Staff Blog
NKOTB, Nov. 5, Wachovia Center
posted by Lauren Guzzo
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Listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance.
Just get on the floor and do the New Kids dance.
It felt like 1990 all over again. For a period of about five years, I tortured my brothers (their word, not mine) with New Kids songs, shows, paraphernalia. I was just about the biggest New Kids on the Block fan you could find. I had every CD, the obligatory posters, dolls, pins, pillowcases. If it had anything remotely to do with the New Kids, I had it. I staked out the airport and local hotels when they were in town. My parents and aunt took me to concerts all over the eastern seaboard. I even convinced my parents to take a family vacation to Boston so that I could attend a New Kids concert at Foxboro Stadium. While my mom and I attended the concert, my dad and brothers went to see Problem Child 2. Two hours of their lives they will never get back. I still hear about that one. I loved all the New Kids: Jonathan, Donnie, Danny, Joey and Jordan.
Jordan was my favorite.
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When I got word that I would be able to see the recent New Kids concert, I was a bit apprehensive that it would be a let-down, or would taint my perfect teenage memories of the group. And I have to admit that it was a little difficult at first to get someone to go with me. Just when it looked like my husband, Lou, was going to have to be my plus one, he took matters into his own hands and begged my friend, Maria, to go with me. After she got done laughing for two days straight, she agreed to go. Maria was never a New Kids fan. Bon Jovi was more her thing in 1990. Maria and I joked the whole way to the concert wondering what the night would be like. We now had husbands, jobs, kids and mortgages. We were a long way from study hall, pep rallies and prom dates.
Maria and I were pleasantly surprised with what we found that night. … We had a good time. A really good time. When the lights went down signaling the start of the concert, I found myself on my feet waving and squealing like a teenager. I never sat down again (and I am four months pregnant). They opened with “Single,” from their new album The Block. They did a nice job mixing new songs with old favorites, slow songs and fast ones. There were wardrobe changes, set changes, solos and even breakdancing by Danny Wood. They also did their signature synchronized dancing, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
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The Wachovia Center was near capacity and the fans really got into it. Grown women brought handmade signs, wore retro t-shirts, pins and hats. Most women came in groups or with a friend. There were parents that came with their grown children. Some women brought their kids; others their husbands and boyfriends. Donnie Wahlberg even commented that he probably saw more men at the concert in Philly than any other city. (I told Lou, that men would be there!) There was a lot more beer served at this concert than the ones I remember. I was years away from the legal drinking age the last time I attended a New Kids concert. Of course being pregnant, I did not imbibe at this concert either. Maria, however, got a taste that night. A drunk girl behind us spilled her entire beer onto my friend’s head. She was drenched.
The show was a little over two hours and after a stage exit, the boys came back and performed “Summertime” from their new album and a radio hit and then ended with “Hangin’ Tough.” No other song would have done the finale justice.
On the ride home, we joked about what a great time we had and that we would definitely see another show again. We just hope we don’t have to wait another 18 years. For now, I just torture my husband and one year old with New Kids songs.
