- Photos:
-
If you’re a single guy over the age of 30 and you weren’t at the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday night, you missed out on the most happening pick-up spot in town.
Throngs of 30-and-over females descended upon the arena to relive their pre-pubescent youth at the New Kids on the Block show. The Forum, quick to make as much dough off the situation as possible made sure a live band, liquor and food vendors were outside previous to the show to cash in on the ladies and few men either bringing their wives or looking for one.
Once inside, the noise was at a pitch level, no longer that of 12-and-13-year-olds but those of 32-and-33-year-olds waiting for Danny (Wood), Donnie (Wahlberg), Jordan (Knight), Jon (Knight) and Joey (McIntyre) to take the stage. Ear plugs were of no use once the five rose from the stage singing their new song “Single” causing grown women to cry and the men to run to the bar for another drink. Next up was “My Favorite Girl” with a unison of voices from the packed arena singing along to the words. Jordan proved he hadn’t lost a touch of his falsetto that got him to the stage originally 20 years previous. Fireworks exploded and so did the “oh-oh-oh-oh-ohs” when “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” came bellowing out of the five guys and packed house. And another chance to show the audience they still had the “right stuff” when it came to the choreography that looked exactly the same from any show the audience may had seen years ago.
What proceeded for the rest of the night was a majority of old material, with a few of their new songs from the recently released “The Block” album. One that particularly stood out and also proved they weren’t singing to kids anymore was the more risqué “Grown Man” with backup vocals in the form of a video from Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. The “hey we’re more mature now” theme was also displayed throughout the evening through Donnie grabbing his ass and asking the crowd what they thought, (and his front for that matter) and women throwing bras onstage instead of the flowers of their youth.
An odd montage came at a break in the show about “People We’ve Lost” which would make sense if it was just idols to the band and family members (Donnie’s father was displayed as well as Danny’s mother), but Kurt Cobain? Next the kids-now-men were in the center of the arena on a revolving stage causing women to lose their cookies over the fact Joey was playing the piano in blow-a-kiss distance from them. New songs like “Dirty Dancing” and old ones like The Beatles-esque “Tonight” were performed and autographs were signed. After, they ran back to the main stage past audience members screaming and reaching for them like they were running away with one of their kids – except they were smiling.
Not one old song was lost (unless you count the Christmas album) during the two-hour show, with three finales that included “Step By Step,” “Summertime” and, of course, “Hangin’ Tough.” And the swinging arms and, again, “Ohs” from the audience weren’t lost either. Fireworks erupted and the New Kids thanked the audience over and over.
All, in all, Joey and Jordan still have top-level singing chops, those two keeping up most over the years in the musical spotlight out of the rest of them. Donnie can rap a bit and singing is not his forte but he can ham it up for an audience and talk till he is blue in the face about sports. Danny still has his break dancing moves and Jon, well Jon smiles a lot. This is not everyone’s cup of tea and definitely a trip into a time-capsule for many women that wanted a break from the screaming kids to scream a bit themselves and remember what it was like to be that kid again.
The general feel of the evening was summed up best when during the show Joey asked the audience, “Is this really happening?”
Yes, Joey. Except now your audience is of legal-age and you’re married with children -- just like them.
Please log in to comment