Katie, a member of our DevilBear family was among our metal adventure into the popworld this past weekend. Read Katie’s journey from 1991 to 2012… with the New Kids On The Block in tow…

Rock Katie Goes Pop: NKOTBSB Style

I haven’t been this excited about a concert since 1991! Yes, 1991! I was 10 years old and I was going to see New Kids on the Block at Wembley Arena with my mum – my first concert! I was tiny, I had to stand on the chair and have cotton wool in my ears, but there they were, my idols, my first crushes, right in front of me. I cried.

Fast forward 20 years. Oh the joy when I realised all the New Kids were on Twitter. They were still around and what’s this – NKOTB are back….? With the Backstreet Boys…? Oh my days. Please tour. Please come to England……

There were unified squeals of delight amongst the DevilBears when the Kids announced a European Tour including a date at the O2 in London. Trigger fingers were at the ready when tickets went on pre-sale. I managed to get seats on Tier 1 but DevilBear Bec was straight on the case and managed to get floor tickets. Awesome work!

So here we are – it’s 2012 and I feel like that 10 year old again. I have danced around my house to New Kids tunes all week, bored everyone senseless, driven my husband mad, but this is it – I have my ticket – London here I come!

But just why am I so excited about 5 now middle aged men? Ok, so yes I’ve moved on, I’m into rock and metal, my favourite bands are now Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars, but when I think about it, I realise it’s because these men and their songs hold happy memories for me. I remember having a group of friends and we used to make up dances to their songs in our bedrooms. I had every album, including the Christmas one (have a Funky, Funky Christmas….), I even had a Jordan doll (ssshhhhh!). Just happy, happy times.

Mention must go to the Backstreet Boys at this stage and the fact that they were just as big a part of this gig as the Kids. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited to see them, however, I was never really into them. I know their hits, but that’s about it. Also, it must be noted that sadly not all of the Backstreet Boys were present and correct on this tour. Kevin Richardson was not performing with the band as he left in 2006 to pursue a solo career.

Accompanying me on the little trip was Sarah, who, whilst I was NKOTB, was definitely BSB – Nick Carter to be specific.

So here it was. Show time. Sarah and I took our seats in Tier 1 (which didn’t turn out bad at all, almost level with the end of the central runway and not too high up), and The DevilBears Cheryl (Editor Note: I prefer the awesome Cheryl, or Supreme Ruler of DevilBear’s actually) and Bec took their place on the floor (nice and close to the runway).

The lights went out and everyone stood. The screens were showing pictures of the ‘boys’, and oh, time has been good to them. Yes, as a 30(something), they still did it for me! Screams rang around the arena as they flashed up on screen:

Jordan “Whoooo”,
Joey “Whoooooo”,
Donnie “Whoooooooooo”,
Nick “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh” (and that was just Sarah!).

And then there they were, 9 rather delicious chaps ready to entertain. And entertain they did. Opening with a medley of songs they had the crowd dancing and singing along from the first note. This didn’t stop. We didn’t sit down for the duration of the show, and neither did anyone around us.

The show was cleverly put together with the transition from song to song being seamless. The Backstreet Boys would perform and suddenly, New Kids would appear at the end of the runway to start their next.

Both bands delighted the crowd by performing their hits including, for New Kids: You’ve Got It (The Right Stuff), Step By Step, I’ll be Loving You (Forever), Please Don’t Go Girl, Games and Cover Girl, and for Backstreet Boys: We’ve Got It Going On, Get Down (You’re The One For Me), As Long As You Love Me, Larger Than Life, and I Want It That Way. It was at this point I realised that I WAS a Backstreet fan as I knew more lyrics than I ever realised. They won me over with their slick performance, and yes I agree, Nick Carter is rather tasty!

It’s nice to see bands interact with their fans; after all, it’s the fans which help make a band. New Kids kicked into a personal favourite of ‘Tonight’, at which point they all promptly jumped off the runway and it the adoring crowd. Yes, there was security with them, but they had no problem high-fiving, kissing, hugging, talking to and singing to their fans. And this is where we scored! Joey came right up the aisle our seats were on. Awesome! Ok, we got silly, we were screaming, we wanted to touch him and say hi. How old are we??

After re-joining his fellow band members on stage, there was the good old fashioned sing off to see which half of the area was louder than the other. Donnie commanded us all ‘Everybody over heeere, everybody over theeere’ la la la la lala Tonight…..!!

