New Article about the boys

New Kids break out old and new tunes to rock BJC crowd
By Jonathan F. McVerry
- For the CDT

Those walking into the Bryce Jordan Center fearing the worst or expecting a clinic on corniness forgot something about the New Kids on the Block. They forgot that the boys are now seasoned performers and know very well how to entertain a crowd.
It has been nearly 20 years since the five energetic and youthful teenagers from Boston were filling up some of the world’s largest stadiums with die-hard, passionate and screaming teenaged girls.

Today, the names and faces are the same, but the atmospheres are a little different. The screams aren’t quite as loud. The dances are a little slower and the stadiums are now arenas. But along with a live band of grungy guitars and thumping drums, these guys still rock it out.

The men of New Kids on the Block, the quintessential boy band of the late 80s and early 90s, strutted their aged Converse All-Stars onto the stage in front of nearly 3,000 screaming female fans.

The dreamy smiles that once sold every piece of merchandise imaginable to teen girls two decades ago, from curtains to marbles, are flashing once more on a monster comeback tour that is trucking from coast to coast.

Even though over the past two decades the fandom has died down, the show, the lights, the music and the voices are as big as ever. The screaming fans that once filled stadiums are now holding jobs, maintaining families and living a drastically different life than their former teenage selves. But for one night, these women were able to rekindle their lost teenager, dust off their cassette tapes, and sing the hits one more time along with Jonathan, Joe, Jordan, Danny and Donnie.
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Aside from a few concert clichés that dated the quintet, including crotch grabbing and telling the fans to put “their hands in the air,” the boys put on a fresh, upbeat, and loud performance.

Most of the guys still have their pipes and the same energy as their twenty-something selves. Jordan Knight and Joe McIntire don’t miss a step with their clean and powerful vocals, and shiny, picture-perfect smiles.

The guys mixed old and new tunes together to create a bumping club atmosphere. Lights, dancers and effects created a truly compelling event—an experience that only true, passionate performers could pull off 20 years after their debut.

During their 14-year hiatus, the group’s members did not exactly stay in hiding. Some pursued solo careers, acting careers and some showed up on reality TV. However, beginning last year they aimed to garner the energy and excitement of old and bring their sound back to the ears of America.

With several months and many stops to go on the tour, the group seems to be enjoying themselves. Chronicling their escapades in a blog on the group’s Web site, McIntire and Donnie Wahlberg write about each show with uninhibited enthusiasm.

“Tulsa was on fire,” Wahlberg writes. McIntire chimes in with “These crowds are sick. These shows are sick. This tour is sick. Viva The Block.”

Wahlberg said the noise Tuesday night in the BJC was comparable to the Baltimore show, which had previously been tabbed as the best crowd on the tour.

Stopping into a college town might seem like an unusual step for a group who was popular when most of today’s college students were toddlers, but the crowd’s energy still stayed strong and the boys from the block fed off that liveliness.

Twenty years after conquering the world, the kids come back as men and the crowds, although smaller, still go nuts and sing loud. They are conquering something different today. They are coming full circle and winning over each crowd they step in front of once again.

Nashville review

It’s been 15 years since New Kids On The Block split up and 17 years since they last played Nashville. But you'd never know it, judging by the massive crowd that packed Sommet Center for their concert Monday night.

The fans were mostly female and just a teeny bit older, but they acted like they were preteens again when NKOTB took the stage.


“The fans are just as wild,” says Jordan Knight. “I think we made an impression on our fans when they were really young, and when we do a show those feelings come out, even when you’re older. Its like hearing a song. We all do it. I know I do it when I hear old songs -- it brings me right back to that moment and I get the same feelings. Like I said, our show is like an escape from reality. It's an escape from the mundane, day-to-day life that we all live, so you come and you have a free pass to go wild, or dance or cry or laugh and sing. It’s a great time.”

Indeed, it was as if no time had passed at all. The guys, who are still gorgeous, performed for nearly three hours, dancing and singing the whole way through without ever seeming out of breath.

