NKOTB Weekend Recap

I was in music class in kindergarten when a fifth grader walked into the classroom wearing a t-shirt that featured the faces of five cute boys.

It wasn't long before I owned a New Kids on the Block nightgown, trading cards, and VHS tapes of singles like Hangin' Tough.

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The hair.  It kills me.

Everybody had a favorite.  As a sassy little six year old, I was pretty possessive of Joey McIntyre.  He was probably my first crush.  It's a toss-up between him and little Tony from down the street.  Both swoon-worthy in the eyes of a child.

My mom planned to take me to a New Kids on the Block concert when they came to town, but my I had my first heartbreak at age 10 when they parted ways.

Ten years later I met Katelin in college and we recapped our fond NKOTB fangirl memories.  Fortunately, she was a Jordan fan... otherwise I'm not sure our friendship would have survived.  In 2008, on her way out to visit moi, Kate ran into Jordan Knight at the airport.  She is such a celebrity magnet. The same year, NKOTB reunited.  So serendipitous.

Fast forward three more years and I landed a couple free tickets to the NKOTBSB concert.  Kate flew out here for the show and it was this past weekend and it was fabulous and oh my gosh, my heart is still six years old and I can't seem to end this sentence because I'm still SO EXCITED.

Katelin got here Saturday morning and we spent the afternoon at the pool, grabbing lunch, and taking a quick nap before the show.

Anyway, we got to the venue, grabbed some free food, some wine, and took our seats.  The show started right on time and opened with a modern day boy band called Midnight Red. They were pretty precious.

Then Matthew Morrison, aka Mr. Shue, came on to perform a couple Glee songs and a few originals. He plays the ukulele and he was just all-around adorable.  Sue Sylvester can make fun of his hair all she wants, but it happens to be fabulous (from a blurry, far away state, anyway).  And that man can dance.  Wowza.

After he was done, the jumbo screens built up the hype for the main acts by going through a slide show of NKOTB and BSB images.  AND THEN THEY CAME ON and I was magically transported back to 1989 and it's a wonder I didn't fall over the plexiglass guardrail because we were in the first row of our section and my knees were all spaghetti noodley.

I thought they were great back in the day and it turns out they are AMAZING now.  They sang all of their classics - Step by Step, Hangin' Tough, Cover Girl, My Favorite Girl, The Right Stuff, and I'll Be Loving You.

And the Backstreet Boys?  Who I thought were all kinds of annoying?  Are actually quite amazing, too.  I think a 10-year break from listening to their music helped endear them to me a little bit.  That, and they're all mature and man-like now.

The crowd consisted mainly of women between 25 and 45, sprinkled with younger girls and a few guys who maintained a crap-why-did-I-agree-to-this expression throughout the night.

NKOTB and BSB took turns performing, coming together at the end for a couple of songs.  And the show, which started at 8pm, ended at midnight.  It was one of the best, most action-packed shows I have ever seen.  Okay, maybe the best.  But I need to let the post-concert honeymoon pass before confirming.

It was such a fun, whirlwind weekend with Katelin and some fabulous girliness and I am just so glad she got to come visit.

The bf spent the weekend in AZ for some pre-deployment family time, so if we have to spend time apart right now, I'm glad it can be for such awesome reasons.

PS - Somewhere around the time he leaves, I will start referring to him by name on this here blog o'mine.

It's like a 20/20 special... The BF: Identity Revealed.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!