The Bee Gees and Santana, Tina Turner and Michael Jackson, they are among music's most remarkable second acts. But New Kids on the Block may have experienced the most surprising second act.
Why? Because it involves almost exclusively Day 1 fans who go back to 1988 or so.
Since the NKOTB reunited in 2008, the enduring Boston-launched boy band has steadily played full-house concerts while releasing the occasional new album. On Sunday night, Mystic Lake Casino Amphitheater in Prior Lake was packed, marking the group's eighth Twin Cities show in 16 years. And as they've done every other year, they put on a smartly packaged show that was colorful, high energy, fast paced and nostalgic yet refreshing.
The Magic Summer Tour featured all the right stuff — a blizzard of colors in lights, confetti, streamers and outfits, lots of movement more so than dynamic dancing, polished vocal harmonies, sterling lead vocals from Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight, plenty of abs-showcasing shenanigans from Donnie Wahlberg, and a consistent fan friendliness.
NKOTB know how to connect with Blockheads — mostly women between ages 40 and 55 — whether it was having a couple dozen women stand in the stage wings, inviting a handful of women to slow dance with them onstage, or running out into the crowd to perform on five separate small platforms. It's the same kind of accessibility that NKOTB offer on their annual cruises.
Wahlberg, 54 — whose popularity as a star of CBS' "Blue Bloods" since 2010 has been a factor in NKOTB continued popularity — served as the principal spokesman in concert. He explained that the quintet called its new album "Still Kids," their first in 11 years, because "That's what we all are inside."
The fivesome, ages 51 to 55, certainly carried on with a kid-like joyfulness and palpable camaraderie, which isn't always the case with a group that been around for nearly 40 years with the same members. And their fans relived their childhoods, dressing up in neon colors (per NKOTB's requests), holding handmade signs and wearing T-shirts professing love for individual New Kids. And, of course, the Blockheads danced, sang along and partied like it was 1989.
Although the 1¾-hour performance without a live band showcased material from "Still Kids" including the Bee Gees-evoking "Summer Love," heyday tunes dominated the set. "My Favorite Girl" and "Cover Girl," arrived early, accompanied by confetti and streamers. The galvanizing "You Got It (The Right Stuff)," provided an early peak, as it echoed the Jackson 5 and the Time.
When the New Kids took off 36 years ago, they were dismissed as derivative of classic R&B vocals groups and hip-hop acts. Now history can look back at NKOTB for pioneering the resurgence of boy bands like 'NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and reopening the door for white soul singers like Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke.
Knight's performance of the soul ballad "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)," was the perfect marriage of the romantic falsetto of Russell Thompkins Jr. of the Stylistics and the fall-to-the-knee drama of James Brown. It was arguably the night's high point unless you preferred McIntyre's pretty tenor on "Please Don't Go Girl" or the hyped up "Hangin' Tough" mashed up with Queen's "We Will Rock You" as the New Kids romped around in glitzy Boston Celtics jerseys.
Wahlberg dedicated the medley to "our world champion Boston Celtics. Next year, it'll be the Celtics and T'Wolves in the NBA Finals."
Opening was someone who knows something about NBA championships, Paula Abdul, a former Laker Girls dancer and choreographer. Dancing was what Abdul was all about Sunday as she glided across tables, chairs and the stage accompanied by seven dancers.
After her opening "Straight Up," her hit from 1988, a stagehand brought out an oxygen tank with a mask and she inhaled a couple times. "You think I'm kidding? This is 62," she said. Then she continued to dance and lip-synch for 30 minutes, requiring the oxygen only one more time.
DJ Jazzy Jeff kicked off the concert by spinning uber-popular tracks like "Uptown Funk" and "Don't Stop Believin,'" which could have been the theme song for the night.
