"OMG, we're back again!"

So, two concerts at The Palace in one week is exhausting. FUN, but exhausting. This time we went to see New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and The Backstreeet Boys (BSB) -Shout out to Carrie for getting the tickets!- I have never been a real big BSB fan, I was always more of an Nsync girl but I was very impressed with those boys last night.

The merch stand had the typical t-shirts for $40 and keychain's for $15. I wasn't crazy about any of the shirts. As I told Carrie, I could probably make them myself and I wouldn't even charge you $40 for it!

We didn't get to people watch a whole lot but we did notice the usual homemade shirts (with puffy paint!), girls wearing their original shirts from back in the day (even though they are all growed up now) and LOTS of sparkly tops. So sparkly! Oh, and I saw maybe 3 boys in the crowd.

The show began right at 730 with a blah opener, Ashlyne Huff. She was dressed in some sort of leotard/sparkly bathing suit thing and had backup dancers and her own DJ hyping her up to the audience. It was really weird and kind of chaotic. In the middle of her set, she just started dancing to songs from the 80's and 90's. It was strange. She wasn't on for long though and then Jordin Sparks came out. I was actually pretty impressed with her. Girl has got herself a really good voice and I was surprised that I recognized so many songs. She didn't have a band though. She was singing along to a backup track of music, I guess? And she had this really lame visual of a dude's hands (I am assuming it was a dude) playing guitar whenever there was the slightest bit of guitar in the song. It was odd. But all in all, I was happy with her set.

After LOTS of visuals on the screens of ALL the boys, they came out. I'm not going to lie, it was really exciting. With all the flashing lights and the background music (Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"??) it was very cool. They started singing and the ladies lost it. Screams galore, but not the high shrill screams of the Glee concert... regular screams of lust and "JOEY/NICK/JORDAN etc., I LOVE YOU!!!!!" It was a very entertaining experience. NKOTB came out and sang a few songs and then BSB would come out and do a few of their songs. The whole show was really organized and very well done.

NKOTB changed outfits no less than 7 times. I think it was 7. If it was more than that, I lost count after 7.  I love the costume changes though. It fit the show perfectly and oh my goodness, THOSE BOYS ARE HANDSOME. Seriously, they have been doing this for how long now and they all look amazing. Each band had their "ballad/serenading" set. I liked NKOTB's better than BSB's not only because I know their songs better, but because they didn't pull girls up on stage and sing to them. Oh yes, the BSB boys went into the crowd, each picked a girl, brought her up on stage, set her down on a stool (gave her a rose) and serenaded her. While hysterically funny (though it wasn't meant to be), I could barely look on stage because I was so mortified for the girls. I'm positive they loved it, but I couldn't help but think how embarrassed  I would be, had it been me. The whole thing was UBER cheesy but it was supposed to be.

When I was younger, I was always a Jordan girl. I had the big giant button that I would set up in my desk at school (still have it somewhere in my attic) and I thought he was the cutest. He's still cute and can wear a V-neck t-shirt like no other, but my heart belongs to Joey McIntyre these days. Remember when he was on the first season of Dancing With the Stars? That's about the time when I decided to switch. Anyway, that boy is insanely talented. For real. His voice sounded so so so fantastic and when he belted out "Please Don't Go Girl", my heart melted a little. It was that good. AMAZING. I can't find a video of it from our show, otherwise I would be posting it right now but trust me when I say he was nothing short of stellar.

The rest of the night finished with all the boys performing their hits. BSB rocked it with "Everybody" and "I Want It That Way" and of course, NKOTB did "Hangin' Tough and "Step By Step" as well as a slew of other hits. They each did their own finale and just when we thought the concert was never going to end (we really didn't think they were going to stop), they ended the evening with this:



Fun, right?

We closed our night out by rehashing the concert in the parking lot, while waiting for the traffic to clear.

Listen, whether you think these boys are overrated simply for being "boy bands" or because only teenage adult women like them and swoon over them, please know that they are seriously talented. They worked their asses off during every single number. The amount of choreography and stamina needed to make a show like that be successful is off the charts and they nailed it. Nailed. It. Their voices were awesome and the dancing was almost mesmerizing. Bottomline: if you have a chance to check out one of their shows, do it. I promise, you will not be disappointed. You will be fully entertained for two and a half hours and you will be so happy that you went. And then you will go home and pull out your NKOTB tapes (yeah, I said tapes) and your BSB cd's and you will rock out and relive the memories of the night, as well as your youth.

Finally, I leave you with this... Because you have to experience some version of it and see why I love it so much. This performance is from their Toronto show: