October 22 – 23, 2024
I left Pittsburgh Monday night, October 21st, flew direct to Atlanta, and got there right at the same time as my friend. We got an Uber, drove straight to the hotel, did not pass go, did not collect $200. We’ve both been to Atlanta quite a few times now, and I worked remotely both show days, so we didn’t do any sight seeing on this trip.
Acoustic Night was also Zac’s birthday, and this was the 3rd time I’ve been to a Zac birthday show. Compared to the other two (2009, 2015), this year felt very subdued. About mid-way through the show, Zac came out for his solo and sang “Broken Angel”, after which the rest of the band brought out a cake and we all sang “Happy Birthday”. There was no cake smash, though Isaac did say they thought about it. Zac bit off a corner of the cake and then gently put his nose in the icing, and that was it. Maybe it’s just the difference of turning 39 instead of 30 (or younger), or the timing of when it happened during the show, or some other unknown factor, but it wasn’t quite the hype birthday shows have built up over the years.
The biggest surprise of Acoustic Night was Taylor’s solo. He got “ooey gooey” (his own words) on us and started talking about how they fight a lot, but they still love each other, and anytime you’ve done anything with someone for 30 years, it’s worth continuing to fight for. After this, he started playing “Song To Sing” as a solo, but then Isaac and Zac both came out to join him for their respective verses. However, Zac didn’t come in when he was supposed to. I don’t know if he just messed up and forgot, was too emotional, or was too busy still chewing his birthday cake, but the crowd came in and filled in for him anyway. I was too far away in the balcony to see it at the time, but afterwards some videos of Taylor started floating around the internet from this moment. There’s debate as to whether sweat was getting in his eyes or he was crying, and unless someone asks (please don’t), we’ll never know. But regardless of whether 1, 2, 3 or 0 Hansons were feeling emotional, I definitely was and got the sense that the rest of the crowd was as well. It was a special moment I’m not likely to forget anytime soon. (And for those keeping score at home, they did sing the bonus verse as well.)
I’m realizing in this moment that I just wrote two paragraphs about two songs, one of which is Happy Birthday, and nothing about the Electric Night. It was a good show, but honestly at this point I don’t have anything specific to say about it that I haven’t already said from any of the other cities I’ve been to on this tour. The only difference was that this time, all of Phantom Planet joined Hanson for a rambunctious version of “Lost Without Each Other”. It was a fun away to end the short trip (followed of course by a late-night Krystal run), and left me ready for one last round of shows.
Scream And Be Frees 