Annie Clements Music

Don’t be mad. I went to see New Kids on the Block and loved it!!!

Posted on 31. Oct, 2008 by annie in Notebook

So this week I took a little trip to New York City to visit my best friend Laura Distasi for her Golden Birthday – She turned 28 on october 28th in 2008. A special birthday like that one calls for a special celebration. And what better way to celebrate then to attend a sold-out New Kids on the Block concert at Madison Square Garden?

Here’s how it went down. Laura and I met up at a bar we figured was off the beaten path and would be less likely to be packed with NKOTB fans getting loaded before the show. As we approached said bar, we saw the sign out front – “New Kids on the Block… Join us before the show!”

Oh well. We grabbed a drink and jammed out for a while to the New Kids tunes blasting on the stereo and headed out the door for Madison Square Garden. As we were walking out the door we came upon a NYC police officer taking a picture of a drunk fan sitting on his motorcycle which I found to be particularly hilarious.

This would prove to be one of the best quality photographs I was able to take this evening. Most of my concert pictures ended up looking like this:

Which brings us to… The Concert! I’m gonna be honest. I got these tickets thinking, “Oh, it’ll be fun and novel but I doubt we’ll want to sit through 2 hours of NKOTB.

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

Couldn’t have been more wronger.

That’s right, I said wronger.

Natasha Beddingfield opened the show and was excellent. She very wisely incorporated comments about NKOTB into her intros for almost every song and kept the crowd engaged and ravenous with anticipation. And then… Finally… After 15 years… We all got what we wanted… All 5 New Kids rising up from underneath the stage.

They came on strong and laid down hit after number one hit. Ten #1’s to be exact. They had all the moves, 5 costume changes, dancers, pyro-technics, the works. But I had expected nothing less from a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. What I didn’t expect was the raw, sexual energy on display. You see, the thing is, as the New Kids grew up, so did us fans. No more are they pandering to 10-year-old girls. They’re working it for 28-year-old women who are celebrating a golden birthday and want to see real men dancing around, unabashedly grabbing their crotches, but at the same time displaying the tender vulnerability necessary to deliver classics like “Please Don’t Go Girl” and “I’ll be Loving You Forever.” It was truly intense and shocking. And hot.

Donnie Wahlberg – brother of the famous Mark Wahlberg – was particularly voracious. He was looking for love and was clearly going to have his pick of the fan litter tonight. At one point he gave a shout-out to all the brave boyfriends who had taken one for the team and come to the show to make their girlfriends happy. Donnie asked that these girlfriends reward their boyfriends later that night. Laura was standing next to one of these good men and we couldn’t help taking pictures of this noble creature every chance we got. Observe:

After this, Donnie offered himself and the other New Kids up to the ladies who were flying solo that evening. Then, for the most shocking turn of events that night… Donnie’s reveal. Donnie began to do a chip&dale-esque dance, wiggled his bottom for the camera and asked the audience, “Ladies, how does my ass look tonight?” Deafening screams from the crowd. And then – he dropped trou. Yep. He unbuckled his belt, bent over, and mooned madison square garden. Hysterics. Shock and awe. I managed to get some very poor quality video of parts of these events. The video is laced with my assertions that “I can’t see a thing!” if that’s any indication of the quality. It’s really a shame since my description really can’t do the moment justice. Here’s the best pic I got:

The 2 hour show seemed to fly by and Laura and I were devastated as the last notes of “Hangin’ Tough” hung in the air. We could’ve partied all night with the New Kids -nay- New Men on the Block. Here’s our look of confused devastation when it was all said and done:

I’m still confused that this show turned out to be one of the best I’ve seen in years. My advice: Get to a show near you asap! You won’t be disappointed.