July 15, 2026

For my one and only Hanson trip of the year, I chose to attend a long weekend of shows in New England. They played in Cape Code on Thursday, Rhode Island on Friday, and just outside Boston on Sunday. I chose this round of shows based on a few different factors: it was an easy way to get several shows out of one trip, one of the shows fell on a friend’s birthday, I love visiting New England (especially when it means a break from the southern summer heat), two of the shows were at unique venues, which I’ll get to later, and while I had been to Rhode Island before, I had never seen Hanson there, which makes it my 35th “Hanson state”.

I had an early, but thankfully easy travel day. My friends came to pick me up from the airport, and then we made our way over to a bus stop to wait for another friend. My friends and I will usually steer clear of chain restaurants, but we were all getting really hungry, and the closest and easiest option for lunch was Not Your Average Joe’s. It is just a local chain though, so most of us had never been before, and I ordered a lobster roll as one should when visiting New England. It was located in a strip mall attached to a regular mall right next to our hotel, so the convenience was hard to pass up. The mall also made for some great entertainment while killing time waiting for more friends to get into town.

Later that night, we went to La Bella Cuenca for dinner, where I had the Shrimp and Scallops Ovieto. I was super tired after dinner, having had an early flight out of Nashville, but I rallied while everyone else decided to get drinks from a karaoke bar, even though none of us wanted to participate. The highlight of the evening was when one of the servers took over karaoke, as she seemed to be the only person who could carry a tune.

july 16, 2026

I had to work a few hours Thursday morning, and we had two more friends coming in that day from Boston, so the morning was pretty chill. Our first outting of the day was lunch at Skipper’s Chowder House, where I had some yummy lobster mac and cheese. One of our friends had traveled all the way from Germany, and the one thing she wanted to do this day was see the beach. I’m a beach girlie myself, but for some reason this time the thought didn’t even cross my mind, so I’m glad she brought it up. We didn’t have enough time to make an actual beach trip out of it – no sunbathing, no swimming – but it was fun to sit on the bench and stare out at the horizon.

We then made our way over to the venue, the Cape Cod Melody Tent. The fun part about this venue is that it’s just a tiny, circular stage, with seats all around it, and the stage rotates. We found out just hours before the show that there would be an opener, and it turns out she was a local 6th grader named Violet Hanks. I’m not sure how or why she got the gig, but she had such a great voice. She played one song that she wrote herself with some friends, the rest were covers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up with a solid music career, should she choose to take that path.

I’ll be honest here, given the way things feel so up in the air with Hanson right now, I expected a pretty meh show and was mostly here as an excuse to see my friends and enjoy some travel and fresh seafood. The set list was exactly what I had expected it to be, but I was pleasantly surprised by the energy the band brought to the stage. Zac especially seemed to be having a great time, perhaps because he was able to engage with fans as the stage rotated around, rather than being stuck in the back like normal. After the show, fans lined up to meet them, and all three did come out and I believe they all got to every person who waited. I had the chance to talk to Isaac and Zac briefly, but Taylor seemed a bit rushed as he was the last to make his way to the end of the crowd. I’m thankful they all took the time for photos with everyone, and I was impressed with how relatively calm the crowd stayed compared to some other shows I’ve been to.

july 17, 2026

We had lots of time to kill before the show in Rhode Island, and knowing we couldn’t check into our hotel yet, and not wanting to spend hours inside a smokey casino, we took our time driving out there. Our first stop was a little candy store in Cape Cod where I stocked up on fresh salt water taffy (which they were currently making as we got there), and I was even able to find a lobster gingerbread cookie ornament. Our next stop was a visit to the Sandwich Police… literally, followed by a pit stop to eat sandwiches in Sandwich. We went to Cafe Chew where I enjoyed a yummy tuna melt.

