:: anthem world tour :: metropolis fremantle :: august 15 2014 ::

This was written up from notes I took on August 15, and originally posted in my LiveJournal on August 20 2014. I have left this entry unlocked and enabled anonymous commenting, so please feel free to leave your thoughts.


(Yes I’m doing this five days late. Better late than never. :p)

Friday night marked the first time I’ve gone to a concert outside of my home state of New South Wales. And of course I had to pick the final show of Hanson’s Australian tour for said concert – which for the Shout It Out and Anthem tours has been in Perth, Western Australia. In other words, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY. I am clearly nuts.

But I digress. Concert day, for me, started bright and early – woke up just before 4:20am, having arrived in Perth the previous morning on a 9am Virgin Australia flight from Sydney. I’m blaming the time difference because Perth is two hours behind Sydney. Had my breakfast, took my medication and caught up on Twitter and Facebook (discovering in the process from a friend that the lineup for the MOE that night had already started – at 5:20am), and once I was dressed I spent a bit of time doing my nails while I waited for my phone to charge. Once that was done I grabbed everything I needed for the show (wallet, camera, tickets, package of Sour Patch Kids for something the Street Team had planned, phone and spare batteries) and headed off to Perth train station to catch a train to Fremantle. Arrived in Fremantle just after 8:10am and at Metropolis itself at around 8:30am. I was there so early that I ended up being seventh in line – a guaranteed front row spot for MOE for the very first time. Dropped off my Sour Patch Kids in the pile that was beginning to accumulate, and spent a bit of time chatting with the other Street Teamers who had arrived ahead of me and helped out with putting labels on all the little packets of lollies.

At around noon I decided an expedition to Coles and Woolworths was in order, to see just how many more packages of Sour Patch Kids we could collect, and I headed off with my friends Selina and Carla. We didn’t find any in Coles, but in Woolworths we hit the jackpot. In the end we toted an extra twenty-eight packages back to Metropolis. I headed off again once we got back in search of something for lunch, and picked up a copy of Perth’s free street press The Music on my way back – it had an article about Hanson in it, and because I’m a nice person I passed it around for everyone to read while I ate my lunch and helped out with labelling more of the Sour Patch Kids. My friend Aimi rocked up around half an hour later – it was our first time meeting, after having been friends since a few months before the 2005 tour, so it was nice to finally meet her face to face. Hung out in the cafe a couple of shops down from Metropolis with my new friend Jen for a little while before MOE, trying to stay warm (as it’s winter in Australia right now) and putting off going to get in line for MOE check-in. Which we had to do eventually, and I got my name ticked off and my hand stamped a bit before four o’clock. They let us inside about twenty minutes later and I made a beeline for the barrier – ended up just to the left of Zac’s drums.

MOE started just before 4 o’clock. I have never heard Hanson fans be so quiet while any member of Hanson is onstage – you could almost hear a pin drop. As with the previous MOE in Sydney Zac wasn’t there – all three of them were unwell during the tour, but for whatever reason Zac got hit the hardest and lost his voice. He was on doctor’s orders to stay quiet, otherwise he could have ruined his voice. And nobody wanted that to happen. So only Isaac and Taylor were at the MOE, but it was still pretty awesome regardless.

1. Call Me
2. River
3. I’ve Been Down
4. Take Our Chances
5. Down
6. The Sound Of Light

First two were solos by Isaac, while Taylor took the stage for songs three and four. Taylor decided to heckle Isaac a little bit from the side of the stage just before River, by yelling out “SING THE SONG” – cracked us all up. There was a short Q&A session once they had finished performing, before we all got our group photos and were each given a signed photo of the band to make up for Zac not being there. Once all the photos were done there was a mad stampede for front row, and I lost my spot, ending up in second row for Adam Martin’s set. He came onstage at around six-thirty, and during his set I sneaked my way across to the far left of the barrier, on Isaac’s side of the stage. Adam finished a little while after seven o’clock, and while we waited for the stage to be set up for Hanson’s set everyone in the audience spent a very enjoyable hour singing along to 90s songs that were being played over the club’s sound system.

Eight o’clock heralded Hanson’s arrival onstage, for the final time in Australia this tour.

1. Fired Up
2. I’ve Got Soul
3. Where’s The Love
4. Runaway Run
5. Cut Right Through Me
6. Hey
 

Acoustic set:

7. Penny And Me
8. Weird
9. Yearbook
10. Hand In Hand (Isaac solo)
11. Save Me (Taylor solo)
 
12. This Time Around
13. Tragic Symphony
14. Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’
15. Give A Little
16. Get Up And Go
17. If Only
18. MMMBop
19. Get The Girl Back
20. In The City
21. Long Way To The Top (AC/DC cover)
 

Encore:

22. Lost Without Each Other

Now, an explanation for the Sour Patch Kids thing – during a livestream prior to the Australian tour, the guys were asked if they would ever do another show on New Year’s Eve. Taylor said that if they ever got a million packets of Sour Patch Kids, they’d consider doing so. So the Australian Street Team decided to run with it, because we’d love one here (even though it’ll probably never happen – we can dream, though). :D Those of us going to the Fremantle show were asked to bring a 10-pack of Sour Patch Kids to the show (the packets that Selina, Carla and I bought and added to the pile brought the total up to about three hundred), and we each chucked a couple of little packets onstage at the end of the encore. The guys got a kick out of it. :D My highlights this time were finally getting to hear Yearbook live, and the cover of Long Way To The Top. I love AC/DC and they nailed it.

I seriously cannot wait for Hanson to come back to Oz. I know it’ll probably be longer than two years this time, but I don’t mind. I don’t regret my trip to Fremantle to see them one bit – it was an expensive trip, but you know what? I got to hang out with my friends, I got to meet Isaac and Taylor again, and I got to go to the final show of the Aussie tour. It was worth every last cent.


As with my previous post, the cameras used are my phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace) with Instagram, and my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1 compact.

Capping off the Aussie Hanson tour with my first-ever interstate show.

The official tour poster for the 2014 tour.

Metropolis – taken from across South Terrace.

My number for MOE – lucky number 7 and guaranteed front row.

Aimi and I.

Hanson article in Perth’s free street press The Music.

Putting labels on little packets of Sour Patch Kids.

One of my labelling efforts.

The end result, after I’d gone off with a couple of friends in an attempt to buy every package of Sour Patch Kids in Fremantle – almost THREE HUNDRED PACKETS to throw onstage during the encore.

Getting ready for MOE.

My view during MOE.

Zac’s drums.

Taylor’s piano and keyboard.

The guys’ present for all the MOE attendees, to make up for Zac not being able to attend.

My view during the show itself – front row on Isaac’s side.

Adam Martin beginning his final set of the tour.

The balcony at Metropolis.

Zac at his drums.

Getting ready for the acoustic set.

Isaac during his solo – Hand In Hand.

Taylor during his solo – Save Me.

During In The City.

Taylor looking at one of the packets of Sour Patch Kids the Street Teamers chucked onstage after Lost Without Each Other – the guys LOVED it.