Old Kids On Wisco's Block

Jaded Insider guest blogger WiscoD is an indie rock publicist circa 2008, but it wasn't long ago that she pledged her allegiance to Tool, Korn and, yes, New Kids On The Block. When the latter group rolled into New York this week, we unleashed Wisco on the show and asked her to tell us all about it.

I must admit that I completely forgot the fact I had scored tickets to see the New Kids on the Block reunion tour last night. Everyone kept asking me what my plans were for music this week and I'd name off a few indie rock shows and then glance at my calendar and lo and behold there was NKOTB in bold for Monday, October 27th. My lack of excitement probably is why I'm going to go ahead and say I HAD THE BEST TIME EVER!!!!!!

I was a huge fan of theirs during my 5th and 6th grade years, smack dab between my obsessions with Bon Jovi and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I remember it as the one time in my life that my sister and I agreed on music. We decked out our rooms in posters, pillows, and anything else NKOTB that we could get our hands on or force our parents to pay for. When we were lucky enough for them to come through Wisconsin... TWICE... we of course created posters to draw their attention our way. I remarked to my friend last night that back then, with my I LUV U JON poster in hand, somehow I always felt like they were looking directly at me.

And so back to last night's show, nearly 16 years later and I'm all grown up. And my, my have those boys aged well. Most specifically Joey McIntyre. I couldn't tell who everyone was screaming louder for -- Joey, Donnie or Jordan -- but I know every time he even remotely took center stage, the words "I love you Joey" came shooting out of my mouth.

Whoever the crowd was screaming for, it was freaking loud in there! Women everywhere were dressed in throwback early '90s gear with mementos of our past innocence, making the experience all the more surreal. The group played a lot of oldies, and when they did, MSG was turned up to 11. I was singing along to every single verse to "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" (cue my old dance moves), "Please Don't Go Girl" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)," followed by a finale of "Step by Step" and the ultra amazing, hands waving in unison too "oh oh oh oh oh 'Hangin Tough.'"

There were some news songs sprinkled in that were fine, and some of them cracked out their solo work, complete with a gratuitous, open-shirted/windblown Jordan singing his one hit single "Give It To You." I had this odd feeling that he was unnecessarily lip-syncing during this song, since everyone's voices had held their own last night. Seriously, how the hell does Jordan get eunuch-high? At one point, two sections in, and about 20 rows up, I'm pretty sure Joey was looking at me. Call me!