As for the Rhode Island show… the energy Hanson had the night before seemed to be missing. As for me? Well…. I’m going to be pretty vulnerable here and let you know that at this point in the trip, I was not feeling so great. I’m not sure if it was cyclospora from a salad I had a week before in Nashville, salmonella from the omelette I had at the airport, or something else, but I ended up leaving the show about 2/3 in and spending the rest of the evening in the restroom and going to bed early. Here’s the set list for reference – I walked out during Crazy Beautiful but the part of the show I did see isn’t even all that memorable to me. (To Hanson’s credit, that’s not entirely their fault.)

july 18, 2026

We had the day “off” on Saturday with no Hanson shows. They did recently announce that they were playing a FIFA watch party in Scranton, PA, but we all agreed it wasn’t worth the 5-hour drive out there and back, and instead stuck to our original plans. We made lunch reservations at Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI – a beautiful hotel and restaurant right on the beach, and from there we could see (one of) Taylor Swift’s house(s). It was worth making the stop for the experience and the beautiful scenery, but we all agreed the food was overpriced for what we got; I ordered the halibut, and we all shared some oysters and crab dip. We had planned to walk along the beach and some of the shops after lunch, but a storm came through and changed those plans. Instead, we made our way up to Boston.

After relaxing in the hotel for a bit, we made our way over to our dinner spot – a pop-up Barbie themed cafe in Quincy Market. It was a fun experience, and my cheeseburger hit the spot. Our table was right next to a Barbie box photo booth, and we had endless entertainment watching everyone pose for photos.

july 19, 2026

The final Hanson show was about an hour outside of Boston in Cohasset. It was my friend’s birthday, so I let her choose our activity for the day. There weren’t a ton of options in the area, but we ended up spending a good chunk of the day sitting on a bench by a pond reading and people watching. There was an old church across the street, and they started playing songs on the church bells for about an hour. I told my friend I felt like I was back in Europe. It didn’t hurt that this was also the first time since my Europe trip that I wasn’t too hot sitting outside for an extended time – and living in Nashville, it’ll be awhile until I feel that way again.

We had dinner reservations before the show at The Red Lion Inn – an old hotel and restaurant from 1704. I really wanted to order the black truffle farrotto, but knowing it was a cream-based sauce, and that I still wasn’t feeling well, I chose the safer option of the veal involtini. It was good, but I definitely had food envy after seeing the farrotto that some of my friends ordered.

The concert was at the South Short Music Circus, a sister venue to the first show of the trip, and therefore another circular, rotating stage. The band didn’t have quite the energy they had the first night, but it definitely felt like they were back up to their normal selves after Rhode Island – which I was really surprised by considering this was show number 4 in a row for them after a long day of travel back from Pennsylvania. The set list was way more surprising than I expected, too – shout out to “You Never Know” and “Give A Little” making the cut.

One of my favorite parts of this particular show, given the rotating stage, was that during “Cold As Ice”, Dimitrius was right in front of us during his solo section. Then, Andrew was right in front of us for his. And finally, we had Taylor on bongos right in front of us for the drum solo. I never would have even thought the timing would have worked out that way. As I mentioned, it was my friend’s birthday, and the biggest surprise of the night was Taylor mouthing “Happy Birthday” to her during “I Was Born”, and then giving her his set list AND harmonica at the end of the show.

They all came out again after the show, and I had the chance to say goodbye, not knowing when or where I’d see them again. Last year, when we all kind of thought there would be no shows in 2026, I remember saying goodbye and getting some version of “well there will be more things coming”. This year, I had the following interactions:

Me: I’m not sure when I’ll see you again, so I just wanted to say goodbye
Isaac: Well thanks for coming out

Me: I’m not sure when I’ll see you again, so I just wanted to say goodbye
Taylor: *nervous smile*

Me: I’m not sure when I’ll see you again, so I just wanted to say goodbye
Zac: So like… have a nice life?

My friend is convinced that Zac said something along the lines of “there will be more shows” before he said “have a nice life”, but I didn’t hear it all and the transition between the two comments doesn’t really make sense to me. I hope she’s right, and that he didn’t just mean there are more shows this year (which I’m not planning on attending).

Whether there’s more Hanson, more Taylor solo shows, or something else involving these guys, who knows. But one thing is certain – there will be more travel. (Although for once in my life, I don’t have a “next thing” booked… suggestions welcome.)

Until then, you never know baby, you never know.