New Kids on the Block Concert!!! Part TWO!!

On Thursday, March 19, 2009, in Baltimore, MD - a long held dream of mine came true....I met New Kids on the Block!!!

For my regular blog friends my adoration/love/obsession for the boy-band of the early 1990's should be no surprise. I have loved them since they appeared on the Disney Fourth of July special back in 1989 (I believe it was 1989??). Even when they broke up in 1995, I still loved them - getting teased mercilessly for this crazy passion through college (cause I had posters of them up in my dorm rooms).

Well on Thursday I got to meet them!! This was all made possible by my childhood friend, who also shares my birthday date, Sonia. She and I have and continue to love the band and she said if she ever got the opportunity to meet them she would bring me along. Well the clouds opened and a chance was provided through this Iloveallaccess company. For a pretty penny they give you front row tickets and a meet and greet before certain concerts and this New Kids on the Block tour was one of those shows. I was all in when Sonia suggested this avenue.

THE EVENT
At 4pm we (all those who had bought these expensive tickets) lined up outside of First Mariner's Arena in Baltimore. The doors opened at about 4:45pm and we lined up to get checked in (not shocking that all the fans were around our age and almost all women). On each of our all-access badges a letter was placed. That letter was the group you would be in to meet the boys. The company arranged for groups of ten to go in at a time. Sonia and I were in group C, so pretty close to the top. We went into the holding room with all the other fans and waited for about another hour.

Close to 6pm the magic happened. Group C was ushered into the room and there (cue the heavenly music) were Danny, Joey, Jordan, Donnie and Johnathan. To say I was in shock would be an understatement. I didn't know where to go. The guys looked great and they were real, no more a figment of my imagination. All the other girls were streaming past me. They only give you about 30 seconds to get into the room and get a hug from each of the guys, than they take your pic and your shuffled out. But I have to say in my 30 seconds I did get to talk to each of the guys. I joked with Danny first, saying something about "where was there a line and how us Americans need our lines." And moved onto Joey where I made a fool of myself by just shouting "Joey!" to Joey (my only major gaffe of the evening). I than sort of stood outside of the other girls and Jordan looked right at me, me! He came over and gave me a hug and said something about "hey we gotta hug our fans" or something.

Following that Johnathan came over to give a hug and I said "are you happy about the elections?"
He bent down (cause he is much taller than me and there was a lot of chatter in the room) and said in his Boston accent, "what's that?"
Me, "I saw you in DC, you were wearing the Obama shirt, aren't you happy about the results of the election?"
Him, now bending down close to me and putting his left hand on my shoulder (you know how you do when you are trying to hear someone better) and said "yeah I was happy but not anymore."
Me, "oh me too, don't get me started."
For the time they give you and compared to the same thing everyone else was saying, I think that piece of conversation, albeit very short, was significant and I'm pleased.

Than the picture was posed and we were ushered out of the room. But my friend Sonia has connections in the music industry and she remained in the room talking to Donnie and because of that, I got pulled over to him (instead of being booted). Anyway, than I got to talk to Donnie, just briefly to say that I loved him in the miniseries Band of Brothers (which I did). But the piece de resistance....Donnie gave Sonia after show passes!!!! I was over the moon!!!

After the show we got to meet up with Joey again (and again, surprise, surprise, I said nothing of consequence, this is the third time I have encountered him and this is the third time I am completely inarticulate with my favorite band member of New Kids on the Block, what is up with that?!).

But when all is said and done, this experience now factors in the top ten of my life!! They guys were very nice (and to be honest much kinder than I thought they would be). A dream of mine came true, a tick mark off the bucket list!!