Giddy

I should be so embarrassed to write this.

Last night, after waiting almost 20 years, I finally got to see New Kids on the Block in concert. And it was everything I had ever hoped and dreamed it would be! They played all the classics like Hangin’ Tough, The Right Stuff, and my personal favorite, Cover Girl. And then they played singles from their new album, The Block, which I promptly downloaded from Itunes today. Am I seriously admitting to this nonsense?

The concert was like a dream. Hearing these songs that I’d listened to in my room while pining away as a lonely, soon-to-be-boy-crazy-9-year-old. Seeing these familiar but older faces of the once boyish, original “boy band.” The years have been kind to them. They look exactly the same, but actually better as grown men. Some or all are married now, but even so, the naive 4th grader in me fell in love with them all over again. It was this crazy wonderful leap back in time. They did all the same cheesy, coordinated dances, holding their belt-buckles with both hands, and even wore the same outfits, or maybe modern versions of the old outfits, but it was the same as I remembered them. And despite the silliness of it, it was still a quality production. The guys sang great and never missed a beat.

The best part? We got upgraded from upper level to floor seats since the arena did not sell out. The guys came down to the floor to perform a few songs on a small rotating stage and we got within 20 feet of them. Talk about dream come true! Never in my wildest 4th grade dreams did I think I would be standing so close to these heartthrobs! I even hoped I might be one of The Chosen Ones and pulled from the crowd to stand onstage while they sang to me. What is my problem and why are these ridiculous embarrassing things getting typed into this blog post?!?!

I downloaded my photos today, and discovered I had taken over 200!!! I wanted to capture every second of the show! Here are a few of my favorites, and a brief video of the floor stage, where we came oh so close to actually making eye contact with them or even touching them. Stop it, Self!

Finally, the video: