(no subject)
There must be something at NKOTB in Charlotte that I can't resist... It's been 18 years since I last saw NKOTB who were also my first concert experience.
The decision to go was very last minute, like 2pm last minute. I'd been thinking about going for weeks, but wasn't sure with it being a work night if I could and still function on Friday. Nor could I really afford the time off. However, this past week, the work load was more managable and a thought kept creeping into my mind "you'll regret this if you don't go". So, to Ticketmaster I went, got direction to the venue, worked like a feind for the next 2 hours and at 4pm, left work, stopped at Walmart to get cat food (they were compeletly out), went home, walked the dog, changed clothes and was on the road for the 100 mile trip just after 5pm. Once I got in range, tuned into the local top 40 station and listend to their NKOTB pre-party broadcast. Answered all the trivia quesitons right. :)
Got lost in downtown Charlotte, I'm not used to new arenas being in the middle of downtown, went the wrong way on a one way street, and finally found parking. Was misdirected twice as to where will call was, had my purse looked through twice, metal detector wanded twice. My seat was in the section directly to the left side of the stage. I had views of the techs got to see the guys running in and out for costume changes. Oh, and the arean wouldn't give me my bottle water in the bottle. Somehow the safety of the guys would be compromised by me having a plastic bottle. Apparently somewhere along the line, and I don't know if it was for this tour or somehting that's happened at the arena before, but water bottles had been thrown on stage. However, if I could have chucked my bottle on stage from my seat, someone needs to sign me up for the Carolina Panters to be their QB. So into a plastic solo cup it went. Asked for a lid, nope, nothing fit those cups.
Tami Chynn opened. As much as I didn't care for her, I would have rather sat through another of her sets than to have every been exposed to Lady GaGa (or Lady GagGag as I'm calling her now) again. She's the the only opening act I've ever seen who's backup dancers had costume changes. And all I kept thinking was, wow, what a Christina wanna be with the long straight bleach blonde hair and blunt cut bangs. I don't know who was doing it first, but both of them need to get a new hair style. So I think was probably a good idea they didn't give out water bottles and that I coldn't thrown that far, because I may have chucked it at her. I really wish Natasha Bedingfield had opened, she was one that I would have liked to see.
Ended up no one was no one in the two seats to my right so it was good to have room to move and dance. Pink's "So What" came on the PA at one point and the crowd sung along and many people got up and danced. It was kinda cool to see that. Jordan's announcement came about texting them to let them know how we're feeling came across. Almost wanted to text something along the lines of "Kill the opening acts and get your cute butts out here".
The show... *sigh* The show was great. It started after 9pm. They all looked good. For guys pushing 40, holy hot damn. Donnie was such a showboat. I think he won me over when he called the state "North Cakalacky". Don't know why, but it was just one of those moments. Either that or just him standing there allowing us to just scream at him. It was really great ot be able to sing along to the songs. It was so much to sing full out not caring how I sounded (as if I could actually have heard what I sounded like). I like that they incorporated Jordan and Joe's solo projects. Jordan, opened shirt with wind *swoon*. "Stay the Same" was wonderful, it has always been one of my favorite songs and I'm glad I got to see him perform it live with a backing choir. While I liked the new stuff, I think the best moments were the old stuff because I knew the words. I've been listening to those songs for nearly 20 years and The Block for a month. I think the most nostalgic moment I had was during Hangin' Tough and looking out across the arena and seening the thousands of hands waiving in the air. It was just a "WOW" moment. I really liked that it wasn't as super choreographed time wise as other concerts. They took breaks to interact with the crowd. In salute of Halloween, they brought jack-o-lanterns on stage. most creative was of Obama and McCain and the guys encouraged everyone to vote. Donnie about did a face plant during the pose for the end of Click, Click, Click by doing a handstand. They of course goofed on everyone in the pic. Joe missed the beat and was in mid movement and was a blur, Donnie did the hand stand, Danny apparently always does the arm crossed pose, Jon tried the same but didn't get his arms there in time and it more looked like he had an itch he couldn't get to (one of the other guys said that), and Jordan was trying this cross leg squat sit thing and actually ended up keeping Donnie from falling. And the insuing 5 minutes of commentary on it was great. I thought the dancers were justed just the right amount of time. I do wish they had better transitions between costume changes. Even if was just putting up video from their early ears, just do something to keep us entertained for those 40 seconds. But that's probably coming from my experiences with *NSYNC and BSB concerts. The people to my left stood up to leave after Summer Time and I was like, y'all don't know anything about concerts. Hello, they haven't done two of their most famous singles, they haven't introduced the band, they haven't introduced the dancers. You can't leave now, there's more. Course, I'm one that won't leave till the band stops playing and the house lights come up. Other randomness... Danny b-boying - great. Jon, awww, at times he just looked like the 5th wheel. Tho, the people in front of me did get his attention and a smile and wave. They had a poster with "Face Time" on it and held it up while Donnie was doing something. Jon looked over and smiled and waved and pointed the out to the dancer he was standing next to. Joe's pants were too toght - not a fan of the skinny jeans on anyone. Donnie - tease!, Jordan - still can hit those high notes.
Ok, that's enough randomness.