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Hanson will play a Tulsa showcase at South by Southwest 2017. Contributed/Jiro Schneider
The Monsters of “MMMBop” are coming back to South By Southwest. Hanson, the Oklahoma band whose childhood rise to stardom began with an impromptu performance at the SXSW softball tournament in 1994, are returning this year to headline the first-ever Tulsa Music Showcase.
Presented by the Tulsa Office of Film, Music Arts and Culture, the March 16 show at the Bungalow will also feature Broncho, RVRB, Casii Stephan & the Midnight Sun and Wink Burcham. Hanson is one of several big-name acts SXSW has added to the schedule: Check back for more in our weekly announcement on Friday at 10 a.m.
Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson sang a cappella to badgeholders sitting in the bleachers at the Krieg Complex for the Sunday softball event, which traditionally closes SXSW every year. Among those in attendance was a manager who signed the band and soon got them a deal with Mercury Records. Their 1997 major-label debut “Middle of Nowhere” went multi-platinum behind the stratospheric success of the single “MMMBop.”
The brothers, now in their 30s, have continued to make records and tour. Taylor Hanson played SXSW in 2009 with Tinted Windows, the supergroup he formed with James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick.
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