NKOTB – Page 2 – Concert Katie

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Mixtape Festival – Day 2

Katie August 22, 2012 4 Comments

Day 2 of Mixtape Festival definitely had the better line up (in my opinion of course – but hey its my blog so everything is my opinion don’t forget!) and I was very, very excited. We decided to sit at the North Stage for almost the whole day and moved to the South Stage only once – for 98 Degrees’ reunion. As soon as we sat down we loaded up on sunscreen – Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration – which I will be reviewing over the weekend so look out for that 😉

First up was The Dan Band – a cover band. We finally figured out during their set that they were actually the wedding band in The Hangover. Apparently they pride themselves on covering mostly female pop songs w/ added swearing. This became obvious quick when he had the crowd shouting the F word back to him. Kind of awkward especially since they were the first act and there were a lot of kids around. But whatever. (I hate when bands use swear words simply to make themselves seem more “cool”)

Then on the South Stage was The Ready Set. Unfortunately with The Wanted coming up on the North stage next, I didn’t pay much attention to The Ready Set, in fact I paid so little attention I completely missed a song on the setlist! It ended and I realized my oops.

Then it was time for The Wanted. I was so, so, so excited. Jay mentioned that everyone should put on sunscreen and he knows from experience because he was very pale. They seemed to just be having a TON of fun on the stage and although I do love boybands that dance, I didn’t really miss it with their performance. (They were all jumping around anyway – I guess that is close enough to dancing) I did feel their set was too short though and wish they just played forever. They were so good and I can’t wait to see it all again on Friday!

Carly Rae was next up on the South Stage and while we weren’t over there, it didn’t seem like anyone was all that in to her. She talked a lot, but we couldn’t really understand her from where we were. She also apparently didn’t warrant the video screens to show her for the first half of her set. Then when the camera did turn on, the sound board tent was blocking her and then they did a different shot of just part of her band, not her. Very strange and Im not sure what happened to the camera they had been using during The Ready Set! She also said she was going to change up her last song – which was obviously going to be Call Me Maybe – but it was funny to see the delayed reaction from the crowd near us because the beginning didn’t sound like what we are used to hearing on the radio.

LL Cool J was up next – we weren’t sure what he was going to do with an hour set and we dubbed this our bathroom and snack break time. (rootbeer float!) The crowd seemed to be into him though. He tried to rip off his shirt at one point and it didn’t rip all the way. I don’t know if he did that on purpose or not. He also gave away a laptop to one of the guys in the audience and was tossing out roses as well.

We left before LL was done and ended up opting to get a spot on the rail for 98 degrees instead of going into the ADA area. So we were “front row” of the Field area at least for their set! (VIP A and B had barricaded areas in front of us so we weren’t really that close) I had never seen 98 Degrees before so I was really excited for their reunion. Unfortunately, one of them seemed to be a bit flat on the singing. We think it was Drew. (I had noticed something being off from the videos from the Today Show but was hoping they’d pull it together for the show) It didn’t really take away from seeing them though. They only had a 45 minute set though, wish it was longer! (if I was in charge I totally would have changed up a few set times – plus if 98 Degrees was on the north stage instead of LL we’d have never had to leave our seats!)

Before 98 degrees was over (they had a song or two left) we went back to the North Stage to get our seats again for NKOTBSB. This would be the last performance of the super group – though they did mention possibly getting together again sometime. For the most part, the set was the same as when I had seen them last year. However, there were a few changes because it was their last show and each band had some tricks up their sleeve. At one point AJ had on an LMFAO jersey, ripped off his pants to have on these tight shorts and next think you know… they’re shufflin’! Brian and AJ came out during Joe’s ending of Please Don’t Go Girl to sing with him, Joe came out during BSB’s set with a phone and was singing with them… just to name a few things (I don’t know if I’m remembering everything – it’s been quite a weekend)

At one point NKOTB was talking about The Wanted and the band started playing Glad You Came, and I thought NKOTB was going to sing it – which would have been cool… but next thing you know, Max is walking up the stairs on to the stage and I completely lost it. (So much so it is now 2 days later as I write this and my throat still is hurting from the scream I let out lol) Also at one point, NKOTB, BSB and 98 Degrees were all on stage together as well. Which was awesome.. but…. made it painfully obvious there was still one boyband missing.. (NSYNC!)

