Skip to main content

Symphony on the Beach: Hanson give String Theory the Island Treatment



Please note: this post was written before I saw a ‘real’ String Theory show with an orchestra.
Click here for the full setlist.

If you read my two part review of the String Theory double album, you’ll already know that I am not a huge fan of the recorded project, mostly because of the recycling of old vocals and a sense that the orchestral arrangement didn’t really add much to some of the songs. However, I was very excited about the live experience, so when Hanson announced a String Theory shows at BTTI, I knew I’d be in for a treat.

As it was confirmed during the “What is String Theory?” Q&A that afternoon, there would be no orchestra at the show, but instead, the band would play to the instrumental version of the album. It was no big surprise - let’s face it, how feasible would it be to get an orchestra on that small stage on the beach? Sure, it wasn’t going to be the real thing, but it was still going to be an upgraded version of the album, and I was all for that.

What is String Theory?

What I was looking forward to the most about the ST show was the opportunity to hear those songs with the orchestral arrangements and the guys’ voices as they sound now, and as the set started, I knew I was not going to be disappointed. Performed live, “Reaching for the Sky” had an ethereal quality that just does not come across on record, and if it sounded beautiful against a backing track, I can only imagine what it will be like with an actual orchestra. “Joyful Noise” was uplifting, and Zac’s voice sounded better than it does on the studio version - especially as he omitted those breathy Michael Jackson-style ‘ahhs’ in between ‘go tell the doctor’ and ‘that it heals your soul’. “Dream It Do It” was inspired and anthemic and Zac’s voice was pitch-perfect on “Chasing Down My Dreams”. 

Remember when I said in part 1 of my album review that “Siren Call” was the best song in the album? I’m even more convinced of that now: “Siren Call” is a dark horse that haunts you well after the catchier, better-known songs have faded from memory. “Me Myself and I” has taken on a whole new meaning since I’ve read Holly’s theory on the lyrics - on how the whole meaning of the song changed when an ‘it’ became ‘we’. Holly’s alternative take on the song casts a darker, sombre shadow on our perception of the band, and I couldn’t help thinking of something Zac had said during the Q&A - a hint at the difficulties of being a band after so many years, when your interests and priorities are changing. I am paraphrasing, of course, but that was definitely the gist of what he was saying, and it doesn’t come as a big surprise after all, especially about the much-hyped ‘near split’ of 2012. On a happier note though, I love the fact that, in String Theory “Me Myself and I” Isaac gets to sing a verse, so as far as I’m concerned, this version is actually superior to the original.




After a symbolic intermission of less than a minute, the show continued with “Battle Cry” - one of my favourite songs in the album. As I had hoped, “Battle Cry”  sounded absolutely epic live and Zac slayed it. That’s one song I am dying to hear with the full orchestra. And I felt the same after a poignant performance of “Breaktown”- which gains a whole new level of depth now that it’s being sung by a man in his thirties. I can’t help thinking that the best thing about the String Theory project is that songs like “Broken Angel” and “Breaktown” are now in heavy rotation, together with EP tracks like “Joyful Noise” and “No Rest for the Weary” that would otherwise only ever get aired at members only events. I don’t know if Hanson are particularly interested in reaching the general public these days, but I’m glad that they’re putting these songs out there; they showcase a band that has done a lot more than writing a hit song in the 90s.



After getting the crowd to pump their fists in the air with “I Was Born” and an equally charged “Sound of Light”, the show ended with “Tonight” - another song seldom played before String Theory. Once the band left the stage and the lights were out, I felt that I’d just been present to something really special that will probably never happen again. String Theory “BTTI Edition” may not have been the real thing, and there were a few occasions when the live instruments drowned out the backing track, but that was a price worth paying to get the symphony experience on a beach, in the middle of the Caribbean and under a sky so packed with stars that it felt like being under the vault of a planetarium.

Do the stars shine brighter there?
Can you really walk on air?

As a 5th year islander, it’s fair to say that ‘I’ve been there before’, but without a doubt, String Theory on the beach was a show I will never forget.


Click here for Part 3!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hanson Day 2019: a Recap

Registration To everyone’s surprise, registration opened before the event had even officially started, on Wednesday afternoon. I don’t know if that was planned, or if it was a last minute decision, but it was a good idea regardless. It’s obvious that more and more people are arriving to Tulsa earlier in the week, so it makes sense to try and register as many attendees as possible, as soon as possible. So by late afternoon on Wednesday I had my bracelet, my tickets and, most importantly, my EP. I’d lugged my trusted old MacBook Air and an external CD drive all the way across the Atlantic with the sole purpose of being able to listen to that EP straightaway so I headed back to my hotel room for a very exclusive Listening Party. ( Check out this blog again soon for a full review of the EP .) Storytellers Setlist This year’s Storytellers was effectively an acoustic show, centred around the Underneath album. It’s a golden combination for me, as I discovered the b...
1 comment
Read more

A BTTI 2017 Post-Mortem - Part 1: Dissecting the Shows

It was only going to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience: the solo sets had sold it to me, and besides, I’d never seen Hanson play with the full band. A one-off. Yes, it was only going to be a one-off. Well, that was 2015. On a grey and wet British New Year’s Day, I boarded a Jamaica-bound flight, ready to do it all again for the third time in 2017. Those who have read my blog posts from BTTI 2016 might remember that I wasn’t exactly awestruck by last year’s event: I’d found the shows lacking something, not to mention I'd been left seriously disappointed by Isaac’s solo set (for an Isaac ‘girl’, this is a serious matter). Aside from having fallen in love with Jamaica, I guess my mixed feelings about 2016 were part of the reason for wanting to go back: I had such fantastic memories of the 2015 shows in Cancun that I wanted another taste of that experience. I knew BTTI was more than a holiday with friends: it was a chance for me, as a European fan, to load up on Hanson conc...
8 comments
Read more

Is this In Real Life? A review of Hanson's 2019 Fan Club EP

I was in my hotel room in Tulsa when I first listened to the EP. I’d ferried my trusted seven year old MacBook Air all across the Atlantic, complete with an equally old and battered external CD drive, with the sole purpose of ripping that CD the moment it was in my hands and listening to it in religious contemplation. Compromise The first song in the EP, "Compromise" starts with a piano and guitar intro, and instantly puts me in a state of acoustic bliss that reaches its nirvana as Isaac’s voice comes on some twenty seconds later. Before you can scream ‘Isaac lead’,  Zac takes over vocals on the second verse,  with the final part going to Taylor. After my initial split second of disappointment, it made complete sense: it’s a song about compromise, shared among the three brothers and layered with their trademark harmonies in between each verse. What is that if not a perfect example of musical compromise? Thematically, my first thought was that the lyr...
Post a Comment
Read more