live: hanson

Confession: Somewhere at my dad’s house in the Detroit suburbs, there are three photos that, when placed next to each other correctly, form a panoramic view of my childhood bedroom. The photos were taken sometime in 1998, when I was 10 years old — and the walls are covered in Hanson. Like, floor-to-ceiling Isaac, Taylor and Zac. That summer, a couple weeks before my 11th birthday, my aunt took my cousin, a friend and me to see them from Row 15 of a big amphitheater, homemade “Hanson Rocks Our World” poster in hand. It was my first concert: I screamed and I sang, and I wanted — needed — to see them again. This is likely, in some way, the root of my inexplicable need to always go see every band I love that ever comes to my city: Hanson returned to the Detroit area about a month or so later, and I couldn’t go for whatever reason, and that was when I stopped listening to them. I know, that makes no sense, but it obviously was for the better that I let ‘em go.

Anyway, I was reminded earlier this year that Hanson hasn’t stopped making music since their “MMMBop” days (and also reminded that between the three brothers, the oldest of whom is 29 years old, they have SEVEN CHILDREN. Seven!). And, hate all you want, but I realized that they actually do write excellent pop songs. I’ve already defended their latest release, Shout It Out — the only one I’ve heard in full since 1998 — in our “From Kid to Cred” hub, and the song “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’” is fantastic (although the rest of the album didn’t stick with me so much). So, after all this Hanson being brought back into my life sorta recently, I couldn’t turn down an invite to see them live for the first time in 12 years.

They played at Midtown’s Roseland Ballroom, as part of a free event for Paper Magazine — a makeup for the free show they were supposed to do with Drake, that turned into a riot. There was definitely no riot here — not even a packed venue — but they did put on a pretty good show, complete with a seven-piece band of horns and extra guitars. The new songs sounded great (although, unfortunately, there was no “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’” dance), with no shortage of soulful pop hooks or sunny three-part harmonies — although it seemed like they had to try a bit harder than usual, since much of the crowd was likely like me, and there mostly for nostalgic purposes. They succeeded on that end, though: The oldies almost made me feel like I was 10 again, minus the screaming. How they aren’t sick of songs like “MMMBop” and “Where’s the Love?” is beyond me, but they played them in their 45-minute set, and, yep, it was really hard not to sing along.