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Written by Retannical D. Russell Monday, 09 June 2008 12:49

 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you've probably gotten word that the most popular boy band from the late 1980s and early 1990s has reunited. That's right, folks, New Kids on the Block are back! And the five guys from Beantown are reclaiming the block with a vengeance, releasing a new radio single and video, completing a forthcoming album, and planning a nationwide reunion tour to boot. The Kids are quickly reminding us of their place as the most successful boy band ever, and their importance as the blueprint for the boy band craze of the late '90s.

No matter how many other successful groups came before them and no matter how many more will follow them in the future, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Joe McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood will always have a reserved spot in my heart. As I wrote in a previous column, I was, am and will always be a true, diehard "Blockhead." The New Kids helped define an era that was so important to my thirtysomething generation. For me, these guys have earned their place in history among classic American nostalgia.

When I learned that the group would be performing a medley of their old hits along with a new song, "Summertime," on the Today Show Summer Concert Series, I was over the moon. I hadn't seen them all together since they disbanded in 1994, so to have them perform on stage after more than a decade was certainly going to be a treat. And a tasty treat it was.

Twenty years after they first became stars, the guys still looked and sounded amazing. Their outstanding performance and interview shed light on where they are in their lives now. They were in excellent shape -- dancing, singing and speaking so well -- and they even donned suits. (And who doesn't like to see a grown man in a suit?) Gone are the days of bad boy ripped jeans, holey t-shirts, beat-up sneakers, bejeweled fingers and necks, and trendy slang language. The Kids are now mature, married men with kids of their own, yet it's clear that they still have the right stuff that makes the girls (now ladies) swoon.

Hundreds of devoted female fans crowded the NBC Plaza to see the Kids in person. So many women turned up, in fact, that Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera couldn't help commenting that they hadn't seen a crowd that huge for a concert series in a very, very long time.

Guess what? That was only the beginning. Now that tickets for the upcoming concert tour are selling like hotcakes in just about every major city in the U.S. and Canada, no one will be able to deny the impact the Kids had and continue to have on their true fans.

 

On Saturday, May 31, tickets went on sale for the New Kids' November concert in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center. I still like to do things old school, so I decided not to purchase my tickets online. Instead, I chose to go to a Ticketmaster outlet, like we used to back in the day before we had a choice, so that I could get my tickets in my hot little hands as soon as possible. I arrived at the outlet a little early and found, to my surprise, there was already a long line of women (some even with small children in tow) waiting for ticket sales to begin.

As I stood there it felt like déjà vu all over again. My mind drifted back to the days of yesteryear, remembering New Kids concerts that I'd had the pleasure of seeing only after waiting hours and hours in line for tickets. Back then, ticket outlets often handed out line tickets before the actual ticket sales, as a way of keeping the Kids' thousands and thousands of screaming, frenzied teenaged female fans in a semi-organized fashion. Saturday, I was shocked to be given a line ticket for the New Kids.

Honestly, though, I'd actually forgotten how the line ticket process worked, not because I hadn't been to a concert since the New Kids' last performance in St. Louis in 1994, but because it's been so long since I felt compelled to arrive early to purchase tickets for anything on the first day sales began. But because I'd heard the New Kids' Chicago and Toronto shows had both sold out within minutes, I didn't want to risk being shut out of the St. Louis show. I needed tickets for myself and three friends, and I was determined to get them.

Luckily, once the line ticket numbers were announced, I wasn't the last one to get pulled. But geez, did I hear from the person who was. In fact, I'm sure everyone in the outlet heard her because she was totally pissed off about the outcome. Afterwards, as we continued to wait, she spent the entire time ranting on her cell phone, cursing loudly and complaining about Ticketmaster's line ticket rules, which put her at the back of the line even though she had been among the first people to show up. Truth be told, I felt her pain.

Like me, the poor woman's been waiting 15 years for this incredible, possibly once in a lifetime, opportunity to see the New Kids again, and then, through no fault of her own, she winds up getting the shaft because of some dumb policy. Still, I don't think it was necessary for her to react so rudely in public. Then again, had I gone from first to last in line, I wouldn't have been a happy camper, either.

So the countdown to the biggest reunion concert of the year begins. New Kids on the Block are back and they're coming to a block (or city) near you. Did they have to get back together again? Absolutely not. Did they want to get back together? Definitely. Are their fans eagerly awaiting their return? HELL YEAH! | Retannical D. Russell