America Part 4
I had been planning on buying a tour shirt for Laurie and getting us al to sign it, because the Philly show was her 19th birthday. When we got inside, after eyeing up Jessica for a good five minutes, we decided to buy merch. I bought a tshirt and a hoodie and was given a free poster (I already have the poster but you can't turn a freebie down).
Inside the room they were playing in we stood at the back, in the middle, a band was already playing. I told Jos we'd go out to do the tshirt when the Pat McGee Band came on (each night it was a local band; Pat McGee Band; then Hanson), about 10 minutes later I found out it was the Pat McGee Band playing! So Jos and I went to buy another shirt. We used a stool to lean on and wrote a happy birthday message, and signed on the shirt. On the back of the shirt is a picture of Hanson so we decided to graffiti all over their faces. It was hilarious! We were doubled over laughing and could barely speak. We were making a bit of a spectacle of ourselves so I hope Jessica looked over to see what we'd done to her big brothers - Taylor ended up with glasses, a pipe and a hat; Zachary had an eye patch (that just looked like a black eye) and black lipstick; Isaac had a curly moustache...and I can't remember what else. I think we wrote something like "Hanson suck" somewhere in the background too.
Lauren, the little wench, came out and caught us at it but we shooed her away and got everyone else to come out to sign it. Then we went back in and gave it to her and waited for the show.
SETLIST
01. In A Way
02. Desire
03. A Minute Without You
04. Hey
05. Thinking Of You
06. Can't Stop
07. Weird
08. Down
09. Hand In Hand
10. Broken Angel (Zac solo)
11. Being Me (Isaac solo)
12. Every Word I Say
13. So Lovely
14. If Only
15. Long Train Runnin
16. Where's The Love
17. Man From Milwaukee
18. This Time Around
ENCORE:
19. Feeling Alright
Highlights of the show for me were So Lovely and the fact that MMMBop wasn't played. That was one of my Hanson ambitions! Towards the end everytime they started a song and it wasn't MMMBop I got really excited but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to jinx it. I think our motto for the tour was 'Don't say anything, you might jinx it.' It was also my first show with Jos. I was envious of her enthusiasm, as I generally just stand there and observe, unless something spectacular happens. But she was completely in to every second of the show.
After the show we headed outside and decided we'd try to catch Hanson around the back. After standing there for a bit Kat told me she'd just seen a girls pictures of them leaving so there was no point staying. Helen and I were anxious to go and find Chrissy but at the same time I didn't want to leave everyone. Everything from the first night seemed to have been smoothed out and I was having a lot of fun with everyone and I didn't want to miss out on anything.
I can't remember why we ended up waiting for so long. Helen, Kat and I waited by the road whilst everyone else waited by the barrier infront of the door. Colleen - a person from h.net - showed up, its weird seeing people you only know from the internet, its like seeing someone famous. She was looking for Lauren so me and Jos huddled whilst we waited to get going. Helen and I said goodbye to everyone but then we realised we were all walking the same way. At the corner of the block we bumped into Pat McGee who was signing stuff for people. I wasn't bothered about meeting him so after a few minutes Helen and I left.
By this time it was quite a while since the show had finished so I felt bad for Chrissy and her gang incase they'd been waiting. When we got to them they said they hadn't waited long so it was all cool. We clambered into the car, with Chrissy on Raven's knee, and headed out. We were listening to the leaked songs in the car, commenting on how bad some of them were, but I was really tired so I wasn't speaking much. I felt kind of rude but I get antisocial when I need sleep.
We dropped Chrissy's friends off at their houses and took a picture of us all together.
Lastly, we arrived at Chrissy's house. I love her house, seriously. It was all decked out for Halloween, and I don't just mean a pumpkin in the window. I mean like how we do Christmas, but for Halloween. But just the house itself was cool - it felt really homely with all the family photos and it was just so...American!
Heres one of my proud moments - Chrissy's mom was making us drinks and she was going to give us iced tea. Well, if you know me you'll know that I hate tea. But you'll also know that I would usually just drink whatever was offered to me for fear of being rude. But I totally kicked myself up the bum and asked if I could just have water instead. That might not seem much but its a major achievement for me.
We gave them our thankyou gifts, ate chips (I'm so American!) and chatted for a while before heading to bed. I met John Wayne in the bathroom and Elvis was keeping watch outside the bedroom door all night. Helen and I decided to share the bedm it was so good! I felt like I hadn't had a good nights sleep for a week!
In the morning I was being all confident again and actually asked if I could get myself some water, without being asked or anything. I opened the cupboard door to get a glass out and found more Elvis pictures - if you haven't gathered by now Chrissy's mom is pretty much the coolest mum ever.
We all sat and chatted for a while then headed to Nudeys for breakfast. This is what I love about America - the little diners in the little towns. Real America, not dressed up for tourists. My time at Chrissys made me want to go back to New York City less and less.
I had...scrambled eggs, I think, and Helen, always one to try the weirdest thing on the menu, had USA pancakes, which were pancakes with something like strawberries (red), cream (white) and blueberries (blue). It also felt like I hadn't eaten properly for a week so the food went down quickly.
We walked to the train station to get the train to Philly. I was so amazed by everything about the trains. There was no platform! The bit you stand and wait on is the same level as the tracks!
Random lady, Chrissys mom, Chrissy and me at the train station.
And the part where the different carriages connect is outside, with just a little chain to stop you from jumping off - just like in the old movies!! I could definately become an American train spotter :)
At Philly we headed to the bus station and bought tickets to Atlantic City. The woman was so rude it was actually funny. I said "Thankyou," to which she replied, "uh huh, NEXT!"
Earlier in the morning when Chrissy's mom had come to wake us she'd discovered that my Converse were torn all up the sides; she was pretty appauld. So after we bought tickets we went to the mall for shoes. The first ones I spotted and liked fit me so I just bought them. They were only $20 and I was finished in less than 5 minutes. My mum would've been amazed. I kept my new shoes on, my feel felt so much warmer in them, and threw my cons in the bin outside the shop. I can't believe I did that! I was so attached to them, but they would've taken up unnecessary case space and they were unwearable.
Then we hopped on the bus and headed to Atlantic City, NJ.