Venue: The Institute, Birmingham
Date: 07/12/2013
American trio Hanson brought their Anthem Tour to Birmingham on Saturday night to celebrate over 20 years of performing together as a band.
Arriving on stage early, these three brothers immediately impressed, as they kicked off the night with ‘Fired Up’, the first track on their latest album ‘Anthem’. They performed a range of songs from across their nine albums, with stand out tracks being ‘A Minute Without You’, ‘Thinking Bout Something’ and ‘Juliet’.
A memorable moment of the night was definitely when the lads gave a beautiful acapella version of Bee Gee’s track ‘Too Much Heaven’. Their blending harmonies actually had the crowd stunned in silence, and dare I say it, was perhaps even better than the original. It was a nice change to see them stripped back and away from their instruments, proving how versatile and musically talented these guys really are.
Following on from this, each of them then performed a solo, which also added variety to their set. Isaac started it off with ‘For Your Love’, where he gave a very inspiring speech about love beforehand, which I’m sure brought a few to tears. Zac was up next, where he swapped his drum kit for the piano, and was followed by Taylor who performed ‘Crazy Beautiful’.
Of course they couldn’t come all this way without performing their breakthrough hit ‘MMMBop’, which ironically was followed by their latest single ‘Get The Girl Back’, proving how after 21 years, their songs are still relevant and they are still going as strong as ever. My only disappointment with the night was that one of my favourite songs of theirs ‘Give A Little’ – which I’m sure would have been even better live – wasn’t included in the set list, but I suppose they couldn’t sing them all.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening, with Hanson putting on a great show in this intimate venue. Their set list contained the right mix of songs across all their albums, with their older material receiving just the same appreciation as their new stuff. The crowd was particularly wild throughout, with the screams in The Institute on Saturday night indicating that while Hanson may be grown up with 10 kids between them, they’re still adored by their fans just as much as they were 20 years ago.
The brothers returned for an encore consisting of ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ and ‘Run Rudolph Run’, taken from their Christmas album ‘Snowed In’, which was a nice way to recognise the festive season as well as bring this unforgettable night to an end.
Hanson told the crowd that they promise to come back to perform again soon, as long as we promise to come back to see them. So, if you ever get a chance to watch this band live, then I strongly recommend that you do, as I guarantee they won’t fail to impress.
10/10
Reviewer: Sophie Sinclair
