Right after school, I hurried home to get dressed and leave for the show. Even though it was early, I wanted to get myself there early so I left and decided to go to Six Brothers for some mutz sticks. I decided to ask a friend to join me for dinner who lives not too far away. By the time he arrived, it was getting late. I headed over to the Izod Center with about 15-30 minutes left. Through a couple unfortunate mishaps with the toll I had to pay and the parking fee that I didn't know about, I still arrived. I had only one ticket and my friend was there in other seats in another section. I eventually found her after Natasha Bettingfield sang in the opening act.
For me, the show was pretty emotional
. I was thinking about how the crowd was joined - all young women my age. We all shared a special bond - whether we spent some of our elementary school days toting a New Kids On the Block lunch box, or wearing a shirt...we probably all had the experiences of dancing to their music at about 2am in a friend's livingroom during a sleepover. I figured out that they really marketed NKOTB well when I was about eight. They had the whole boy-band formula down - get a couple shy-guy basses, add on top one bad boy, one young boy who can sing falsetto, and one main hearthrob with a personality to head it up (with a falsetto). Speaking of falsettos - even if the original producers didn't have this in mind - by using a falsetto by at least two of the guys - it really appealed to the girls (and some boys) under 12 - because those children were developing their boy crushes in school. And those little boys under 12 had the same vocal range - similar to a changed-male voice's falsetto. But, my inner child was very happy. I often had tears in my eyes and got chills when I heard their earlier stuff. Now their new album is really all sexed-up. You can tell those "kids" grew up into a bunch of horn-dogs.
But I love New Kids - whether or not I decided at about age 11 to throw their cd out my bedroom window. Donnie came out later and talked about how we were the first concert to be performed on US soil in 15 years. He said how everyone back then thought we were crazy little kids and they were crazy guys. But others just didn't get it. NKOTB, for me, embodied something very important to me when I was eight. I even wrote them letters (the contents I will not divulge - that's between me and Jordan!)
My inner-child was very happy to see NKOTB!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States
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