Anyone who wasn't a hardcore Hanson fan — or was a newer Hanson fan — might have felt a bit out of place Saturday night at the Rave. Saturday was the day when those closet fans and those who tried to bury their feelings for the brothers from Tulsa, Okla,. reverted back to their teenybopper stage and probably had the time of their life.

The winners of the local band contest that Hanson held, Madison's Bascom Hill, opened the night with a strong performance of songs off its Maybe CD.

It was easy to see by the smiles plastered to their faces that the band's five members were having the time of their life onstage. The crowd of screaming girls could have helped a bit. Drummer Craig Walkner even dazzled the audience by throwing his drumsticks in the air and catching them with ease.

The regular opening act, the Pat McGee Band, was up next. The band played an approximately 45-minute set, including hits like "Beautiful Ways" off Save Me. However, the biggest response to the set came with the very last song, a cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." The crowd really got into it, dancing and singing along to the song.

It wasn't too long after Pat McGee got off stage that the crowd started chanted Hanson's name over and over. Once the band got onstage the Rave seemed to erupt with screams and the crowd shifted forward as girls tried to rush the stage.

The boys seemed to have stable roles in the band: Isaac plays guitar, Zac the drums and Taylor the keyboards. However, the first song demonstrated their versatility. Zac and Taylor switched instruments, and later on in the night Isaac tried his hand at tickling the ivories.

Hanson performed classics like "MMMBop" and the newer songs like "Penny & Me," but there were also covers from bands like U2 and the Doobie Brothers. For the almost two-hour set, the action was close to nonstop.

Of course, it was difficult to hear the band most of the time because the audience nearly drowned them out, not just with screaming, but with their own singing. Almost every person in the audience knew every single lyric. This showed the fans' extreme dedication to the men in their early 20s.

If anyone doubted the fact that the Hanson brothers could sing, they pulled out all the stops for an entirely acapella song. The band asked for silence during this portion, but it was hard to believe that would actually happen from this crowd. It was quiet enough for the majority of the song, but of course there were those few excited squeals from a few excited girls.

Also by special request, Hanson played the song "Man from Milwaukee."

To close out the show, Taylor also decided to get up-close-and-personal with the fans in the balcony. He climbed his way to the top of the speakers on stage and was eye level with the fans. Zac followed his older brother's example — on a less daring scale — by standing on top of his drum set, but he did wobble a bit.

The concert seemed like a success, but there were a few songs that were missing from the show like "This Time Around" and "Underneath." It's doubtful that the dedicated crowd cared much.

Grade: B