Not to be outdone, the Backstreet Boys had their good share of audience participation. Again, Sarah and I were lucky enough to have A.J. and Howie pass us by in the aisle when they went on a walkabout. In addition, they pulled four lucky ladies from the crowd to be serenaded with I’ll Never Break Your Heart. Nick had his work cut out as his lady gave as good as she got, and she got it good! She flirted back and pinched his bum when he wiggled it at her… but then, wouldn’t you have?!

Whilst we were very lucky in the tier to have three of them come so close by, let’s not forget the DevilBear’s on the floor. They scored too. Massively. DevilBear Cheryl is known for her photography skills, and yet again, she was on the money and took what will go down in DevilBear legend as ‘that’ photo.

I have a soft spot for Donnie. More so recently, as when I was 10 it was Jordan who I swooned over. But seeing Donnie as an actor and a man, yeah, he’s got ‘it’. He’ll always be my Carwood Lipton in Band of Brothers. So, when he came out is his trademark old school home-boy get up (big trainers, baggy jeans, Run DMC t-shirt and baseball cap), I was like ‘oooh, hello’. And then he did it. Right in the middle of the runway. He ripped his t-shirt off. Oh lordy. DevilBear resuscitation required!

The leaders of the DevilBear’s were in prime position. Snap-snap went Cheryl’s camera, and she captured it, for my viewing pleasure, forever.

You’ve got to give it to them, they’ve got stamina. Over two and a half hours later, we were ready for the encore. Two songs were noticeably conspicuous by their absence and it just had to be, didn’t it?

Yes! Hangin’ Tough and Backstreet’s Back. Both songs in full followed by an awesome sing off mash-up of both songs. A fantastic end to a fantastic concert. The show was amazing, the choreography slick (including many original dance routines) and the accompanying live band fantastic.

In all the boys (men) did themselves proud. They genuinely looked as if they were comfortable and enjoying themselves. There was genuine camaraderie on stage and it really showed.

And there it was, the NKOTBSB experience was over…. or was it….?

—-

It’s Sunday, we we’re all still on high. So much so Bec called Cheryl with one simple task, to book tickets for the Sunday night performance. Cheryl’s response? ‘Done’.

For myself and Sarah, the Sunday evening wasn’t an option so it was a drive home up a rather nasty wet and windy M1. However, mid-afternoon, in my post-NKOTBSB lull it dawned on me. This is being streamed live tonight!

I smiled sweetly at my husband (who, incidentally, can’t see any remote fascination for NKOTB, BSB, or Donnie’s abs, not sure why) and he obliged by hooking the laptop up to the TV in the living room so I could watch the stream in 5.1 HD glory. I paid my $4.99 online and I was set.

Devilbears Cheryl and Bec had again managed to secure floor seats. Once is good luck, twice is jammy! This time at the end of the runway in the centre of the arena.

It’s 7.45pm and the stream is live. Husband is unamused (but tolerating it), the dog is asleep, but I’m beside myself. After checking in with Cheryl (with a command of ‘Dance in the aisles so I can spot you’), I can see them on the stream. I waved…

So, the rollercoaster began again. Naturally, the same show as the night before, but from my point, from an awesomely different perspective.

I have to give it to Livebeats. The feed was brilliant. It was stable and there was no sticking or buffering. The sound was good for a live feed and the camera work excellent. The feed would make a brilliant DVD. NKOTBSB management take note – a DVD – out in time for Christmas – yes?

In some shots, I could see the London Devilbears rocking out, but this time, I was the one with the close up of Donnie and his t-shirt ripping antics due to some nice camera work!

The Sunday night gig marked the end of the UK tour for the boys and as you would expect, they had a few thank you’s to give and wanted to have a chat with the audience.

A.J. asked his boys to help him remove his jacket. Whilst everyone looked on puzzled, he turned round to reveal the back of his t-shirt: Daddy To Be! Everyone cheered and there were hugs all round on stage. As Donnie put it, another Backstreet niece or nephew, and another new kid on the block. Congratulations on your pending fatherhood A.J!

And then just when we all thought it was encore time, they dropped the bomb. Nick announced that the Backstreet Boys would be going back into the studio in July to record a new album. The crowd went mad. But then, the clincher…..

KEVIN RICHARDSON WOULD BE JOINING THEM!!

The crowd then went mental. I even screamed and woke the dog up! There were shots of women crying. People were beside themselves. This is it. The Backstreet line-up is once again complete.

Could there possibly then be a tour with all ten of them?? Oh please – we know we’ll be there for sure.

So there it was, for one weekend, we put the metal aside and went POP!

NKOTBSB. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.