Back To The Island 2017 Review

As 2016 was a very busy year to me, I ended up not writing a review for BTTI 2016 and now I'm here writing one for 2017, lol.
Well, regarding the trip itself, the resort and the other things, I have nothing to say because I had already been there in 2016, so it was not so exciting as the first time. Although everything was wonderful.
Besides that, there's the fact that this year I arrived at the resort on the day the event started. We were in a hurry and I couldn't enjoy the resort as much as the last time that I arrived two days before the event started.
This time, I didn't take many photos or make many videos, actually I did that only on the last day. I preferred to enjoy it with my hands free and without the camera's weight. This time I've been enjoying the videos and photos of other people, lol.
On the first day, after the check-in, I took a shower, rested a little bit so that I could get the kit of the event, have dinner and attend the first show:

1st show - Rock All Night

The band started the first day of the event by playing rockier songs. The theme had been previously voted by the 2017 BTTI's attendees on Hanson.net. All the songs played were for people to dance, among them we could listen to: Ugly Truth, Got a Hold on Me, Hey, Ever Lonely, etc which are songs they rarely play at shows, so I was really happy to listen to them.

Isaac's solo show

Well, I'm biased to say this because Isaac's voice is one of my favorites, but, to me, his solo show was wonderful and until that moment, I could have sworn that his show would be the best one. Until Taylor came and got the first position as the best solo show (in my opinion), but I'll talk more about Taylor's solo show later on, let's talk about Isaac's now. There were songs such as: So Lovely, Next Train, Call Me (which he wrote to a friend that passed away last year and he got a little bit emotional because of that and had to start playing the song again) and some cover songs that brought some people there into tears: Hallelujah followed by Amazing Grace. There was even a proposal there during More Than Anything. Unlike the full band shows that make us spend all our energy, the solo ones seem to calm us down and provide us a peaceful feeling when they come to an end. That was exactly how I felt about all of them, especially at Isaac's.

2nd show - Acoustic

I'm not a fan of acoustic songs, so among the three full band shows this one was the least appealing to me because of its acoustic format. But the setlist was very good (I can tell you it was the best of all three). They played Stories, Lucy (I almost had a heart attack - part 1), Penny & Me, Wish That I Was There, For Your Love (I almost had a heart attack - part 2), Georgia, Musical Ride (one of my favs), With You In Your Dreams, Weird, Been There Before, Broken Angel, Madeline, MMMBop, among others. I mentioned almost all of them because the setlist was awesome. Perfect!

Cards Against Humanity with Zac

For Zac's activity, they split us up in two teams, the green and red teams according to the color of our passes. On the day of Zac's event, he stayed on the stage calling out some members of each team to answer the questions. There were many rounds, this way the majority of people could participate. I had no idea on how to play the game, so I searched for some videos on Youtube to learn how to play it before the trip. CAH is that kind of game that if you get offended easily, you wouldn't like to play it. I thought it was pretty fun and funny to watch it, but thank God I wasn't asked to go to the stage to play it (the passes had numbers, so they were calling those numbers out). I felt much better for being just a spectator. It was something completely different from what they used to do at previous BTTIs and I particularly liked this better than the previous years.
I was even able to run across Taylor and exchange words with him.

We're all gonna dye - Event with all the three

Last year, I really liked this event with Taylor and this year with all of them together it was even better. I really liked the idea of having the three of them there because this way, they could talk to everybody without feeling intimidated by a lot of people walking after them as it probably would be if there was just one Hanson there. This way, the majority of people could talk to them and ask for pictures. As I had done this in the previous year, I already knew all the procedures of the tie-dye, so I did mine by myself. By the way, this year it was much more organized. There were tables, water, rubber bands, gloves and ink for everybody.

When I removed the rubber bands from my T-shirt it looked pretty cool, but as I didn't let it dry horizontally, the ink flowed out and the colors started to mix and they ended up not so defined as they should be and they actually were when I first removed the rubber bands from my T-shirt. But besides that, I liked it more than I did my last year's T-shirt.

