Recap NKOTBSB at the Allstate Arena

For millions upon millions of girls in the late ’80s and ’90s, New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys were just it. They knew who they dated, bought their merch, and knew all the dance moves they did. Unfortunately for the Kids and Boys, though, their fan base, for the most part, aged out of their music, getting more into grunge or Van Morrison or whatever teenagers are into.

However—and this is a big however—some New Kids and Backstreet fans remained, becoming increasingly fervent in their fandom, and now with even more direct access to their heroes. They organized breast cancer fundraisers when NKOTB’s Danny Wood lost his mom to the disease. They supported BSB’s A.J. McLean in his battles with addiction. Most importantly, they bought stuff—a lot of stuff, really. There is, for instance, a New Kids On The Block cruise, chock full of fans looking to go through the ice cream buffet with their once and current idols. And when, late last year, the New Kids and the Backstreet Boys announced that they’d be teaming up to co-headline the NKOTBSB tour, a nation of 30something ex-girls went crazy.

Fast-forward to last night in a room full of screaming women as the tour kicked off at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. Now, going in to the show, it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a mostly lady-filled nostalgia fest, and, yeah, there would probably be some squealing. What happened completely destroyed that notion. It wasn’t so much squealing as constant, loud screaming. People 30 rows back would constantly yell the name of their favorite Kid or Boy, just trying to get a look. A woman, there with her 5-year-old son, brought a whistle which she blew, constantly, like a track coach. There were neon poster-board signs. There were people clearly angling to get backstage. There were a lot of custom-made shirts, and there were hardly any men there.

Considering the level of fame to which NKOTBSB rose at their respective heights, none of this should be surprising, really. And yet... it was. It was just as weird, or off-putting, maybe, to see these adult men—nine-strong at points (and trying to harmonize, which didn’t work)—wearing riding boots, vinyl, white satin suits, and singing about girls, love, and hangin’ tough. Some of the dudes—NKOTB’s Donnie Wahlberg and BSB’s McLean and Nick Carter—embraced it, giving 110 percent and hamming it up. NKOTB’s Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre did well, having clearly kept up their voices in recent years by doing Broadway and solo records. Others, like NKOTB’s Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood, just weren’t really into it. They were there, and they sang, but man, they looked awkward. Knight, up until recently, was doing pretty well in real estate, and some have posited that the market’s collapse could be what led to the NKOTB reunion.

No matter the reason, though, or whether the audience was pathetic or not, the show did actually kind of work. A runway ran the length of the arena, meaning the bands could have plenty of dancing room, or finish a song at the far end, and then fade into blackness as the other band would start up at the other end. There were a couple of clunkers, song-wise, and some of the New Kids can’t quite hit the notes they could as a pre-pubescent youth, but that’s to be expected. There were sexually explicit cane dances, slow jams in suits, and, in a move that was absolutely excruciatingly awkward, the Backstreet Boys serenaded a girl from the audience. (Seriously. It was like having one guy singing to you with an acoustic guitar times four, plus a stool and white satin. It was absolutely horrifying.)

The night ended with Backstreet Boys re-taking the stage, clad in black (get it? Back in black?) and just killing “Everybody,” monster dance and all. They took off, and then—shit you not—the room filled with green lights and Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up To Boston,” made famous in The Departed. NKOTB, famously from Boston, then burst onto the stage in customized, sequined Celtics jerseys and took on “Hangin’ Tough,” which got nearly every arm in the room up and waving. BSB re-emerged in bedazzled football jerseys, and the two groups battled back and forth, West Side Story-style. It was super over-the-top, and it was ridiculous, but it was pretty fun, too.