On October 7th I took off work to go see Phantom
Planet in Chicago. Technically I probably could have just left work early, but I'd rather not have been overwhelmed getting to the concert after work. Having the day off also meant I had time to do other things beforehand so I decided to get my hair highlighted. I got my hair done at the local beauty school, as it was quite a bit cheaper. My hair still turned out really nice though. The student shared different things she had learned at the school with me while doing my hair. The girl was kind enough to even style my hair afterwards, straightening it and adding little waves. I guess at the beauty school your not expected to tip, but of course I did. Phantom Planet is currently on tour with Hanson but also doing a 20th anniversary tour for their self-titled album. My particular show was a Hanson show.
After getting my hair done I ate lunch before taking a nap. I also took my dog on a walk before heading down to Chicago where Phantom Planet would be playing. I decided to leave at 3pm with the Phantom Planet meet n greet being at 4:45. As expected there was some traffic near Chicago. A drive that was only supposed to take an hour and 12ish minutes took a little over an hour and a half. While driving down I shuffled Phantom Planet's discography via Spotify. Phantom Planet would be opening for Hanson at the House of Blues. I arrived at the parking garage I had reserved parking for around 4:35. Luckily the parking garage was basically across the street from the venue. When I first arrived at the venue I was unsure of where to go. There was a line of fans lined up by a side door, so I went towards the front of that line to see if I could figure out where to go from there. A Hanson friend asked me if I was looking for a friend that was closer to the front. I explained, and she told me Phantom Planet's tour manager had been out looking for VIP members but it had been a bit ago. They told me I could probably go over to the main entrance of the building on the other side and pointed out the way. It seemed weird that stray Hanson fans wouldn't try to go through the front door, but they didn't. When I explained to security why I was there the first security guard said they had sent the first group upstairs already. (She must have been confused, it turns out only the band had gone upstairs into the main area, but because she said that I was paranoid I was missing out on part of the VIP experience, even when around other VIP fans, especially when they didn't start leading us into the main area until 5:45ish.) When it was almost time to go up Phantom Planet began sound checking their songs. For the VIP experience I had gone to in 2023 they let the VIP's listen in on soundcheck, which made me a little more paranoid. The thoughts of paranoia stopped when we walked up the stairs and only the band was on stage with no one else in the room. I stood next to the barricade with a few other fans. Around 15 of us total maybe 20. They performed two songs electronically and then asked us if we'd prefer for them to keep playing on the stage or do a little acoustic show. I said acoustic, and since I was in the front they heard me, and were like yeah of course.
They grabbed two acoustic guitars and came down from the stage and sat in the middle of the floor as everyone else sat in a semi circle around them. I had a straight on view and they were only like 5 ft. in front of me. They asked for song requests, and someone even asked for one that they hadn't played in many years. Alex (the lead singer), stopped in the middle of the song because he had forgotten the lyrics to his own song so the fan sang the lines to him. At one point Darren (guitarist) told Alex they should switch guitars because he wanted Alex to have the nicer sounding one. I said "it's a trick." to which Darren replied "it's not, I promise." I was able to capture a nice picture of them playing the acoustic set together. (My phone usually doesn't take good pictures, so I leave it up to the others at the show.)
Phantom Planet has 4 members currently but Sam (bassist) is also in Maroon 5 so he has a Las Vegas residency with them, and Jeff (drummer) lives with his wife and kids in Minneapolis so it's harder for him to actively participate in the band. Sam will be apart of Phantom Planet shows for this tour, but Jeff will not be able to make it to any shows. Filling in for them are two of Alex's and Darren's friends Chris (filling in for bass), and Andrew (filling in on drums.) All of them are very sweet people.
After the mini acoustic set the doors were set for the Hanson fans to start coming in. Darren and Alex lead us to a back/merch area for the meet n greet opportunity. You could buy merch while you waited in line to talk with Darren and Alex. I had made little gift bags for each member. Each bag contained a pair of space themed socks, sour patch gum (Darren and Alex's favorite), and a Cadbury chocolate bar. The one I just so happened to pick for Darren, Carmello, ended up being one of his and his mom's top favorite chocolate bars. I knew Cadbury was an excellent chocolate company, but I guess it was an even better pick than I thought. I made a gift bag for Darren, Alex, Andrew, Chris, and Sam for when he was able to join the tour. I wanted to let Chris and Andrew know that they are also appreciated even if they are just filling in. Alex and Darren;s bags were addressed from me and Astro my puppy, that Alex actually helped name. (Alex and Darren run a Phantom Planet Patreon page where fans can interact with each other and Alex and Darren. Darren is on a couple times a day, and Alex is on about once a day. There's not too many people so you can easily keep up with the chat throughout the day and not have your messages lost in the chat like with other creator chats. It's also nice how active Darren and Alex are (most creators aren't) but Darren and Alex really care about their fans.)
When it came time for me to talk to Alex and Darren I was much more nervous than I thought I would be and stumbled on my words. I got out how I had the gift bags and that one was for Sam. When Darren first saw me he said "Alex, right?" which was a little shocking, but goes to reiterate the point that they care about their fans. I then asked them if they were okay with hugs before hugging them, and saying something about them being on tour and good luck for their show before getting a picture. Maybe my gifts redeemed me though from that moment. After leaving the line and going into the main space to wait for Phantom Planet to perform I was shaking. I usually was able to calmly talk to people I felt inspired by, but I guess that sometimes it's okay to be humbled. :P (While taking the picture Alex must have peaked in and noticed the sour patch gum because he commented to Darren, she got the good gum) (Alex also said that he would protect Sam's gift bag with his life. ha ha.)
I got a spot towards the left back once I was ready. As with other small venues you could see the performer really clearly from wherever you were in the venue. Due to this the one picture I got of Phantom Planet opening makes it seem like I was closer than I actually was. The Hanson fans played along even though they weren't actually here for Phantom Planet and even danced a little bit. Phantom Planet played a little over a half hour set before going off. After Phantom Planet went off stage I ordered a slice of pizza and a rum and coke from the bar. I sat and ate as Hanson came on. I hadn't known about Hanson before this, and couldn't really get into their music, but gave it a try and stayed for half of their set. The VIP package for Phantom Planet also got you a Phantom Planet goodie bag you could claim after Phantom Planet and/or Hanson performed. It included a Phantom Planet drawstring bag, an old fashioned mix without the bourbon with 3 different recipes on a card, bar napkins with the Phantom Planet logo, and a retro style motel/hotel keychain, since the VIP experience was known as Motel Phantom. I arrived back home around 10pm with Phantom Planet going on stage around 6:30pm. and leaving Chicago around 8:30. As soon as I stepped out of the House of Blues 2 police cars pulled up to the venue and started walking inside??? Must have picked the perfect time to leave? Although I didn't hear about anything happening at the venue later on. (Shout out to Mary from Patreon who also recognized me from Patreon at the show. It was lovely meeting you.)
The day after the show Darren reposted the picture of him and Alex from the acoustic set that I had taken on his Instagram story. Darren thanked me again for the gifts and told me how they really enjoyed the gum and about how Carmello Cadbury chocolate bars were him and his mom's top favorite chocolate bar as stated above. Darren also shared a pic of him wearing his new socks paired with white crocs to be silly. He's chosen crocs as his tour show for comfort while traveling but not on stage. I think at this point I can at least say that they are my friends, and I can't wait for the next show.
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