I flew to Nashville 2 days ago for the Hanson concert with my cousin, Sara. We had a freaking BLAST! At first we were a little worried that after all this time…maybe it would be lame. It didn’t help that everyone and their mothers were telling us it would be lame & that we were insane for spending our money to go see them. We let them into our heads. How wrong they were though! It was a fantastic show! 

I’ve noticed that the people who teased us about going to watch a boy band from the 90s are the ones who do ,well, nothing. Funny how that works.

I’ve been stressing this for a while on social media and even on the blog a few posts back – life is short…

DO. WHAT. YOU. WANT!

On that note, let me tell you about my very short trip.

I flew up to BNA on Thursday morning & Sara picked me up along with her son, Mason. I got to see her “new” (she’s been there 2 years but it’s new to me) home. It is absolutely gorgeous where she lives. I see her gorgeous home & this big beautiful yard in the country – her garden & her she-shed & just so many personal touches & it makes me beam with pride for her. Girl is thriving.

Her boyfriend, Charles, drove us in his classic car to go get breakfast. We had the top down & the sun was beating down hard. The vibes were immaculate. We went to a little southern breakfast spot where they have biscuits & gravy on the menu & and serve their tea in mason jars. Makes my southern heart skip a beat.

I really like Nashville. Okay, I even love Nashville. It is definitely a vibe I enjoy. A few years ago during a personal crisis, I thought of moving there but I could never. I need the ocean. I also can’t and won’t do cold weather. However, I dig the occasional getaway to Nash for some vintage shopping, hot chicken, & family time. 

After breakfast Sara and I rode to her friend Renee’s house so I could meet her – absolutely adored her. Mason had football practice that evening so we got him home & got him prepared for that. He did not want to go & at one point moaned out “You guys just have no idea how bad I’m gonna feel after this!” which made me giggle. 

Another thing that made me laugh is when he asked Sara “if I get hurt, can I say a bad word? Not that F word though, but maybe the S word?” He’s a funny kid. Maybe it’s because I don’t want kids & don’t have them but that had me cracking up – appropriate or not! (*don’t come on my blog being a Karen)

He did great at practice though & I even asked him later “did you have to say any bad words out there?” and he said no.

After practice, we let Mason recoup a bit then had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant which is never a wrong choice for me.

Day 2 we didn’t do much of anything aside from a few errands because Sara is puppy sitting for a friend so we had to pick up some kennels for them to sleep in. 

We got ready for the show around 5:30 & I decided for us to just Uber to the Ryman because it was going to be so busy downtown that we didn’t want to be in traffic and stressing about finding parking. Our Uber loved us & gave us her number so she could come pick us up after the show! Thank you Marsha! She made our night so much simpler & we enjoyed her too.

She dropped us off at the main entrance & the first thing we noticed was 3 tour buses in the parking lot…with Oklahoma tags. Any self respecting Fanson knows they’re from OK. Sara was the first to say “do you think that’s their buses?” And I’m thinking to myself “…nahhh surely not” but then I remember that all 3 of them have a shit ton of children so maybe they each have their own bus!

We decided to go on in & get situated. Looking around at so many different types of fans & seeing many of them in their old Hanson tee shirts, we decided we needed one too*. We checked the merch booth upstairs and the line was infuckingsane. You couldn’t tell where it started it was so long so we figured we could just sneak off during a song we didn’t know later in the show. 

Back downstairs for her a pretzel & me a Captain & Coke and we went to find our seats. Our seats were pretty good. We weren’t too far from the stage but I was running out of options when I bought the tickets so I picked the best of what was available. My seat had a partially obstructed view because of a camera hanging low a few feet in front of our row. I still managed some good videos and Sara had JUST enough extra space that she got some great videos! I felt for her though because she’s not even 5 ft tall & when people would stand for a song then that was just it for her view!

From the time we walked into the Ryman (aka the original location of the Grand Ol’ Opry) the excitement was bubbling. By the time we were seated, Sara had already said “and we were worried about being lame! Look at this!” Yeah. It was pretty great. A simple show set up but everyone was just happy to be there! The first half hour was spent with a solo folk singer as kind of an opening act. Then there was another 30 minutes of just stage prep so while they did that, we snuck down to the stage for some up close pictures.

Then the actual show started! Isaac, Zac, & Taylor came out & we all went wild! They’ve grown up to be so handsome. Absolutely adore them. They sang ,like, 20+ songs – a lot that we knew, quite a few that we didn’t but no matter what….”MmmBop” was the clear winner here! At some point we snuck off back upstairs to the merch line to check out some shirts. Sadly they didn’t have any in my size so I went down a size & hoped for the best that it fits! I actually still haven’t tried it on…I really like the shirt Sara picked though. 

At the end of the show, as we were exiting we noticed a line of people forming outside by one of the buses. We met a woman in line who turned out to be a Nashville police woman who informed us that they (Hanson) would be coming out to sign & meet fans before leaving so we hopped in line with her! She pretty much told Sara when they came out she was going to hoist her up on her shoulders & say she was her daughter & ask them to sign her shirt. I was dying. I couldn’t wait! However, one of the police working the event texted our new friend & said that Hanson canceled the signing because they had so many backstage meet ’n’ greets so security started shooing everyone away. We decided then to call Marsha to take us back home (she was on Broadway so it didn’t take her long to get us) & as we were pulling away there was still a huge group of people lined around the other 2 buses!

Sadly, this was a short visit as I’ve got work & another big trip in the works! I was up at 8 AM & heading back to BNA to head home. I am home sweet home baby with my sweet girl Emma on my lap & Clinton made steaks on the grill. It’s good to be home!

– Autumn