Or rather, were pushed towards him very quickly… My sister got Taylor’s autograph pretty much right away – afterwards she told me she had simply put her pen in his hand.

It wasn’t as easy for me. But he finally took my stubbornly lifted autograph notebook and – tried to sign it. Of course my pen didn’t want to function properly, and when he finally managed to sign with it, the autograph was in part hardly visible. But it is his autograph, my first Taylor autograph!

I got my pen and notebook back, and Taylor took a step forward. I tried to get out of there, but the fans behind me pushed so hard that the only thing that happened was me being pushed into Taylor’s chest. For one moment, which seemed like an eternity, I stood there with my nose buried into his jacket, completely shocked about being that close to him. I have a vague memory of lifting my hand to stroking his arm, like in a trance. Then he took another step forward and the pushing right behind me changed so that I managed to step aside and let other fans past me.

The happiness and the shock from that evening remained for a good while, and I can still recall the memories, the feelings, feel his jacket under my fingers. And remember how tall he is! I don’t even reach up to his shoulders…

Anyway. It was a wonderful show, and a wonderful ending of the evening, with equal parts happiness and shock. Just like it should be!

And here are some of my photos.

Hanson – The Story: they talk about collaborations on the album

Hanson – The Story: they talk about an incident regarding a guitar part

Hanson – The Story: they talk about demos

Hanson – If Only

Hanson – Runaway Run

Hanson – Wish That I Was There (and the mic holder breaks just “in time”…)

To start with, I can tell you that her Takitsuba collection is huge! I just dream of someday being able to collect as much. As we sat there talking about all the shows she has been to, my wish to go to Japan and see my favourite Japanese guys only grew even stronger! Preferrably this year already, because they celebrate their 10th anniversary and I guess this year’s tour will be something real extra.

We spent hours and hours looking through photobooks, calendars and photoalbums. I am so fascinated by the quality of Japanese concert merchandise. All these photobooks that are produced for the tours, they are so well-made and great-looking, with high-quality paper and often hardback. Price tag: less than 200 SEK each. That felt like nothing as I sat there looking through them and they never seemed to end. And now I have learned one thing for my collecting: the calendars are well worth starting with! They were sooo beautiful! And now I meant the calendars, but of course those who were inside them were also very beautiful… ;)

We also looked at a lot of dvds and video clips. If I remember correctly, we watched 2.5 concerts, and they only got better and better. The same thing here about quality: The shows are so incredibly lavish and well thought-out – and beautiful and amazing! There were a few things that I noticed (and that we discussed):

• The stage clothes are really nice! After you have become used to all the glitter, feather boas, long capes, wide-open shirts, weird patterns, etc – and you do that pretty quickly…
• When Johnny’s Entertainment groups have concerts in arenas, they do everything to make sure everyone will get to see them up close at least once during the show. So they like to build a stage in each end of the arena, with many runways in between – and they also like to fly through the air or go around the balconies in small carts.
• The Japanese never go half the distance – they go the whole distance. Did anyone react strongly at Bill’s (Tokio Hotel) stage clothes during their last Europe tour? They weren’t that sensational compared to some of the things the Johnny’s boys are wearing… And, ah, did Bill sit on a motorcycle on the stage during one song? Hm, well, Tackey went around the whole arena on one. Just to mention a few examples…

As you know, I do love both Tokio Hotel and Hanson, but there’s still something special about Tackey & Tsubasa, and the other Johnny’s groups in regards to concerts and shows.

We mostly watched subbed video clips this time – that was my wish as I wanted to be able to understand what everyone said. I have always only listened to the music, so before this weekend I had no real idea of what Tackey or Tsubasa are like, except from the opinions I’ve had after watching some music videos. I can honestly say that after this weekend I just love them even more! And the best thing is this: Even though Tackey is still my favourite out of the two, Tsubasa is pretty close behind no w… Sure, Tackey is the most handsome, but Tsubasa is really cute as well (as long as he doesn’t have a weird hair-do or decides to have facial hair…). Although, it’s not all about looks! Tackey has the most angelic voice you could imagine – the only one I like better is Taylor. ;) And Tsubasa is the king of dancing – wow, those hips!

