NKOTB Reunion...

Back when I was a wee youngin' (maybe around 7 or 8 years old) I went to my very first concert...the New Kids on the Block. I was THRILLED. We all went in a limo to the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario and had the greatest time of our pre-teen lives. I mean NKNOTB were right up there with MC Hammer back then, if you saw them in concert you were AWESOME...if you went in a limo, you were even AWESOMER and if you brought home a cool souvenir like plush slippers that looked like high-top runners, fluorescent yellow and pink and had pictures of NKOTB all over them, you were the AWESOMEST. I was 3/3 there, and it was honestly one of the greatest times I had as a kid.

So when I had the chance to see them again last week, I was SO there. Even the $82 ticket price couldn't keep me, or some of my closest freinds away. As the date came closer, and I sunk more and more money into my car, I started to wonder why I was even bothered to go. I thought many times that I could sell the ticket to pay for a licence plate sticker or even those fuzzy Hello Kitty dice I wanted for the rearview mirror. I knew my friends would be disappointed though and I really was curious to see how the New Kids have aged.

The days leading up to the concert I started to get really excited. I did some crazy things, and looked forward to seeing my pre-teen idols, while possibly intoxicated *tee hee*

We had decided to go to Crabby Joe's to have some pre-concert beverages (big slushy adult ones...yumm) and appetizers (or the most fattening fries I have ever eaten in my whole entire life). There was a whole room full of middle-aged women behind us who were all dressed in homemade NKOTB shirts and dancing like old lady fools. Eventually we had to leave very quickly to beat the whole room of oldies to the concert. Unfortunately they beat us because our server was slow.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw as soon as we got to the venue. Girls EVERYWHERE. I'm talking 99% women all up in that place. At that moment I realized I was scared for the NKOTB. They don't know us London women that well...and some of us can be...well a little insane. I pictured the whole arena of women, being all emotional and angry and such and causing a riot. I guess that didn't really happen, but we did meet a couple of crazies.

One of which happened to mention that she was following NKOTB around. Originally from Saskatoon, this crazy stated she was chewing Donnie Wahlberg's gum and that he was a slut. Interesting, I thought girls were that sort of crazy when they were teens, not when they are my age. Am I missing something here?

Then there was the white cowboy hat chick who, lucky for her, was in the front row. Unlucky for NKOTB, was in the front row grinding on the security bars. We were pretty far back, but for some reason two of us girls noticed her and pointed her out at the same time later on..it was too strange.

Then there was the extremely intoxicated one across the aisle from us who dropped her entire cup of $9 beer down the stairs getting all sorts of stink eye from us 20-something new kids fans.

One of the biggest mistakes was for NKOTB to have the Jabawakee Dance Group open. Don't get me wrong, those guys were FANTASTIC, but the problem was that they were fantastic and when you compared that to some 30-something year old dudes trying to dance to their old dance moves, it didn't come off too well. Those boys just can't dance like they used to - and they have a lot less hair...jus' sayin.

But honestly, the music was fantastic, and me being the silent in awe type at concerts was getting screamy and dancy with the rest of the screaming women...they must have rubbed off on me.

I was really afraid they would play all the new stuff, trying to forget the past, but they did a really good mix of both old and new - along with some solo stuff which made the night incredible. In fact, listening to their new stuff along with the old made me like the new stuff a whole lot more.

The merchandise was crazy-expensive and not really my type of stuff. You could own a "Property of Jordan Knight" t-shirt for the low price of $50....uhmm...no thanks?

My favourite part of the night had to be the hair people in the lobby. They fixed up my hair for free..it was awesome! I'm sure my hair looked like a bird's nest when I first got there, but after the wonderful people of the Blackfriars Hair Salon straightened it for me, I felt like a new teenybopper wannabe!