:: introduction ::
I have been a Hanson fan for well over half my life. In the middle of May this year I’ll notch up twenty-two years as a fan. In those twenty-two years I’ve seen them live seven times, attended three MOEs, met them more times than I can count on one hand, and been lucky enough to get a hug from Taylor during the 2017 Sydney MOE.
But up until this year, there were two things I’d never done. I’d never seen a show at the Sydney Opera House, though I’d always wanted to – the closest I’d ever got was watching a Crowded House concert on TV. And I’d also never seen Hanson play a show there.
That all changed when the String Theory tour came Down Under, for not only one but two shows at the Sydney Opera House.
I’ll admit right now that when String Theory was first announced, I outright hated the idea. I’ve never liked symphonic music, with very rare exceptions (Birds Of Tokyo’s Broken Strings being a good example) – and even then, only in small doses. It wasn’t until Hanson started posting videos about the album on YouTube in August 2018 that I finally began to warm to the idea, and it took until the full video for Siren Call was posted a few weeks later for me to fall in love with it.
The Australian tour was announced during an interview on Sunrise on the 25th of September 2018. The second I found out that their Sydney show would be played at the Sydney Opera House, I knew I had to go – I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn’t. And because of the date the Sydney show was announced for, March 4, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to treat my mum to her very first Hanson show for her birthday. We’ve both been fans since 1997, though I’ve heard more of their music and know a fair bit more about them than my mum does. With Mum saying yes to coming to a show with me, I bought our tickets as soon as the fanclub presale opened, opting for seats in the stalls so that we had the best view possible. It didn’t take long for the first Sydney show to sell out (which is pretty much par for the course when Hanson tour in Australia), and as soon a second show the next evening was announced I immediately bought tickets to that show as well – something that turned out to be one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.
With tickets bought (and my tour fund depleted by about $500 – totally worth it), the waiting for March 2019 to arrive began.