Tulsa, Oklahoma
November 4-7, 2020
The day after Hanson’s October streaming concert series, Live and Electric Revisited, they announced the theme for their November series: Perennial Live, named for the double-album public release of some of songs that had previously been available only to fan club members.
While I have mixed feelings about the specific tracks chosen for Perennial, as a general rule some of my favorite Hanson songs are from the members EPs, so I’m always excited for the rare chance to hear them performed live. Typically this only happens at the annual Hanson Day and Back To The Island events, although they occasionally do pull out one or two of the songs at a normal show.
This was my 13th trip to Tulsa, OK. I went twice in college to visit a friend who was attending ORU, I went in 2009 for the recording of the Stand Up, Stand Up EP, and I’ve attended all but one of the official Hanson Day weekends that started in 2011. Each year at Hanson Day, my friends and I have our favorite places we like to visit – after all, we only get to go there once a year. So, being back after just a short 3.5 weeks, I didn’t feel the need to do to the same ole things this trip.
The first place we went on this trip was to the giant oil driller statue, which I hadn’t been to since I think 2012. Then we went and took pictures of the praying hands at ORU, and the last time I was there was in 2004. I guess this was lucky trip number 13 because this was my first visit to Tulsa with absolutely perfect weather. It was sunny with a high of 75 (Relient K, anyone?) and a slight breeze and no humidity. We eventually wandered down to the riverfront where I was finally brave enough to try riding an electric scooter for the first time ever. I was a bit wobbly at first, but now I’m obsessed. (But I don’t see myself riding one around Nashville anytime soon.) My friend and I ended up scooting all over the Arts District between our hotel and Cain’s for the shows.
I have to admit, something felt off during the first show on Thursday night. I know my friends and I were feeling anxious while awaiting results of the presidential election from Tuesday night, and we were refreshing the electoral college map between every song. Maybe the rest of the audience was just as anxious, maybe the band was anxious, or maybe something else was going on, but it didn’t have that energy I get from most Hanson shows. Despite the lack of energy, I absolutely loved the set list. My personal highlights were “Panic In The Streets” (highly underrated), “Down”, “So Lovely”, “Young and Dumb”, “Somebody That Wants To Love You”, and getting to hear the new single “Nothing Like A Love Song” which is physically impossible not to dance to.
Friday’s matinee show was the polar opposite energy wise. My friends and I lucked out and managed to get a front row center table for this show, so I thought maybe we were biased, but other people told me they felt it to, Hanson just absolutely brought it for this show. My highlights for this set list were hearing “Leave The Light On” for only the second time (first time with a full band), “No Rest For The Weary”, and “Coming Back For More”. But the moments that will stick out to me the most were the times I caught Zac laughing at my friends and I repeatedly messing up the “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin'” dance, and laughing at my ridiculous “Been There Before” dance moves, as evidenced below. Zac also got bonus points for playing “Good Days”. While it’s not my favorite song, we missed getting to hear Continental Breakfast (In Bed) live when Hanson Day got cancelled, so now this is the only song from the 7-track EP we’ve gotten to hear live (other than “Everyday” which had been performed several times prior to making the EP cut).
The setlist for the 3rd show was, to me, better than the first night but not as good as the matinee. There was one highlight from this set, and it was Isaac’s performance of “Grace Unknown”. I’ve only heard it performed two other times, one as recent as this year’s Back To The Island, and the emotion he brought to the performance was unparalleled. With the year we’ve all had in 2020, these lyrics hit a little different than they did back in early February, and have been a good reminder to me that maybe now, more than ever, we all need to give, and receive, a little more grace.
Reader: If you’re curious about the COVID-19 precautions that were taken for this trip, I covered them extensively in my Live And Electric Revisited blog.
Scream And Be Frees 