The Best Weekend of This Summer

I had the best time I've had all summer this past weekend for a variety of reasons.

First of all, Harry Potter came out. No spoilers here, as I have not read it yet. But hey, any weekend that involves the release of a Harry Potter book is a great weekend, and the fact that this was the weekend of the seventh and final book (note to self when reading this entry 10 years from now), well, that makes it super-extra-great.

Second, I spent the weekend in Boston with one of my good friends from college and had a blast. I love all my college friends, and I had so much fun hanging out with this one particular friend this weekend. We made sushi and walked around the lake, chatted about this and that, carried wing chairs down the streets of Boston... good times.

Third of all, I got to spend the weekend in a city. I had not realized how much I missed being able to walk everywhere or hop on a bus or a subway (in this case the T). Well, after having spent the weekend walking everywhere, I realized it in full blast.

And finally, the last reason that I had the most awesome weekend ever was because I got to go to a concert with my all time favorite band which also happens to be the ultimate kings of guilty pleasure music... HANSON.

There, I've said it. I'm a Hanson fan (ok, so maybe that wasn't so secret). I'm a big Hanson fan (ok, that's probably not so secret either). I've been a fan of their music since I first heard Mmmbop, and yet I bet I am probably the only fan in their ten year club to have never seen them in concert (until now). Now, you may be asking why I never bothered to go see my favorite band in the whole world play live until just yesterday. Good question.

It's because I hate screaming girls.

Have you ever seen what happens at boy band concerts? It's not pretty. Girls screaming their heads of, fainting, crying, shouting, "AJ have my babies" and being just a general disgrace to their gender. I really can't stand it.

So, in an attempt to avoid the insanity I never went to a concert for Hanson in the past ten years. This year, though, Hanson came out with a pretty great (translation: freaking amazing) album, and so when my sister said she wanted to go to their concert, I acquiesced. I thought that most of their fans (like me) would have grown up and stopped being so obnoxious by now. I also thought that what with all three brothers happily married now, the insanity would have lessened somewhat (let's be real, gals, there's really no hope now).

To the point, I was wrong. Starting at 1 PM there was a line around the block for a 7 PM concert (my sister's friends who were in the line called to report). The arena (while not huge is not tiny by any stretch of the imagination) was absolutely jam packed full. And I am sad to report that the screaming was often louder than the music making for a very unfortunate concert sound (when you can't hear the songs being played, really, what's the point?).

That being said, I had a really good time. The opening band was really really good, and (from the bits I could actually hear) the music was great. They played for two solid hours, and included a song called Yearbook (which surprised me) that is really good live. My sister had a blast, too. I'd say it was even worth being ridiculed by all the Red Sox fans as they left Fenway park (whoever knew the Avalon was right next to Fenway? The things you learn).

My favorite moment, though, was when the girl behind us in line got on her cell phone and started screaming at her friend who was on speakerphone. The conversation went something like this:

Unsuspecting friend (US for short): "Hi, so I am at the venue. It seems a bit small for monster trucks, and I thought there would be more guys here. Weird, no?"
Sneaky conniving friend (SCF): "Well, actually I need to tell you something."
US: "Strange, there are tons of people interested in this monster truck convention..."
SCF: "It's not a monster truck convention. It's a Hanson concert."
US: "Shut. up."
SCF: "Seriously, though, there's a line?"
US: "I HATE YOU!!!!! YOU LYING B%#!!! You conned me into going to a Hanson concert?"
SCF: "Yeah, I thought it would be a funny joke, I didn't expect it to actually get busy."
US: "You guessed wrong. Apparently they're still really popular."
SCF: "Huh. who'd have guessed?"
US: "Hurry up and get over here so I can kill you."

I got a real chuckle out of that conversation. Next time I want to con someone into going somewhere with me, I'll have to remember the monster truck plan. Nice! ;-)