October 3 – 4, 2024
The travel
I have a few good friends in Minneapolis, so when Hanson announced the city as their first stop on the Underneath:Experience Tour, there was no question as to whether or not I’d make it one two of my shows. I have the flexibility to do most of my work remote, so my plan was always to fly up Tuesday evening before the shows, and stay through the following Monday as flights were significantly cheaper that way. But then when Hanson added the Church Studio show in Tulsa the weekend before, it made more sense for me to shuffle things around and fly straight to Minneapolis from Tulsa.
This plan worked out great – I got to spend extra time with my people, had a VP Debate Party with like-minded friends, and had a few days of rest between travel and shows. More importantly, I got to enjoy a few perfect fall weather days up north while it was still hot back home in Nashville. On the Sunday after the shows, my friends and I went out to the University of Minnesota Arboretum and enjoyed some apple cider slushes and donuts at the apple house where honeycrisp apples were invented. My inner basic white girl couldn’t have been happier.
the shows
If you’re new here, this tour is a two-night stand in each city, with an acoustic show on night one, and electric on night two. As expected, night one of the official tour was very similar to the acoustic Church Studio show in Tulsa, which was admittedly a glorified rehearsal. However, they still threw in some surprises toward the end, including bringing out local Minnesota artist Cory Wong on “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin'”. If you’ve seen “Underneath Acoustic Live” from 2004, you know that at a Hanson concert, acoustic does not necessarily mean “low energy”, and this show was no exception.
Without an electric show preview, I really had no idea what to expect for night two, and it ended up having more surprises than any Hanson set list maybe since String Theory (which I went into spoiler-free). Not too long ago, I mentioned to my friends that it had been awhile since Hanson had done any covers, and that I was hoping they’d pull one or two out for this tour. So imagine my pleasant surprise when they played a total of seven cover songs over the combined nights. These were mostly familiar covers from the original Underneath era, but there were some new ones that I’ll keep under wraps for those who don’t want all the spoilers. (If you’re curious, both set lists are up on Hansonstage.)
I correctly assumed that both nights would be Underneath-heavy, but I was still impressed with how many songs from other albums made the cut, and most of them are some of my favorites at that. They ended up playing a total of 43 unique songs over the two nights, and I can’t wait to see what other changes and surprises come our way throughout the rest of tour. In the meantime, I’m determined to learn Zac’s hand clap rhythm for “Cecelia”.
Even though it’s only been two years since the RGB Tour, this week made me realize how much I had missed proper Hanson tours after the past year of one-off festival shows. As ridiculous as this sounds, there’s something magical about having a strange man throw you a dollar for not having a lighter, a homeless woman rattling off conspiracy theories about the FBI, and Zac Hanson asking if you know how to belay all in a 36-hour period. I know I’m being a little more vague than normal, but with only half of one other city under wraps by the time this blog is published, I really don’t want to give away all the details for those hitting up the next few shows. I guess the tl;dr is these shows were the best of the best of Hanson, and the reason the real answer to “how many Hanson shows have you seen?” will always be “not enough”.
Scream And Be Frees 