NKOTB and Me?

Last night I had a dream. I dreamed that I went to the NKTOB reunion concert and it was awesome.

This may seem inconsequential to most.

And lame to even more of you.

But I woke up this morning with the realization that if I don't go to their concert a week from this Saturday at Riverbend - I'm really going to regret it.

Many of you may also feel the way that I feel- if not about NKTOB then maybe about some other band - but for those who do not ... let me elaborate.

I was among the youngest age group that obsessed over the New Kids on The Block. Sure, I caught on at the tail end of their popularity- but being very young I didn't recognize the time period lapses between their tapes being released, or which tape came out when, or that the older girls were moving on to Bush and Nirvana and the boy bands of the 80s were fading into oblivion.

I did recognize that there was a group of very cute, oh-so-cool boys that were singing love songs that I dreamed were just for me --- and that was doubly true--- no triple true, when Joey sang . (He was my favorite---though now a grown woman I would much sooner go for Jon or Jordan)

My girlfriends and I used to watch VHS tapes of their concerts and pretend that we were really there. If a girl got pulled up on stage and one of our boys kissed that girls cheeks, we giggled and wondered what it would be like to be that girl.

I had t-shirts and giant buttons and water bottles and dolls - all NKOTB themed.

And I may or may not have made out with a tape cassette cover with Joey's picture on it- don't judge me.

I loved me some New Kids on the Block.

Then their No More Games CD came out and they lost their sparkle to me. Gone were the cute, clean cut, romantic boys that I fell in love with. In their place were guys, who were becoming men, and had outgrown me. All I had left was my walk-man and worn-out tapes of Hangin Tough, Step-By-Step, and their self titled debut which was my personal favorite.

Oddly enough though I didn't leave them behind when they left me behind. As I approached junior high and began dating and having my heartbroken, I would pull out my old tapes from time to time and wondered why no "real life" boy treated me like the boys treated girls in their songs. I also wondered how come there were no groups like NKTOB now that I was a teenager -- and it wasn't but two years later that N' Sync and Backstreet surfaced and as the popularity soared I realized I wasn't the only girl who must've felt that way --- but those groups never made me feel the same way NKOTB did.

They were my first loves. Their songs were the songs that made me realize as a little girl; that someday I would have a boyfriend and would be in love. But they also remind me of my sweet innocence- because at that time having a boyfriend meant cheek kisses and notes and carrying my books for me at school ( I'm not sure that ever happened irl to ANYONE) and maybe pulling me up on stage at their concert --- after all what boy worth calling my boyfriend wouldn't have concerts?

I was an NKTOB fan at my youngest and purest and the pure fan craze that I felt for them when I was under the age of 10 - is something that I've never experienced again in my life.

The fact that when I have day dreams about going to their concert and could easily see myself feeling the same way now that I did then - like I can't keep from screaming and wishing with all my heart that one of those guys will spot me from the stage and pull me up to serenade me as we step- touch dance in front of millions of other girls, before he kisses my cheek and helps me back to my seat --- (did I mention I'm still about 7 years old when I invision this?) only adds fuel to the fire --- I HAVE TO GO THIS CONCERT!

I never got to go as a little girl and if I don't go now and they split up again (which is nearly inevitible---they can't really think their new songs will sustain them- its their old songs that have fans flocking to their concerts..amirite?) I will have missed my chance all over again.

So why don't I just go buy tickets?

Dillema:

Lawn Seats are very affordable - I could buy tickets for me and my broke friends.

But I don't want lawn seats.

(They don't pull girls on stage from the lawn! j/k...or am I?)

I want to be as close as I can be. I want to feel the energy and get carried back to that time in my life gone-by. I want to actually be able to see the guys and NOT on a jumbo-tron.

Problem is one ticket will cost over $100. Not a problem for me ... but none of my friends will be able to pay that....if I bought their ticket I would have spent over $200 for NKOTB tickets and I'm not sure in even my fan-crazed state I can justify that for a group that hasn't had a hit in over a decade.

I'm thinking of offering to pay half for a friend if she buys the other half---I just called her---she's off today and still sleeping so she wasn't super receptive to my call but we shall see.

Ok...I'm done obsessing - for now- but I'm going to that concert one way or another.

I owe it to my 7 year-old self.

But I'm curious- anyone else out there have a band or celebrity that they still obsess over --- another New Kid in the Blockheads?

I promise---after this post---I can't judge you!

Looove!

Mrs. Joey Mcintyre

(What do you mean he has a wife and child?!?!??!)

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