I also thought it was fun to “get to know” Tackey’s and Tsubasa’s personalities and how people treat them. Who would have thought that Tsubasa is the worst tease ever? Or that everyone loves to tease Tackey, even though (or because?) he is everyone’s favourite? Or that Tackey is so incredibly kind and caring? But first and foremost I realized this: The two of them are perfect together! I am so happy that they managed to convince Mr. Johnny that they should be debuting together and not as solo acts…

The weekend ended in a very good way – with great gifts from E! I got a cd single – Ai wa takaramono – one of my absolute favourite songs, and it was the edition that has many karaoke tracks as extra material! And as if that wasn’t enough, she gave me FIVE photos! They are so beautiful, and I was so happy to be given these things!

At noon we went to Hyde Park and met ~25 other girls who got together to practice our little flashmob dancing to Thinking ‘Bout Something. Our goal was to do a flashmob with or for Hanson by the end of the week, maybe during a possible Walk? The dancing was fun, especially us being a whole group and not only Swedish fans, I have to point out!

Here we are, dancing (it’s not my video)

After that, we were queueing during the afternoon and evening, to get good spots inside. Wow, what a show! I have to say that I like the album Middle of Nowhere better than the album This Time Around (as a whole – even though some of my favourite songs are from This Time Around). But this show was so amazing! I had a good spot a few rows from the stage, my view was so-so, but being so close to the band felt so special!

Two highlights of the evening were If Only and Runaway Run. They are my favourite songs from this album and they are so great live! When Taylor plays that harmonica during If Only… Then I can only shout with joy – inside of me and out loud! The audience got to sing the final verse of Can’t Stop by ourselves. The end of the show, A Song To Sing, was really beautiful and calm. Isaac and Zac stood at the front of the stage during that song, each by his own mic.

Oh, speaking of which – Zac was a little unfortunate during the show… Just when he started singing his solo song I Wish That I Was There his mic stand was broken… So during the first part of the song, he held the mic and mic stand in one hand and played the drums with his other hand (and he also kept singing), until someone from the crew managed to fix the mic stand. That led to some joking between him and Taylor afterwards, as he said it was probably “Taylor who broke it, he’s known for breaking things.” Taylor nodded and said: “Anything that’s made can be broken by me.” Adding that we could interpret that as we liked…

But there was no doubt of what was the main highlight of the evening. In The City. Wow. Just, wow. I never thought I would get to experience that song live, from third row, but now I have. Taylor grabbed his mic and left the piano, and everyone know what to do. Jump. All we had to do was jump. It wasn’t possible not to do it – literally! Taylor’s feet only had to leave the floor once, one little jump, to make the whole audience do the same. I couldn’t stand still – I didn’t want to – but also because it was so crowded and everyone was jumping, so you would go with the rest of the audience, up and down, wheter you wanted to or not! That feeling was amazing, the audience was like one whole synchronized mass!

But the best part of the song was when Taylo came closer to the front of the stage, leaned towards the audience and pointed at himself while singing “Do you love me? Do you love me?” If the audience had been a synchronized jumping mass before, it was now a huge synchronized wave… A wave of fans and hands surging and rolling towards the stage and Taylor. As if everyone – no matter how far back they were standing – was hoping to be able to touch him if only they reached a little further, and if he only leaned a little more towards us. I was crushed from all sides, but I hardly noticed – because I was also so focused on Taylor, that godlike being with an angel’s voice, who was standing right in front of me, asking if I loved him! *cough* I guess I shouldn’t linger for too long on that memory. ;)

Anyway, the show was amazing, better than I had expected, and many parts of it are still etched into my memory as clearly as if it was last week I was there!

And here are some of my photos from that show!

Hanson – The Story: they sing “Rain”

Hanson – The Story: they sing Boomerang+MMMBop

Hanson – Speechless

Hanson – Yearbook

Hanson – Lucy

Hanson – With You In Your Dreams (this one is longer)

Hanson – Gimme Some Lovin