Taylor's solo show

Well, I can say right away that among all shows, including the solo and the full band ones this was my favorite. Besides its amazing setlist, the interaction he had with the audience was the best I've ever seen among the BTTIs I've been to. There was also a moment when he played "happy birthday" in different styles for the people who were celebrating their birthdays on that day. The highlight for me was when he played Breaktown (I almost had a heart attack - part 3) and some other cute songs such as: Be My Own, Never Let Go, Tonight, Save Me, among others. I don't know if I've changed, but this show was the one that caught my attention.

Family Feud with Isaac

Just as Zac did, they split us up in two teams (green and red ones according to the color of our passes) and Isaac called people out to go to the stage and participate. This game is very similar to one that Silvio Santos (a Brazilian TV presenter) used to present. Isaac asked questions, such as: What part of the body can we wear perfume? Then, there was a big screen with six secret answers, for instance, neck, wrist, etc, so that the group who got most of the answers would score. It was very fun, but I was afraid of being asked to participate and fall while going up the stage. Plus, we had to speak into a microphone (I'm too shy for that). Thank God I wasn't called.

Photo session

The day of the photo session was very busy. I got up in the morning, did some shopping at the beach and at the gift shop of the resort after having breakfast, then I took a shower to get dressed for the photo session that was supposed to start at 12:30. It ended up delaying a little bit, it started almost 1pm and I arrived there a little later than that. I talked to some people while waiting for my turn, I always like to be one of the last people to take the photo. The session lasted for almost three hours and I had lunch after that. I mean, I tried to have lunch because the waiter ended up losing our order and took a long time to bring it and when he did, it was all wrong. So, we cancelled our order and went to Zac's solo show without having lunch at 4:30. Fortunately, my father saved me and brought me a sandwich with French fries and I ate it while watching the show.

Zac's solo show

Zac's solo show was pretty cool. It was kind of similar to the previous years I've attended it, but at the same time, the setlist was very diversified. He played What Are We Fighting For? which is a song I had to record because it's one of my favs. It was the first video I recorded at that BTTI, lol. He also played Go, Chasing Down My Dreams, Do You Believe In Love? (which, by the way, I would have loved to listen to in an electric version with the full band, but they didn't play it), among others.

Grand Beach Banquet

Just like last year, they closed all the main restaurants and offered us a banquet. They put all the tables and chairs around the main pool area and offered us all different kinds of foods, desserts and drinks. It was pretty cool because it's a way to get everybody together in only one place. There was a Jamaican band playing and even Zac showed up there really fast.

3rd show - Final show/Covers' show

The last show happened the way I like it: it was electric! It was a mix of both rockier and slow songs, such as: Best Of Times, On and On, Sunny Day, Feeling Alive, Freak Out, Where's The Love?, Give a Little, If Only, etc. The last song couldn't be any other but Back To The Island, of course. During that song, they asked their special guests to go to the stage and play with them, just as they did last year. Talking about special guests, I can't really give my opinion about them because I was so tired on the day of their show that I ended up having dinner and sleeping so that I could be awaken for Isaac's event. So, I only saw them playing with Hanson on the last day of the event, but I really liked what I saw.

After Party With Taylor

Unlike the previous years, this after party lasted for more than two hours. I didn't know the majority of the songs that were played and they're not what I'm used to listening to, but I ended up enjoying it. Besides the fact that it was a very tiring day with photos, two shows and the after party. It finished more than 1:30AM and I had to go to my room to pack my bags in order to get up at 6AM to go to the airport. But let's get down to business, I didn't stay at the after party the whole time. There was a time I stayed in the lobby because Zac was talking to some fans there, so I stayed there for 20ish minutes. Then, I returned to the after party. The last songs that were played were my favs because there were many Michael Jackson's songs (and the party started with the song Freedom by George Michael). At the end of the party, Taylor started to take a lot of selfies with the fans who were near the stage.

They were very relaxed this year (as I had never seen before), walking through the resort, talking to fans and taking pictures as much as possible. I believe that what really helped was the fact that the fans were also more relaxed and taking the opportunity to talk more rather than only asking for a picture or an autograph. Considering the previous years I've attended the event, this year has been the best one regarding this aspect as well as many other aspects, for instance, the events, too.