Yeah, I went to New Kids on the Block. Laugh if you want.
They. were. fantastic.
I was a little scared when we first got to the arena, but really who isn't scared by large groups of women reliving their jr. high/high school days or just large groups of women in general? Right? Is that just me that they terrify? It was like a never-ending sea of 30-40 year old women wanting to get some attention from the New Kids. There was a lot of screaming... a lot of screaming. And then there was me, laughing so hard my face hurt.
And really, who thought to bring back the giant buttons? A NKOTB merch guy that's who and they sold like hot cakes!! No, I didn't get one and yes I've already been yelled at multiple times, don't worry. Nicole already warned me on the car ride over that she had bought vintage NKOTB shirts online and that she was walking away tonight with another shirt and would wear it proudly to work the next day, to sleep that night, and to her boyfriend's house for dinner. I don't know if any of those things happened, but at the time I she was a little crazy so I wasn't going to call her bluff on anything. I'm not that stupid.
They actually got better as time passed. and I mean EVERYTHING was better. They all look better (let's be honest, the 80's/90's were good to no one), they sound better, and they dance better. I saw with my own two eyes a 40+ year old man brake dance and do a head spin!! That alone is amazing. There was all the elements of a great show there: skanky back-up dancers, pyrotechnics, syncro dancing, one of the band members taking his shirt off, and a touching video about all the good people we lost this year. But the best part... hands down .... Hangin' Tough. Seriously, can you think of a better way to end your show then singing Hangin' Tough?
I'm not gonna lie though, I walked into thinking it was going to be super-duper lame and I was going to spend most of my time cracking jokes and making fun of the girls that I went with... which I did, but not in the mass quantity I thought I would. There was, however, this girl in front of me with her mom that was rocking out to the opening acts. This girl was out or her seat, waving her arms to some other beat in her head not even close to the song that was being played, and danced for her life. It was great and provided entertainment for our entire section.
So Nicole and Tora, thanks for a great night of pure awesomeness.