Hanson
27th June 2017
The Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
When I first heard Hanson’s MmmBop – yes the song that basically the entire world knows them for – I had just left college and was already a well-established rock/grunge fan. Therefore the Hanson brother craze that swept over many girls of the 8-18yrs age range completely passed me by. So it was with much interest that I attended tonight’s show curious to see who exactly Hanson would entice out on a wintery Tuesday evening. And as I waited in my seat, taking in the ever impressive décor of the Auckland Town Hall a predominantly female audience of varying ages trooped through the doors. Nostalgia running high this promised to be an interesting night.
Support came in the form of Christchurch trio nomad, who have already made quite a name for themselves in the New Zealand music scene. So far they have already notched up a slot at Homegrown, Music in The Parks and The Queenstown Winter festival as well as opening for acts such as Fly My Pretties, Marlon Williams and Benny Tipene. Not bad for three young guys who started a high school band only a couple of years ago.
Aasha Mallard, Will McGillivray and Cullen Kiesanowski accompanied by a couple of session musicians arrived on stage to enthusiastic applause; and that applause continued throughout their short but fairly tight set of alt-pop songs. What really captured my attention with these three is the fact that from the outset they could harmonise. And harmonise well! While Will is certainly impressive as lead, the vocal chops of Aasha are not to be ignored. A nice little cover of Dave Dobbyn’s ‘Slice of Heaven’ segued into their hit single ‘Oh My My’ just a wee bit too sharply, however they sustained the feel good vibe throughout leading the audience into a sing-along of the infectious chorus. With catchy hooks and enough stage presence to make them stand out from the generic pop crowd, nomad are certainly a band to watch in the future and one I recommend that you check out for yourself.
By now, looking around the hall it would appear that all available seats had a person allocated to it, indicating that Hanson is indeed still capable of selling out a venue.
As soon as the lights dropped the screaming began, the intensity of which I was not quite prepared for. Taylor – the main vocalist for the band is set up behind a baby grand on the far right of the fairly simple stage layout, his mane of hair a little shorter and a lot darker than all those years ago, but still with every head toss a collective sigh rose from the front rows. The eldest of the trio Isaac plays guitar on the far left, while Zac the youngest member (he was just six years old when the band first started out) is perched behind the drum kit towards the back of the stage a hidden fan tugging at the wisps of his hair that have escaped his short ponytail. With two session musicians (the infallible Dimetres Collins and bassist Andrew Perusi) playing either side of the drum kit, the on stage formation left a rather odd and very large gap in the middle of the stage, which made the band members feel disconnected from each other.
This tour, aptly named Middle of Everywhere – both a play on their first studio album name and the name of their fan club – celebrates 25years of Hanson being together; and after 25 years you would expect a band’s performance to be pretty polished, and tonight’s show is certainly that. What it isn’t is spontaneous. Can they sing? Oh yes they can, the vocal abilities of each and every one of the Hanson trio is outstanding – with Taylor being of particular note; their acapella version of ‘Heaven’ by The Bee Gees (a huge influence for them as they were growing up they told the audience) really driving home the point that these boys can harmonise with the best of them.
However I still couldn’t shake the feeling that they were just moving through a well thought out and even better executed design plan. Taylor addressed the audience a few times, stating that they were glad to be back in New Zealand and that even though it was only the second time they had been here (they first played Auckland in 2014, some seventeen years after they shot to fame) it already felt like home. Taylor later regaled us with a short anecdote of how he had earlier met a couple of fans, one who was excited to be seeing them for the first time and one who was seeing them for the 150th time. Personally I am pretty sure that after 150 times of seeing a band you are in the danger of crossing into stalker territory!
Their set included a huge range of their material (yes even that song which appeared in the last quarter of their set) and a couple of covers, including a particularly decent version of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ which the boys dedicated to the memory of Chuck Berry himself. It was only during the last quarter of the set that we saw more of a glimpse of rock and the boys allowing themselves to let loose; this would have been nice to see throughout the set as most of it was pretty middle of the road songs with a few subtle highlights thrown in for good measure. A three song encore loudly demanded by the entirety of the audience with a few “I Love you Taylor” cries echoing across the room and the Hanson brothers were gone leaving their fans after 2 and a half hours of non-stop music obviously satisfied, but this attendee still unconverted.
Were you there at the the Auckland Town Hall for this pop-rock extravaganza? Or have you seen Hanson perform somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Already Home
- Waiting For This
- Where’s The Love
- Look At You
- Tragic Symphony
- Thinkin Bout Somethin
- Been There Before
- This Time Around
- Weird
- Go
- Madeline
- Juliet
- Strong Enough To Break
- Penny & Me
- Watch Over Me
- Heaven (Bee Gees cover)
- I Will Come To You
- On And On
- I Was Born
- Minute Without You
- Get The Girl Back
- And I Waited
- Crazy Beautiful
- Hey
- MmmBop
- If Only
- Fired Up
- In The City
- Rockin Robin (encore)
- Johnny B. Goode (encore)
- Lost Without Each Other (encore)
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