It's Hanson, Live From The 'Teen' Spot Barely pubescent brothers 'MMMBop' their way through New York gig taped for MTV. Contributing Editor Jon Vena reports:
NEW YORK -- This is as close to Beatlemania as it gets these days, folks. Only instead of the legendary British mop-topped quartet, the fans' screams of hysteria were directed at a trio of barely pubescent brothers. An eclectic mixture of hysterical teens and hundreds of concerned, wide-eyed parents packed Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Tuesday night, all in the name of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Hanson boys, the pop teen sensations who have "MMMBopped" their way straight to the top of the charts.
The youthful Oklahoman brothers Hanson were here for a taping of "Live from the 10 Spot," MTV's not-so-live prime-time concert series (The show was actually taped to air Friday at 10 p.m.). The youthful threesome are in some good company in doing the show: Big-name acts such as Radiohead, Matchbox 20 and even the reunited Jane's Addiction each filmed their "10 Spot" slots here.
With its camera-friendly high ceiling and wide-open ballroom floor, the Hammerstein Ballroom makes for great television. However, none of the previous "10 Spot" artists captured the energy of teen-age America like Hanson did that night.
"They're just a great band," said Marissa Adamo, 9, of Manalapan, N.J., waiting for a New York-bound train to the show. It was her Hanson experience, courtesy of a friend who got tickets through Mercury Records, apparently one of the only ways to get into the venue.
The blond phenoms blew through a brief, nine-song set, eliciting enough high-pitched squealing to shatter the Plexiglas around the hockey rink next door at Madison Square Garden. The cavernous Hammerstein was alive with electric youth, and for those lucky enough to get tickets, Hanson came through, even though the brief set failed to capture the MMMBopping energy of their debut Middle Of Nowhere LP or their latest effort, a collection of demos and garage tapes entitled Three Car Garage: The Independent Recordings '95- '96. Despite warnings from the theater management to remain calm, the crowd stood on their feet for what might as well have been an hour-long pep rally that included one of their early Garage tunes, "River", and a show-opening cover of the Rascals' "Give Me Some Lovin'." Showers of colorful, television-friendly lights shot from the stage, effectively dimming the three-man backup ensemble that accompanied the brothers. As soon as the lights dimmed, flowers littered the stage. As 14-year-old front-brother Jordan Taylor, the middle Hanson, removed his sweater midway through the set, the reaction was deafening. During the trio's rendition of their biggest hit, "MMMBop", Taylor's voice deepened in an awkward, yet endearing way.
Clearly comfortable taking the lead role, Taylor summoned the flock of pre-teen arms and hands into back-and-forth swaying and clapping sets, bringing to mind Queen concerts from the late '70s. If nothing else, Taylor proved that he is clearly coming of age. Gone is the sweet soprano voice that colored songs such as "Weird" and "Where's The Love" for the group's multi-platinum debut. The kid can sing -- and his pipes still carried the lofty highs of "Man From Milwaukee" and "Thinking About You" quite well.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Clarke Isaac, the eldest Hanson, did his best Eric Clapton impersonation, right down to his dark-blazer-with-pastel-pocket-T-shirt ensemble.
More than anything else, the crowd, however, wanted Zac -- at 11, he is the youngest and apparently the cutest of the Grammy nominees, and despite his age, he led the pop parade behind a drum kit three times his size. Baby-Ts with Zac's likeness poked through the audience. "I Love Zac" signs waved everywhere, and the bravest fans went so far as to magic-marker his name on their arms.
And when Zac spoke, the crowd fell into a hush, only to erupt in shrieking a second later. It was a scene right out of "Hard Day's Night," the classic Beatles film. Mostly everyone in the building was there courtesy of MTV or the band's Mercury Records label. The rest, in true Beatlemania fashion, camped outside the Hammerstein on Tuesday morning to pay for the privilege.
Marissa and her 8-year-old sister, Brittany, accompanied by their mother, Valerie Adamo, could barely speak because they were so excited. But Marissa did manage to list her two favorite Hanson traits -- their musical abilities and good looks.
But young girls weren't the only Hanson fans in the house. Sean Vader, 8, and Andrew Somma, 8, both of Hazlet, N.J., were also beaming at the chance to catch Hanson onstage, and they weren't afraid to admit it. "They do perfect music," Sean said. "They have good voices to make sounds that are good."
HANSON IS MMMM, MMMM GOOD!
By DAN AQUILANTE
HANSON, the half-pint rock trio that's earned some major respect powered by tunes such as "Weird" and "Man From Milwaukee," hit the Hammerstein Ballroom last night for a brief concert taping for MTV.
The 4,000 fans - mostly girls between 6 and 16 years old - were like a single, shrieking tea kettle at full boil. Even before the boys took the stage, the audience wailed in ear-splitting screeches that conveyed anticipation, desire and joy. Through the night, the crowd continued to express its appreciation in shrill tones that - considering how very little most were - achieved considerable volume.
The Hansons, now very used to young girls giving their hormones a workout for the first time, took the screams in stride as if it were part of the natural order.
The concert, which was a taping for MTV's "Live From the 10 Spot," opened with "Gimme Some Lovin.'" In fact, it was a great choice for these wunderkinds, since that tune was written long ago by another boy wonder, Stevie Winwood, when he was little older than the Hansons. "Lovin'" was very good, but light on the organ breaks that defined the original arrangement. Instead, it emphasized the crunchy guitar work of the oldest brother, Isaac.
From the first song through the concert's close, what was completely clear was that the band's baby drummer, Zachary, isn't a child at all: He's really a midget from the Alex Van Halen School of Percussion. The kid is excellent.
Among the best songs in concert was an extended version of "Where's the Love," which was fattened with jams from the Hansons and three supporting musicians. The new material that the guys tested from their upcoming disc, "3-Car Garage," was the equal of the other tunes, but the lack of familiarity among the kids in the crowd slowed the show's momentum slightly.
Keyboardist Taylor Hanson - the favorite with the fans - sang most of the lead vocals on the ballads, but it was when Isaac was the frontman that the band was at its best. During his rockers, the fans were totally riveted to the stage, dancing on the seats and making as much a spectacle of themselves as the teen idols were on the stage.
In a way, it didn't matter what the guys played, since they may be one of the most rehearsed rock groups on the circuit. At this show, what was more interesting than the music was that the next generation of fans is saying "no" to Muppets and purple dinosaurs and getting hooked on rock.
The naysayers will say this band is the latest in a long line of fake teen pop idols, but they're wrong. These guys write the songs, they play them - and they're good.
Winsome Hanson Earns the Puppy Love
by Letta Tayler
Even Spalding Gray, a ranking member of New York's cultural elite, can't escape Hanson mania. The acerbic Sag Harbor monologist was among hordes of parent's chaperoning their prepubescent children at a concert Tuesday night featuring America's most beloved teenybopper band. "It's a phenomenon," Gray said with a helpless shrug when asked why he was in attendance.
The estatic squeals filling Hammerstein Ballroom left no doubt about that. The young listeners' attire, meanwhile, left no doubt about marketers' success in tapping the burgeoning youth market. Almost every child sported a Hanson T-shirt, sweatshirt or baseball cap, or waved a poster of the three winsome, blond brothers. Some kids also held up homemade signs, most strewn with hearts and the words: "Hanson, I LOVE you!!!"
If the level of adulation recalled early Beatles fever, the music didn't. Which isn't to say that Hanson can't play. Though their music is traditional pop-rock, the brothers perform it remarkably well for their tender years. Guitarist Isaac Hanson, 17, has a muscular strum (he funked up his riffs admirably on a few tunes including "Speechless"). Keyboardist and lead singer Taylor Hanson, 15, sounds angelic and pounds energetically into his ivories. Cherubic Zac Hanson, 12, can muster a mean rat-a-tat-tat from his drum kit. Still, getting an exact grip on the brothers' instrumental proficiency was difficult, thanks to three additional -- and grownup -- musicians who played guitar, keyboard and bass at the back of the stage in almost complete darkness.