Looking across the sea of screaming fans rocking side ponytails and crimped hair and decked out in neon T-shirts emblazoned with the boy’s faces, I couldn’t help but feel like I was 12 years old again at Starwood Amphitheatre. The whole scene made me weak in the knees and I found myself squealing with glee from start to finish.

David Kells, Sommet Center marketing director, summed it up best when he said, “You know, there’s going to be a lot of moms who won’t be able to scream at their kids tomorrow.”

Review from Tulsa.

OK , now for real: the next person calling them "former boyband" or being surprised that the guys can move will get his/her ass kicked!!!!
I highlighted some parts that either i agree with or made me feel like kicking some ass


Concert review: New Kids on the Block still have the right stuff
By Brandy McDonnell - Entertainment Writer
Published: March 10, 2009
Buzz up!

TULSA - When Donnie Wahlberg pulled a grinning preteen girl dressed in an “I Love New Kids on the Block” T-shirt onto the BOK Center stage to serenade her with the peppy love song “Cover Girl,” it was like 1989 all over again.
Former boy band New Kids on the Block (kicking some ass) brought countless musical memories along with their successful reunion tour Monday night to the Tulsa arena.

Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre and Danny Wood showed they still have the synchronized dance moves, smoothly harmonized vocals and seemingly boundless energy (once again I am going to kick some ass)they did back in their heyday of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And their still-fervent fans illustrated they could actually scream even louder than they did back when they were frenzied adolescents cheering on their teen idols.

The din inside the BOK Center often swelled to almost painful levels as the more than 6,000 fans (near capacity for the 6,500-person seating configuration) shrieked for their favorite pop hits from back in the day. The audience included adolescents, children and a surprising number of men. But as expected, the crowd consisted mostly of NKOTB’s core fans – the now-25- to 35-year-old women who as teens and tweens snapped up more than 70 million albums along with myriad T-shirts, posters and pillowcases.
Numerous fans again donned New Kids shirts and oversize buttons, and more than a few of those wardrobe choices looked to be ‘90s vintage or homemade. Several even dug out their old 1990 Magic Summer Tour concert Ts from NKOTB’s previous Tulsa show at Skelly Stadium. (That was the first concert I ever attended, so those shirts brought back fond memories for me.)

The former boy band didn’t disappoint fans looking for a powerful nostalgia fix. By the third song, the confident quintet was chanting the catchy chorus and doing the signature dance to one of their biggest hits, “(You Got It) The Right Stuff,” prompting deafening squeals of joy and the echoing refrain of “oh, oh, oh, oh” from the crowd.

They pulled out most of their infectious old dance-pop favorites and sweet bubblegummy ballads - “My Favorite Girl,” “Step by Step,” “If You Go Away,” “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” – and the fans gleefully danced, waved their arms or swayed to each song. If the choreography and vocals weren’t always quite as honed as they used to be, the vast majority of the audience didn’t seem to notice or care.

Jordan Knight proved he could still hit the falsetto notes on “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) and showed off his still toned physique as he crooned “Baby I Believe in You” in the same fashion he did back in ’90, with his white button-down shirt open and blowing in the breeze from a wind machine. (Still? Still? the guy is as hot as ever)

Still baby-faced McIntyre, now 36 and often called Joe instead of Joey, also established that he still has a strong, clear voice and plenty of charisma, whipping the audience into a furor when he dropped to his knees to plead “Please Don’t Go Girl.” With the help of a sexy female dancer, he illustrated some sharp moves from his time on Broadway and the reality show “Dancing with the Stars” on the provocative “Twisted.”

Wahlberg again provided the Boston bravado, leading the way on the hip-hop throwback “Games.” Fit and athletic, Wood, who turns 40 in May, performed an impressive break-dancing routine. Jonathan Knight was still the quiet one, staying firmly out of the spotlight, hitting his dance steps just so and doing the camera work when the group enticed the audience into a little dance-off.

But the show wasn’t just like the old days. The New Kids performed several songs from their 2008 album “The Block,” including “Click Click Click,” “Dirty Dancing” “Grown Man” and “Summertime.”

