This was written between June 24 and 26 2017, and was originally posted in my Dreamwidth on June 27 2017 – I have left this entry unlocked and enabled anonymous comments, so please feel free to leave your thoughts.

Tour unofficially began for me on June 20th. That afternoon I travelled up to Sydney with my suitcase and my backpack in tow, on the 12:37pm train from Wollongong station. I had designs on going to Sunrise the next morning for Hanson’s appearance on morning TV, so going to Sydney the day before was really my only option – I would never have made it there on time if I’d gone up the next morning. I caught a train to Museum station after I arrived in Sydney, and headed through to my base for tour from there – a hostel called The Pod. I mostly picked it based on its proximity to public transport, but also because I stayed there over the June long weekend while I saw Sheppard at the Metro. It saved me having to catch the train and a taxi home in the middle of the night. I love it there and it’s likely going to be my base for all of Hanson’s future Australian tours, at least for their Sydney shows. I went to bed early that night, because I needed to head out early the next morning to catch a train to Martin Place and I didn’t want to get there too late.

Bright and early the next morning, June 21st, I woke up with the beginnings of a cold. I’d managed to escape getting sick during the Anthem tour, so I guess it was only a matter of time before it eventually happened. I wasn’t about to let it get me down, so I rugged up in my hoodie and scarf and headed out into the freezing cold just before five o’clock to catch a train from Central to Martin Place. Arrived at Channel 7 at around twenty minutes past five (after managing to get myself lost trying to find the right exit from Martin Place station) and joined the small group of fans who had arrived before me. The guys arrived just after six, heading straight inside the studio after waving hello to us all.

I didn’t end up staying for long afterward, however. At around half-past seven, one of my friends had a flare-up of an injury from earlier in the tour and ended up passing out, and she asked me to go to the hospital with her. Of course I said yes – I will always love Hanson, but as far as I’m concerned friendship is much more important. I hate hospitals (they make me anxious as hell), but I ended up keeping her company in Emergency for nearly seven hours – something I don’t regret in the least. I had expected to miss the show that night, but after making sure she would be okay if I headed out I was able to make it after all. Caught the train back into the city from Kings Cross and headed back to the hostel to shower, charge my phone, powerbank and the battery for my camera, and get my things together for the show. I met up with my friend Rachel at Circular Quay just before five-thirty, and we caught a train through to Newtown. As we both had seats that night we didn’t go straight to the Enmore, instead going for dinner at a 50s-styled restaurant called the Doughbox Diner. We shared a booth with a couple of fans who had come up from Canberra, a woman and her daughter who were both going to their very first Hanson concert, and headed across the road to the Enmore right as doors were opening.

Hanson picked one hell of an opener for the tour – Jason Singh, formerly of Taxiride. I never got to see Taxiride live, so be able to see Jason play a set was pretty awesome. His opening set that night was half Taxiride songs (Everywhere You Go, Get Set and Creeping Up Slowly) and half his own songs (Hold On Forever, I Can Dream and Strangers), and also included a fan-requested cover of What’s Going On by 4 Non Blondes. He finished his set at about eight-thirty, having spent half an hour getting us all nicely hyped-up for Hanson to hit the stage, and we all settled in to wait for the main set to begin. During intermission my phone decided it was going to play silly buggers, with its GPS making my weather app think I was in Tulsa. It also did it during Hanson’s set.

Considering that Tulsa is their hometown, technically I was there that night. It still cracks me up.

Hanson did not disappoint that evening. They took the stage bang on nine o’clock, and proceeded to play what may well be one of their longest-ever sets.

Highlights for me were finally getting to hear I Was Born live, along with my second-ever time hearing Weird performed live, Taylor on the drums for Juliet, and If Only (complete with Isaac, Taylor and their backing musicians jumping around like maniacs between the choruses and verses). I swear sometimes they have springs for joints – I have two bad ankles so there’s no way I could have jumped like they managed to.

After the show ended, I caught up with Rachel outside and we headed back down Enmore Road to Newtown station so we could catch a train to Town Hall. Almost as soon as we got back to the hostel, just before midnight, I went to bed and watched an episode of The Legend Of Korra on ABC iview before getting some sleep.

Thanks to the wonderful staff at the Enmore Theatre, who found my camera after I lost it on Thursday night, I’m able to post these. My camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1 compact digital.

Waiting for the show to kick off

The backdrop for the world tour

Hanson kicking off their first Sydney set with Already Home

Waiting For This

Where's The Love

Look At You

Thinkin' 'Bout Somethin'

Been There Before

This Time Around

Go

Juliet

Taylor telling us all that "It's not about the battles, it's about winning the war"

Strong Enough To Break

Watch Over Me

With You In Your Dreams

I Was Born

A Minute Without You

Get The Girl Back

And I Waited

Crazy Beautiful

Hey

MMMBop

In The City

Johnny B. Goode

Lost Without Each Other

I also took a few short videos with my phone during both sets, and posted them to Instagram. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5.

Jason Singh's first song for the night - Everywhere You Go

Jason's cover of What's Going On by 4 Non Blondes

Taylor leading the crowd on This Time Around

Getting the crowd wound up during Crazy Beautiful

If Only

Rockin' Robin