Tour Memories (and occasional musings)

I’d booked my 8th BTTI on the wake of the 2023 event, which had been my 7th after a two-year break during the pandemic. 2023 was a really good one, the setlists were great, the band was in top form and I was glad to be back at the Jewel, the resort that had hosted us in 2016 and 2017. Would 2024 be even better? Controversial Opinion #1 The main difference from 2023 was an overspill of around 80 extra guests in another resort who would be bussed in an hour before the first show of the day. Now, 80 bodies might not seem many, but in a small resort like the Jewel I found it to be really noticeable at show time. In addition to that, the section of beach behind the seated ADA area had been designed as a general seated area, with row upon row of chairs, ‘Isaac side’. That made the standing, ‘GA’ area of the beach a lot narrower. While in previous years you used to be able to rock up to the stage shortly before start time and still get a good view from the sides, that was no longer possible, ...

I Got to Go Back to the Island I was last on the island in 2020 - it was my sixth stint as an ‘islander’ and my fifth time in Jamaica. You can see where this is going: a few weeks after we got home, the Covid pandemic hit and travelling became a distant dream.  Before Covid was even a thing, though, I was all set for skipping 2021: as I wrote in this blog post , BTTI 2020 had left me a little cold. I found the resort run down, the activities uninspiring and the concerts phoned-in. Little did I know that in less than a month, the whole world was going to shut down for a long, long time. Even when things began to reopen and BTTI 2022 was announced, I still found travel too daunting, and seeing pictures of people wearing masks at the resort stopped any possible FOMO in its tracks. I let the presale for 2023 come and go and focused instead on planning for Hanson’s extensive UK tour that summer. It was there, whilst doing what Hanson fans do best, i.e. sitting outside a venue, that I fo...

I wonder how much these flip flops have actually cost me, I thought as I looked through my merch pack from the Island Gigs desk on a hot January morning. It was hard to believe that 2020 was my sixth stint on the island and my fifth visit to Jamaica. The last couple of months had been rough to say the least, and I was looking forward to seeing some good friends, splash around in the ocean and drink cocktails by the pool, not to mention the main attraction: four days of Hanson shows. With no setlist voting this year, I was optimistic, trusting that the band would surprise us with something different. Check out those very expensive flip-flops THE MAIN SHOWS Friday - Welcome Show Setlist In keeping with the last couple of years, the event kicked off to the calypso rhythm of “Back to the Island” - the song that lends its name to the event. I was happy to hear “Already Home” - it’s one of my favourite Hanson songs and one that sadly seems to have been dropped fro...

It started badly, with a repeat of last year’s weather that was more Back to the Quagmire than Back to the Island , and as a result, our first day was spent between huddling under the Level gazebo and swimming in the rain. It definitely felt like a lost day, although at least the rain had stopped in time for the show to take place on the beach rather than in the dreaded “Greenhouse”.   This year, there were no official daytime activities other than a Q&A on String Theory, which was interesting enough until I found myself zoning out at the umpteenth “I come from a village in Brazil” mention. The lack of activities meant that we had more time to spend by the pool - something many of us welcomed. But on the last day we found out that the Dunn’s River excursion, which for this year had strangely been included in the price, had featured a surprise appearance from Taylor. My friends and I had been to Dunn’s River before and as a result, we had chosen to skip the exc...

(Trigger warning: this post contains references to the loss of a parent.) Zac: A Coming of Age Setlist If you read my blog posts on last year’s BTTI , you might recall that I’d been very unimpressed by Zac’s solo set. Well, this year Zac amply made up for it: first, I loved the setlist, which included two new songs, “Reading Your Mind” and “The Ballad of Seymour Better Times” (the latter had first been performed at the 2018 solo set). I will never tire of “Musical Ride” which sums up the life of a Hanson fan, and I’ll forgive Zac for messing up the beginning of “Fire on the Mountain” . Predictably, “Bittersweet” - by now a regular staple of these solo sets - made an appearance, and the rarely played “Use Me Up” also got some airtime, preceded by a funny introduction in which Zac recalled how that song had caused concern among some fans about his mental well-being. I first saw Zac perform a solo set in 2015, and back then he performed song after song without much talking. W...