The former boy band’s new hip-hop-infused pop songs feature more suggestive music and lyrics than their old hits, giving the show a more adult tone that was a bit inappropriate for the youngsters in the crowd (that is just too funny!!) .. The singers gyrated with their quartet of skimpily clad backup dancers, while fans tossed bras onstage and waved innuendo-laden signs. McIntyre at one point asked the wildly enthusiastic crowd “Is it me or do people drink more beer in Tulsa?”

One of the highlights of the show came when the quintet appeared out in the floor-level crowd, perched on a moving platform that also held a piano. The quintet crooned a pair of their new ballads, the heartfelt “2 in the Morning” and “Single,” dancing around the piano while McIntyre plunked the keys. They then burst into the relentlessly bouncy throwback “Tonight,” which Wahlberg guaranteed would weed out any remaining non-NKOTB fans.

“We’re having a great time out here,” McIntyre told the crowd. “We can’t say enough about what you’ve done for us in the past year.”

Though many have dubbed the reunited group the not-so-New Kids, NKOTB provided two hours of nearly nonstop entertainment, complete with several wardrobe changes as well as old and new coordinated dance routines. By the time they ended the energetic show with a rousing rendition of “Hangin’ Tough,” with a bit of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” thrown in, the singers were grinning like schoolboys, and their fans were beaming right back at them.

The show started out with an electric performance by opening act JabbaWockeeZ. The masked dance troupe, which has appeared on the TV shows “America’s Got Talent” and “America’s Best Dance Crew,” wowed the crowd with athletic, synchronized and often funny hip-hop routines.

Orlando Concert review- aka: te guys rock it like no other

New Kids on the Block turn back the clock at Amway
posted by JimAbbott on Mar 13, 2009 11:56:10 PM
New Kids on the Block aren’t kids anymore, and neither are the fans, but the used-to-be-boy-band turns the clock back with ease on its reunion tour.

When the group launched into vintage material on Friday at Amway Arena, the screaming sounded like it was 1990. It was almost enough to forget that there weren’t enough fans to require opening the upper bowl and that there were empty seats downstairs, too.

That didn’t bother the fans in the house, and it didn’t affect the exuberant approach of the guys on stage. Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood and Jonathan Knight sang and danced their hearts out for a solid two hours.

And you know what? A lot of the old songs are surprisingly sweet pop confections after all these years.

Wisely, the New Kids realize that. There’s a new album to promote, but the group didn’t make the faithful wait for what they wanted.
The first 30 minutes were packed with favorites: "Call It What You Want," "My Favorite Girl," "You Got It (The Right Stuff)," "Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)," "Please Don’t Go, Girl."

That opening salvo showcased the vocals of McIntyre and Jordan Knight, the latter showing that his falsetto hasn’t deteriorated with age. Wearing dark shades and a suit, he dominated the spotlight in the early going.

Yet the spotlight was shared fairly equally, with each of the members having solo interludes that also served as time-chewing breaks for costume changes — or maybe an oxygen break backstage.

Just kidding!

Most of the choreography was a nice compromise between back-in-the-day and stuff that would make a 30-something guy look silly. Even so, Wood did look a little winded after whirling around on his head in that break-dance routine.

What was genuinely impressive was that the singers didn’t lean on special effects to keep people amused.

The two-tier stage, with one big metal staircase in the middle, was utilitarian. There were no explosions or moving walkways, just a big video screen to provide close-ups of faces and the occasional booty.

At one point, the guys did go to the far end of the arena floor to do a short set on an elevated circular stage. A nice gesture for the cheap seats.

With the exception of the redundant "Twisted," the new material blended well with the oldies. "Grown Man," with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger singing along on the video screen, was a beat-driven highlight.

Wahlberg did most of the talking, even when he was busy collecting all the lingerie being tossed on stage. "Eighteen years ago, it was teddy bears," he said. "Now it’s this?"

Well, everyone’s older.

"It’s nice to see you’ve grown up so nicely," McIntyre told the screaming fans at one point.

By the time the group had finished the closing "Hangin’ Tough," it was evident that the New Kids have matured gracefully, too.