When I heard earlier this year that the New Kids on the Block were going on tour, it brought back a whole whirlwind of memories. Like most women my age, I grew up with this group that shaped the boy band era. I had their tapes (yes, I said tapes!!), their posters, their t-shirts, and as a truly die-hard fan, even had buttons, pajamas, suspenders, and entire scrapbooks of magazine articles devoted to NKOTB. As a pre-teen and early teen, I had seen this band in concert twice, but that was.....I shudder to think..... 20 YEARS AGO!! I really don't know what happened to those years in between, but I do know one thing: they weren't filled with enough New Kids!! For old times sake and to support their effort at a reunion tour, I had to go to the concert.
When Neal told his co-workers about the concert, one
of the guys made this sign for me. The ironic part is,
Jordan really was my favorite back in the day!!
(My eyes kept closing with the flash, so I opened them
real wide in this pic!!)
This is the HUSBAND OF THE YEAR photo.
While I had wanted to go to the concert with a fellow
New Kids fan, they all either lived too far away or
recently moved away. So, being the loving husband
that he is, Neal agreed to go as my date. He was one of
about 10 guys in a packed arena full of women!
He definitely gets the husband of the year award. :-)
Natasha Bedingfield was the opening act,
and she was very good! Here she is singing
one of our favorite songs, "Pocketful of
Sunshine."
This is when the New Kids first came out on stage.
It was so neat to see the arena so packed, and to
hear all of the fans cheering for them after so long.
For many of us, they weren't just a band but a part
of our life story. I guess we were cheering for that
as much as for the music itself.
At 12 years old, there wasn't a cuter man on the face of
the planet than Jordan Knight. I swore I would marry him
someday. Now, 20 years later, I'm married to someone
who looks nothing like Jordan (I found someone even
better looking! :) and strangely, as I watched the 5 of
them perform, realized that as an adult, Jordan would
probably be my last pick. It's funny how our taste changes.
"My Favorite Girl"
Remember this one???!!!
The boys at the back of the floor dancing around a
revolving piano
While Jordan wouldn't be my first pick, he still
looked pretty darn good. :-)
There were parts of this concert that actually
made me tear up, not because the songs themselves
were particularly moving, but because they either
brought back a memory and made me nostalgic for
my childhood, or because the audience participation
was moving. They band sung songs from almost all of
their albums, and when they had the audience sing
solo at times, we all still remembered the words
and sung our hearts out. On "Step by Step" the ENTIRE
audience remembered every step!! It was awesome. The
end of the concert was another one of these moments
for me. They ended with "Hangin' Tough" and seeing
thousands of people wave their hands in the air
(like we used to do from copying the MTV video) was
really cool. Even Neal admitted that while the music
wasn't his favorite, the energy of the crowd was one
of the best he'd seen. It was an evening of fun and
of childhood memories, and I'm so glad that NKOTB
went on tour again. :-)
