Hanson Performs Special Acoustic Set for 20th Anniversary of Underneath

Hanson performed a special set on October 8th, with special guest Matthew Sweet. The show took place at the Royal Oak Music Theater in Royal Oak.

Starting out the evening was a special set by Matthew Sweet. Sweet is an alt-rock and power pop singer that gained prominence in the 1990s with his breakout album Girlfriend. The title track of this album led to a top ten hit and the music video received significant playtime on MTV. Sweet was joined on stage by Velvet Crush singer and bassist Paul Chastain, as well as guitarist and violinist Adrian Carter who has recently toured with Abe Partridge. The trio performed a seven song set that heavily featured songs from Sweet’s breakout album including: “Divine Intervention”, “Winona”, “I’ve Been Waiting”, and “Sick of Myself”. Sweet’s trio sounded wonderful during their performance. Despite the fact that this trio had only performed together for roughly a week, their lush harmonies and their brilliant performances really shined.

The performance was made even more special given Sweet’s decades-spanning friendship with the Hanson brothers.

Hanson is currently touring as part of a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of their first independent album, 2004s Underneath. As part of the celebration, the band is performing a special two-night set in each city along their tour. The first evening features an all-acoustic set, while the second evening features a traditional full-band set. Also to mark the special event, the band released a new version of the album called Underneath: Complete that features all of the original songs, as well as previously unreleased songs, and a new version of the album’s lead single called “Penny & Me (Moonlight Version).”

The band played a 22-song set that spanned much of their almost 30 year career and sounded as tight as they did when they first hit the scene in the 90s. They kicked off the set with “Strong Enough to Break” from Underneath, and then rounded out the first several songs of the show with “Madeline” from their breakout album Middle of Nowhere, and “Stories,” a song featured on their demo album MMMBop.

The rest of the set included songs from the early part of their career like “Runaway Run,” and from their indie records like “Thinking ‘Bout Something’”. They also paid homage to artists that inspired them when they were young to pursue music: “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as well as “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and “Cecilia” by Simon and Garfunkel. It’s not hard to see the comparisons between these inspirations and the band with their focus on vocal harmonies in their music. Leading up to the performance of the track “Underneath,” the band explained that the track was written by the evening’s opening act Matthew Sweet, who wrote several other songs with the band and has had a decades-spanning friendship with the brothers.

Some of the highlights of the set included their performance of the updated version of Penny & Me and a rare performance of Dressed in Brown Eyes. However, one of the coolest moments came during their performance of “This Time Around.”

During the latter part of the song, the crowd took it upon themselves to sing the backing vocals while the band sang the final chorus together. Hearing the band sing over the thousand strong crowd created a wall of sound that made for a truly unforgettable moment.

Hanson continues their Underneath: Experience tour into November, with more shows following. You can find more about Matthew Sweet on Instagram @officialmatthewsweet and his website matthewsweet.com. You can find Hanson @hanson on Instagram and at hanson.net.