What's undeniable is Hanson's songwriting gift. The brothers' compositions are fresh and pure, boyish and joyous, and they performed them with an earnestness that's a welcome change from the posturing of most teen idols. Though their predominant theme is puppy love, a few tunes explore broader issues; one of the strongest songs in their 45-minute set was "Weird," a ballad expressing pre-adolescent confusion over neither fitting in nor standing out in a "cookie-cutter world." Nothing, of course, could top their effervescent mega-hit "MMMBop," which sounded even more engaging live than on record. Here, again, the theme was a cut above average: how important, but difficult, it is to cultivate lasting friendships. This is hardly the stuff that rock rebellion is made of; in fact, the Hanson brothers are so affable that parents actually *want* their daughters to date them. But if Hanson's fare is candy, it's far less cavity-inducing than most of the sonic sweets on the market.
Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, May 5, 1998
"Aren't you speechless?" the twelve-year-old girl standing next to me inquired over the din of a sea of screaming teenage girls. The crowd, in most cases a decade my junior, were hellbent on attracting the attention of the three platinum-locked Midwestern boys on stage.
I'm as jaded as the next twenty-four-year-old, and I went into the show expecting the worst, hoping for a giggle and a hip jiggle at the start of "MMMBop," nothing more. But when a wave of sighs and screams moved in my direction, it was hard not to be swept up. For the wailing girls around me, this was their first rock band, their first love, their first concert. It was monumental. I remembered the time my older sister was called onstage by Corey Hart and -- gasp! -- he kissed her in front of thousands. I was crushed he hadn't chosen me. Last night, every girl in the audience, with her "E-mail me" sign or her Hanson T-shirt, wanted to be called onstage and given the same.
But Hanson aren't just eye candy. They opened the forty-five-minute set with a cover of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'," which was originally sung by then seventeen-year-old Stevie Winwood, who promptly forged his legendary career with Traffic, Blind Faith and as a solo performer. Isaac Hanson, affectionately referred to as Ike, is also seventeen (and in the painful position of undergoing puberty in the public eye). The message Hanson delivered through their intro explained in no uncertain terms that the young brothers are plotting a course similar to Winwood's. Their new album [3 Car Garage: The Indie Recordings '95-'96] hits the racks this month, and the trio has no plans of making an exodus from the spotlight anytime soon.
"Gimme Some Lovin'" dovetailed into Verlie Rice's "Shake a Tailfeather," another brilliant attempt by Hanson to introduce their teenage fans to the songs of the Sixties. From that mini-medley, they launched into "Where's the Love," which had moms with pre-pubescent girls on their shoulders spinning during the chorus of "it makes the world go 'round and 'round." "Rhythm," an unmemorable tune that was muffled by the appalling acoustics of the ballroom, was followed by the new single, "Weird." The whole audience, parents and children alike, swayed along. Although the lyrics were difficult to make out, the facial expressions of those standing on their chairs made it obvious for anyone unfamiliar with the Hanson repertoire that this was a heartstring-yanker.
Of course, all of this -- as well as the rockin' "A Minute Without You" and "I Will Come to You" -- were merely warm-up for *the song.* And Hanson delivered; the band played their already timeworn teen classic so well, an "MMMBop" encore would have sounded good. Hanson's harmonies are pitch-perfect, they know how to play their instruments and, it's true, they can write an amazing hook. And just because their fans are mostly young, doesn't mean they're idiots -- they know a catchy, easy-on-the-ears pop song when they hear one.
The last song arrived as the energy of the room reached epic proportions. Everyone was screaming, dads were pulling cameras out of their sports coats to snap shots of the boys for their daughters, grown women were standing on their chairs, waving their arms. The alien anthem "Man From Milwaukee" rode on the crest of "MMMBop" -- though it hardly compared -- but that was no matter. The girls were exploding with delight at what seemed to be their final glimpse of the holy trinity, and the cheering forced the genial boys to give them what they asked for: a truncated, a capella version of "Weird." As they sang, Hanson were a blond vision of consonance, each note perfectly balanced on its predecessor, each harmony in faultless tune. That last, unaccompanied minute perfectly exemplified the simplicity and talent that is Hanson. It was the cherry on top of this double-fudge-sundae of a show.
HEIDI SHERMAN
May 6, 1998