New Kids On The Block

Last night was the concert I had been waiting to attend for the last 15 years: New Kids On The Block. Now before you start laughing, a little background is needed. I became a fan of the boy band back when I was about 8 years old, and I had the cassette tapes, the concert videos and the pillow cases to prove it. Unfortunately I was never able to go to one of their concerts, and that was devastating for a little girl who lived and breathed NKOTB, especially when they broke up in 1994, and I had no hope of ever seeing them perform live. A few times after the break up, there were rumors of the band getting back together, but the guys could never agree on the terms.

Well, thanks to successful comeback tours like the Spice Girls, NKOTB decided on touring in fall of 2008, and I finally got to see the objects of my pre-teen obsession live in one of three shows in Toronto. Yeah, the boys, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood are a little older now, but they still had all the right moves. They opened with Single from their new album The Block. The guys could still dance, and Jordan and Joey could still hit the high notes. And I believe Donnie and Danny have been working on their dancing since the old days, they totally tore it up last night with some fresh popping and breaking moves.

While the new songs got the crowd going, it was the old hits that really whipped everyone into a frenzy. My Favorite Girl, You Got It (The Right Stuff), Didn't I (Blow Your Mind), Tonight, I'll Be Loving You Forever, Cover Girl, Please Don't Go Girl were all performed but the big hits Hangin' Tough and Step by Step were predictably saved for the encore. Although they didn't sing my all time favorite song, Popsicle, the show was everything I was hoping and waiting for. The show lasted for 2 hours and was full of dancing, pyrotechnics and boy band awesomeness. It did have a few awkward moments like when Jordan performed a song from his solo album and another song from back the Step By Step album (thanks to mashia6 and miss ava's comment for the correction). Complete with wind machine and unbuttoned shirt, Jordan gyrated and rubbed his chest while singing - it was straight out of a Chippendale's performance. Joey also performed 2 solo songs, and had a little interpretive dance interlude with one of the background dancers that was interesting. But the rest of the concert was completely entertaining and so much fun.

You could tell that the guys were loving every minute of being on stage again - well maybe not everyone, Jonathan looked a little stiff, and probably still has stage fright- but they really seemed to appreciate of all of the love and support from their fans who have stuck with them through the years. Donnie even took a camera from one of the fans to snap shots of the guys for her. And the fans at this concert were amazing, the total definition of superfans - mostly women between the ages of 40 and 13 all wearing old concert shirts, NKOTB paraphernalia, singing every lyric from all of their hits and screaming at the top of their lungs for the entire show. There wasn't an empty seat in the house, all of the shows in Toronto were sold out, and everyone was loving every cheesy minute of it. It was great to see that The Block (that's what they are calling themselves now- they can't really still be New Kids) could still keep a crowd on its feet and give a great show. It was definitely worth the wait.

Here are some pics from the concert: