Boys to Men, Paula Abdul & New Kids on the Block concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
One of my best friends’ excitedly called me one evening about 1 year ago to see if I would like to go to the concert with her. I honestly couldn’t commit to attending a show a year later since I was unsure where life would take me (we were selling our house). I thanked her for the invitation and kindly declined the offer. She was a little disappointed but I can hear in her voice the utter excitement the thought of NKONB brought to her. A boy band from the late eighties and nineties that provided her first boy crush. I was never into any boy bands growing up probably due to the fact that I was always surrounded by older cousins that enjoyed a different style of music. Now, had she said Madonna, Cindy Lauper, and Michael Jackson… I would’ve beaten her to ticket master.
One year later, she calls me up and says that she has an extra ticket for that same concert she has been daydreaming about for a year. Even though I was still not excited about the concert, getting a few hours with friends to do adult things sounded amazing! I eagerly agreed! I started to get excited to see Boys to Men and hear my graduation song It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye. Then the thought of Paula singing straight up now tell me do you really want to love me forever… and tap dancing her famous moves on stage (which I tried to mimic as a teenager) sounded great.
I took the two-hour commute to Los Angeles and met the girls at a restaurant and then headed to the concert. Traffic was horrific. 35 minutes to move 1/3 of a mile and by now the concert had already started. We finally parked and walked several blocks along groups of others who were also late for this event. We finally made it to the Hollywood Bowl but had to wait for 2 other girls who were running late and we had their tickets. Boys to Men had already performed and Paula was on her fourth song which we could see on a big screen through the security checkpoint. We finally made it to our seats to watch Paula Abdul’s last two songs. She was amazing: fit, great dancing, performance was incredible and her speech was inspiring. This 54-year-old entertainer still got it all! Fans screaming “I love you Paula” and at the end, we all gave her a standing ovation. Thank you, Paula, for inspiring me…
Now the main event… The boy band which is no longer a boy band but a man group trying to have their second comeback. Adoring fans dressed in the memorabilia of their teenage years were eagerly awaiting to hear the group’s famous songs. The songs that made them loose their virginity, get over a heartbreak or the ones they use to belt to in their car or shower. Here it was, the moment that they have all been waiting for. Women in their forties and fifties were screaming their heads off in excitement almost as if they’d somehow transform themselves into their teenage years. The show was begun but the songs were new ones! New ones no one had ever heard of before. The crowd was still screaming but a bit confused. Where are my songs? The ones I can sing along with the group? This show was not a flashback to the eighties and nineties but a concert to showcase their new album. New songs with lyrics stating “still good to me like we were seventeen.” That’s where the disappointment set in for a lot of their fans. They were expecting this amazing show filled with all their #1 singles from the pop charts but instead got a show with new songs which no one could sing along to. Even I was disappointed and I probably only know two of their top songs!
Some of the girls in our party went home mid-show disappointed and my best friend looked confused and sad. She tried to dance and sing along to their new songs but internally she was disillusioned not to reminisce on the good old days. The band did some of their oldies at the end of their show but for some reason left out a lot of the top songs. The show itself wasn’t bad, the singing was good and I have a new found respect for Donnie Wahlberg who truly stole the show and was the standout artist throughout the concert. He walked through the crowds shaking hands, taking pictures, kissing a girls shaved head all while singing. I personally felt like I was watching a concert of Donnie with the other members of the group as his backup singers. Don’t get me wrong all the members had a few solo songs but he really was the star of the group. As the concert came to an end, you can hear fans commenting and confused. Everyone enjoyed the show but expected a different kind of concert… the kind that made them feel like we were seventeen again. Hopefully, for them, Paula Abdul and Boys to Men did just that.
To learn more click here: https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/
