Welcome to Oh Brawling Love!, where guest critics describe things they thought they’d hate but ended up adoring. This week, Rae L. Hanson, editor of the fantastic and influential TV blog Ramblings of a TV Whore, describes her wild night seeing the New Kids on the Block on their reunion tour. (She was there on March 13 at the Amway Arena in Orlando. Were you?)

Kick it, Rae!

(Note: Rae took all the concert photos herself. Awesome!)

The New Kids on the Block Concert

By Rae L. Hanson

Old Sweaty Men on the Block.

That’s my friend’s new nickname for the New Kids on the Block. Her way of mocking me for going to see NKOTB live last month. But I’m not going to lie. Hands down the best concert experience I’ve ever had.

Go ahead. Scoff if you must.

I mean… I did when I first heard about NKTOB going back on tour. Really? The boy band from my pre-teen years actually taking to the stage again? Preposterous!

A friend joked that we should get a group together and go. I agreed it’d be funny (and I didn’t mean that in a good way). Then some friends in other cities went and, oh, the raves! They loved it. It was awesome. Best! Concert! Ever!

Yeah. I wasn’t sold. But I was intrigued and, when a friend got me tickets for my birthday, I was eager to see if they could live up to all the hoopla. Even if it was bad, it was bound to be hilariously bad. With someone else footing the bill, I couldn’t go wrong.

Only, here’s the thing. My friends? Weren’t wrong. The concert was AMAZING. 20 years later and these guys still know how to put on a hell of a show. They’re reliving their glory days and the joy they’re getting out of it is infectious. Watching them on stage, loving it, you can’t help but love it right along with them.

I was never a diehard fan. Yes, NKOTB posters graced my walls in middle school. and I remember practically swooning while discussing my favorite with friends. (Donnie, by the way. And before you ask, yes… I loved Marky Mark, too.) But honestly, my interest in the boys was directly proportionate to how cool it was to like NKOTB. A fact that became obvious when I could only really sing along to, at the very most, four songs during the concert. As my friend noted, “I don’t think I’m as big of a NKOTB fans as I thought I was…”

There was a part of me that went into the concert expecting to bear witness to a train wreck more than anything else. The gussied-up women arriving in their limos to wait in line for hours before the doors opened only seemed to support this theory.

That’s not what happened. Sure, some of the fans were a bit too invested in the moment. No matter how much I enjoyed it, if you admit to me that you cried I am going to mock you for all of eternity.

And the screams… I may be scarred for life. I honestly don’t know if they played the background music so loud to cover up that these guys aren’t quite the vocalists they may have been in their younger years or because the screams were so deafening it was almost impossible to hear anything else. Either way, a month later and my eardrums are still recovering from the assault.

But looking beyond that, this was entertainment at its best. The guys’ level of interaction with the crowd is just impressive. It helps it’s not just the guys who are reliving the glory days. Every one of the girls in the audience is doing the same. There’s a kind of mutual understanding in the air that, for one night, we were all leaving our current responsibilities behind and taking a trip back in time. This tour isn’t just for NKOTB; it’s for all the fans too. And because of that they have a lot of fun playing to the crowd and joking around with them. It works. I might have laughed at the idea of them on tour again, but it’s obvious they appreciate all the fans making it possible.

Although, I’m not gonna lie, I could live with never again seeing Donnie Wahlberg pick up a handful of panties (you heard me right, PANTIES THROWN ON STAGE) and sniff them. It’s possible Donnie may be enjoying this experience most of all, what with the panties and giving his water bottles to people in the crowd and KISSING girls on the sidelines. I guess you gotta take the opportunities where you can get ‘em.

My favorite moment of the night, though, was when Jonathon Jordan, wearing an unbuttoned sheer white shirt over dark pants, ascended from the depths of the dark stage. I can’t even tell you the song he was singing. But that’s insignificant because the spotlight shines on him, a weird psychedelic pattern swirls around on the screen behind him, and the fans kick on… Oh, yeah, baby. FANS. Blowing his shirt off him in the most dramatic way possible. And damn if the sight of his bare chest and his shirt flowing behind him isn’t almost enough to distract you from the fact that the dude really can’t sing these songs anymore. I about died. Literally fell into my seat I was laughing so hard. And I’m not knocking it. It was perfection. An early ‘90s music video come to life on the stage in front of us!

There’s more, of course: The guy  singing “Tonight” while alternating positions on top of a piano. The guys joking about their age when performing some of the dance moves from their past. The sing-along version of  “Hangin’ Tough” with an arena full of fans. The boyfriend of the girl next to us, who is clearly the best boyfriend ever, but  who I think secretly had the time of his life based on how often he was laughing.

Simply put, it was a blast. I’m grateful I didn’t let my cynicism rob me of the experience.

The boys are on their final leg of their tour now. If your town is on their route, I recommend you suck it up and give ‘em a shot at entertaining you. You might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.