And now a show I CAN write about ~ the NKOTB show at Nokia Theatre. It was their last one in the U.S. for 2008, and the show was AMAZING!!! I honestly think it was the best one I've been to.
Starting with before the concert. My friends and I got there pretty early, and we're pretty sure that we were right behind one of the vans escorting the guys to the show. After circling the block a few times and no longer seeing the van, we ended up parking, put the finishing touches on our makeup and such. The area we parked looked pretty secluded and we wondered if this would be where the guys were parking their cars if they drove themselves. An Audi looked familiar, but we didn't know of anyone who drove it.
We went up to the venue and just walked around/hung out out front till they opened the doors. I got in touch with a mutual myspace friend of mine and Brenda's to find out where she was at. We found her, and we also discovered where the 5* VIP people were waiting. Within 5 to 10 minutes, we saw Jon being dropped off. We were all across the street and not allowed to go anywhere, so we just "woo-ed" and Jon waved.
After we met up with our myspace friend, we went to the restroom, and when we got out to re-meet up with our other friend in our group, we discovered that security wouldn't let us through! Our friend, TC was in line with the 5* people, and security wasn't letting us pass. We told him that our friend was right there, and he was like "Well, she's gonna have to go, too." Brenda and I ended up walking around the building to get to our friend from the other side. TC texted as we were on our way over to tell us that Jon was just there smoking! We were hurrying as fast as we could. When we finally reached her, some of the guys had stepped out into the hallway, and it was all glass windows, so we could see them. Security was trying to keep us back, but finally let us go. There were maybe 6 or 8 of us. So, we ran up to the window, took pics and waved. I got some pretty clear shots of Jordan and Donnie.
Soon after, we went to Will Call to pick up our 4* tickets. We were in the 8th row!!! and all of our seats were together, which was a miracle because we were only allowed to purchase 4 tix at a time, and there were 5 of us. I was going to buy mine as a single, but I Love All Access wasn't happy with my billing address ~ grr argh. So, Brenda ended up buying it for me, but minutes had passed before she did.
Lady Gaga opened for them (I thought that was a one-time Vegas thing ~ guess not), and of course, Natasha Bedingfield. Lady Gaga is just as weird or weirder than I thought she was in Vegas! Very pretentious. And Natasha was awesome, as usual. It was her b-day and her last day on the New Kids tour.
The guys gave all their energy, but I could tell they were tired. Joe and Jordan went off a little bit a couple of times ~ no real support to some of the notes, but that's okay ~ I saw them do it right before. ;-)
Generally, at their concerts, they had a second stage ~ a circular, moving stage that was set up towards the back of the stadium. Nokia theatre couldn't be set up for the B-stage, so they did that part of the concert on the main stage, BUT in the middle of "Tonight," they ran out into the audience and to the back where the audio boards were ~ jumped on top and sang.
Word had spread before the show that after "Click Click Click," we would sing "Happy Birthday" to Jon. I think we were all wondering when to break out in song because the "Click Click Click" pose-off was quite a commotion! Joe showed his nipple! LOL ~ Jordan had bet him $2000 to show some skin. So, a girl in the front row passed the flyer to Joe, and he looked at it saying "Oh, so someone thinks we should sing Happy Birthday to Jon." We cheered, and he started singing NK's version of "Happy Birthday," then he asked if we wanted THEM to sing it or US, we screamed "UUUS!!!" So, he counted us off, we sang, and the band joined in. The guys and dancers gave him hugs, Jon really hugged, picked up, and twirled one of the girls around; and Joe commented on that. Then he was going on about how you only celebrate your birthday for one day, not a week, not a month...but one day! During this time, Donnie kissed Jon smack on the lips!!! The crowd went crazy!!!
After that, Joe explained the whole thing about "Let's Get This," which has appeared as a slogan on their community board. Basically, it's just a saying in response to anything that's going on in your life. If a friend invites you for dinner or you see someone cute in a club, etc. Your response is: "Let's get this." If your best friend tells you she has two tickets to the New Kids concert, you say "Let's get this!!!!!!"
The time that Donnie talks to the crowd, he was like "Are you guys ready to go home???" We were like "NOOOOO!!!!" And he went on about how some of us have husbands (mixed crowd response ;-)). He continued "waiting for you at home to baste the turkey..." He was going on about all of that, and didn't we want to be home getting ready for Thanksgiving. There were boos and no's from the crowd. Then Donnie screamed "Yeah, tell your husbands: 'BASTE YOUR OOOWWWN TURKEY!!!! This is MY night!!!'"
The only other personal memory is when they started "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)." The moment the song started, I felt myself choking up. I have NEVER cried at any of their concerts or when I met them. So, this was a surprise for me, and I couldn't stop myself. It felt like the end of an adventure for me. I know they'll be doing it again in '09, but it's the end for now. And the song is very iconic for me because it's the one song I remember hearing on the Top 5 at 10 at my local radio station (top 5 songs that aired at 10pm). My friends and I would call in and vote, there was one time that I got to announce the #1 song (I think it was "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)). But I would always fall asleep and/or wake up to "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)," all snug in my bed and SO happy that NK was at #1 or a little disappointed of a slip to #2, but determined to bring them back up to #1 the next night. I remember them singing it at my first NK concert. I was in the 3rd row, and it was like Jordan had pointed right at me when he was pointing at ALL the fans on the line "...and a million for you." *guh!* And how now when they perform it, and we're all singing it...it's like they're singing to us that they'll be loving US forever, and we're singing that we'll be loving THEM forever. It tugs at my heart... :-)
After the show, we went back to the back area ~ where we had seen Jon being dropped off, and we waited out there in the cold for quite a while! We saw Jordan...and...SOMEONE else leave. There was a white van...Jordan came out, waved, got on the ledge of the van, threw both of his hands out in the air, we all ran towards the van. LOL ~ I never thought I'd be one of THOSE girls! But my friends and I DID slow down in the run cuz it was a little ridiculous. And I think we started to run cuz we were in the front and didn't want to get trampled over. Then Brenda and I moved towards the corner of the street with a few other fans and got our pics from there.
After the van left, we met back up with TC and waited some more. TC had a sign for Donnie ~ Florida girl in emergency need of Facetime. Anyway, this someone else who was with Jordan...Brenda thought it was Danny...but I read somewhere else where someone said it was Jon. So, i dunno. We waited, waited, and waited. One of the security guards (and really, how much help were they in keeping us back? ;-)) kept us in the loop. First, saying that it sounded like all the guys were gone, and there was another exit that at least one of the guys took. We still stuck around, and then he heard that there was one guy left in the dressing rooms. Then that went up to two guys. There was slight commotion when people thought they saw Donnie, but who they saw were actually, first, Nick Leche...then about 10 to 15 min. later, it was Drew Leche. Drew actually waved to us (nice), and when he drove off, he honked. And ONE of the Leche brothers had that black Audi that we noticed in the garage. I don't remember which one now.
Oh, and we saw Joe's wife, Barrett. She waved to us. Woo.
We gave up after a while cuz it was cold, the security guards had been gone for a while, and no one was coming out of the building anymore. We hung out in the garage for a little bit to see if anyone we knew would come down. ;-) There was a woman who left who waved to me ~ I think she thought I was about to wave, when I really, I was just pushing the hair out of my face. But that woman kinda looked like Barrett. Then we FINALLY really gave up.
Thus ends our New Kids adventure 2008. I later heard that the last two guys in the dressing room was Donnie and Joe, and they left using the other secret exit ~ honking to the last few remaining girls.
Finally ~ a nice concert montage:
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