Are they still a “boy band?” None of them are technically “boys.” A few have offspring old enough to vote.
The boy band I’m alluding to is the one that practically invented the genre. Before tweens screamed for One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, and The Wanted, they screamed for those semi-bad boys from Boston, the New Kids on the Block.
NKOTB, as they’re sometimes called, ruled the pop world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their biggest singles are “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” “Hangin’ Tough,” and “Step by Step.”
The New Kids recently announced plans to tour North America. Their 42-date trek kicks off May 1 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and ends July 2 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. They’re calling their outing “The Main Event Tour.”
The band, all five members now in their 40s, comes to the SAP Center in San Jose on May 3. It’s one of four stops the group has planned for California. New Kids will be at the Honda Center in Anaheim on May 2, The Forum in Los Angeles on May 9, and the Viejas Arena in San Diego on May 11.
The New Kids have been going around the block for a second time for quite some time. For example, they performed in San Jose (on back-to-back nights) as recently as 2013.
The band hit its zenith in 1989/1990. Then, after the release of their 1994 album, Face the Music, they fell off the planet. Face the Music only sold 27,000 copies during its first week of release. That’s a decent number for 2015 but a flop by 1994 standards; music fans still bought albums back then.
Old Skool NKOTB
Fast forward 15 years to 2008 and the New Kids return to the block with a single, album, tour, and cruise (the cruise has now become an annual event). Their 2008 opus, The Block, sold 100,000 copies in its first week of release. That was good enough to land at the second spot on the Billboard 200.
Since their reunion, the New Kids have launched five major tours with a bevy of bigtime supporting acts including Lady Gaga, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and Boyz II Men.
In 2011, the New Kids collaborated with Backstreet Boys for the compilation album, NKOTBSB. They released another studio album, 10, in 2013. The albums debuted at seven and six respectively on the Billboard 200. In 2014, they received their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Clearly, the men of New Kids rediscovered the magic they had in their heyday. They are no longer the world’s highest paid entertainers, like they were in 1991, but their music and live act still resonates with a whole bunch of music fans.
“I would rather have the credibility of thousands of fans and have them be happy. That’s what we’ve learned and that’s why we’re still here,” noted Donnie Wahlberg.
Yes, nostalgia is part of the package, but it’s not the only thing fueling the New Kids since their ’08 reunion. They are legitimate artists who know how to put on a great live show. For some, a NKOTB concert is a time machine but for others it’s a chance to hear some great music and experience some awesome choreography.
The old men from the block are not hitting the road alone. They’re bringing along Nelly and TLC. That means in one night you’ll hear “Hangin’ Tough,” “Hot in Here,” and “Waterfalls.” Those three songs alone are worth the price of New Kids on the Block concert tickets.
Two of the five members of New Kids on the Block can currently be seen on CBS. Donnie Wahlberg plays a cop on the drama Blue Bloods while Joey McIntyre plays “Gerard” on the sitcom The McCarthys. Neither show has to worry about winning an Emmy, but both are entertaining.