At the end, NKOTB came out wearing BSB shirts and then BSB came out wearing NKOTB shirts. There were lots of hugs – NKOTB announced they’d be working on a new album and a new tour and BSB would of course be having Kevin rejoining the band and doing a new album and tour because they have now been a band for 20 years.

Setlists for most under the cut!

Mixtape Festival – Day 1

Katie August 21, 2012 0 Comments

Mixtape Festival started off a bit nerve racking. We asked where handicapped parking was to one of the attendants on the street and she very snottily said she did not know. Yet she was instructing traffic to parking areas… But once we found parking and got to the box office to get our tickets stamped so we’d have access to the ADA area, things went a bit smoother. That is until mother nature got involved and decided a thunder storm rolling through just before the acts were going to start was a good idea.

We went underneath the grand stands to wait out the storm and then headed back out a while later to catch Aaron Carter’s set. He sang only 3 songs because the weather cut his set short. I was annoyed because it was only a DJ up next and I don’t understand their purpose in life. The acts alternated on stage to stage so there was very little down time between sets which was really nice. After Aaron was DJ Cheapshot. We opted to stay on the south side ADA area for most of the day and could see both stages from where we were.

Next up was Steel Panther and I don’t get this band either. Are they a joke? I hope so. They are like the 2gether of metal bands. But with WAY worse lyrics! Their set seemed to go on and on and it would have been nice if they cut a little of their set to get Aaron another song 🙁

Carolina Liar was next up on the North stage and I wasnt sure I knew any of their stuff but then they had 1 single that I did recognize. Then back to South for DJ Pauly D. Again – don’t get it – but he had the crowd pumped the most of anyone at that point in the show. (Gary from Teen Mom was also in attendance – as a fan. I know OF the show but don’t watch it – my friend pointed him out to me. He also seemed to get the girls in a frenzy. Again, I don’t get it. He is famous for getting a teenager pregnant. Awesome.)

North stage had The Fray up next and they had a pretty long set. To the point that they did a bunch of songs that I didnt know from their albums to fill in time. I dont know if they knew what was going on at the show though because they kept saying Kelly Clarkson was up next. She was next on that stage – but NKOTB would be on the south stage next. They put on a good show though, it was just hard to get in to it being on the other side of the stadium.

NKOTB came in on some sort of car that we couldn’t see from where we were, and they all jumped on platforms in front of the GA area – in the back of the VIP area. They did their first few songs there which was awesome because they were so much closer to us! Then they made their way back on the stage for the rest of the set.

It was Donnie’s birthday (he’s 40 – again) and so we sang to him and Jon sang to him and then they gave us a gift which was to come back out on the platforms. Someone (Joe?) said – you are VIP but they are VIP too which was nice because the VIP people were being a bit rotten (not all, mind you) about being VIP because perks were changing in the days leading up to the festival.

We ended up heading over to the north stage to snag a spot for Kelly Clarkson and figured the guys only had to do Hangin Tough and would be done. Little did we know that they would be bringing 98 DEGREES out on to the stage to sing with them!

Donnie said to be sure to watch Kelly because they had a surprise for us. We had planned on watching Kelly anyway, but that definitely got us interested. It turned out that Joe Mac sang the Jason Aldean duet with Kelly. Kelly is so funny and I love that she chats with the fans throughout her set. She also had another special guest, Jordan Meredith from the show duets. They did a Miranda Lambert song together. Kelly always puts on a great show and this was no different. She mentioned how she didn’t know she was performing on the same bill as NKOTB and that her sister LOVED them when they were kids – they shared a room and there were posters every where so she had to call and brag to her sister.

After the show we made it out of the parking lot in record time! Then it was time to get some rest and do it all again the next day!

Some setlists under the cut – it was raining so I didn’t keep track of everyone.

NKOTBSB – Take 2!

Katie June 4, 2011 0 Comments

Thursday, June 2 I decided to once again head up to Mohegan Sun to check out the NKOTBSB tour. Jordin Sparks was opening at this show and I found a decently priced single seat on StubHub that afternoon. It was the front row of the upper section, but on the opposite side of the arena from where I had sat during Monday’s show.

When I got to the venue, doors were already open. Buying tickets off websites other than livenation/ticketmaster always makes me a bit nervous (especially when they are e-tickets) and when it was scanned – the kid’s scanner said “INVALID” I tried to remain calm but inside I was FREAKING OUT. He called over a supervisor and she scanned it and it still said “INVALID” but then did something else and told me I was all set. Whew! Then I spent the 40 minutes before the show started paranoid that someone was going to come with a ticket to the same seat. (Never happened, but the 2 girls next to me were in the wrong section so they had to leave when 2 girls with the ‘same seats’ showed up!)

The first opening act was once again “The Goonies”… they did the same set but the Arena was even less full for them than on Monday. (They also went on stage 20 mins earlier) Next up was Ashlyne Huff. She also did the same set but she and her dancers had on different outfits.

While I was sitting in my seat I saw Donnie tweet that it looked like JON would be joining them for the show! I am not sure why that got me so excited, but it did. (Originally Jon had tweeted that he thought he’d be cleared by the doctor to start shows back up again Friday)

Next up was my girl, Jordin Sparks. Her set was No Air, S.O.S., One Step at a Time, Tattoo and she did a mashup/medley of Irreplaceable (Beyonce) / Price Tag (Jessi J) / Perfect (Pink) / Where Is The Love (BEP). She decicated her song “Battlefield” to “her soldier Brian” who is her bodyguard that is heading off to Iraq soon. She said his family was in the audience (I believe he is originally from CT) and she finished off her set with her new single – I Am Woman. She had 2 male dancers that joined her for several of the songs.

Then it was time for NKOTBSB! The intro gets you soooo freaking hyped up for the show, it is ridiculous. Even when I knew what was coming – it still made me so excited in anticipation for the curtain to drop. And then there were 9 instead of 8! It was cool to see how the show changed to add Jon back in to the set up. He also seemed a bit rusty on his dance moves and was often looking at the other guys instead of straight ahead or wherever he was supposed to be looking and at one point Donnie grabbed him to take him down the stairs because it looked like Jon was a bit lost. In the beginning he seemed to be keeping up quite well with all the dance moves, but he kind of toned it down a bit more towards the end. I don’t blame him – it is a LONG show and a LOT of dancing!

Another difference with the show was that Joey McIntyre had a baby in the time between Monday and Thursday, so they showed a video of Joe wrapping the baby up and kissing her. Kira Katherine is adorable and has a TON of hair. (He said he hopes it doesn’t get crazy curly like his was as a kid lol)

About an hour in to the show my camera battery was blinking so I decided to turn it off and just enjoy the show and wait until the end of the show to get bow photos. It was nice that way I could attempt to pay attention to everything that was going on rather than focus on the lighting and when I could get a good photo, etc. I really need to keep a stash of batteries in my car for these last minute decisions!

During the encore, Nick came out in a white tank top instead of his jersey and I thought my camera had died after taking a few photos of him. Turns out – it didn’t… I just kept re-arranging the order the batteries were in and I was able to get a few more photos each time!

Ray Allen came out with NKOTB for the encore which was cool. He played for UCONN so I thought he’d get more of a cheer but maybe a lot of the audience didn’t know who he was?

The show was a lot of fun and I am glad that I got to see it a second time with Jordin and Jon included! The setlist was the same as Monday’s show so I am not going to bother posting it again.

Backstreet Boys Concert NKOTB Photos

NKOTBSB – May 30, 2011

Katie June 1, 2011 0 Comments

Monday night was my once in a lifetime opportunity to see NKOTBSB at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.

The show started pretty promptly at 7:30 with The Goonies. Looking them up now, apparently they are from Connecticut and I guess they were a last minute addition since Jordin Sparks was not at our show. 🙁 I wasn’t too into their (short) set, but if you like Hip Hop you can check them out at http://www.thegoonietunes.com/

Next up was Ashlyne Huff who had a DJ and 4 backup dancers with her. She did White Flag, which was her single released early this year, followed by Whatever which is her upcoming single. She also did a slower song called Runway and then she and her dancers did a dance medley consisting of I think Janet Jackson, Madonna and Britney Spears and then went into her song Let It Out. Ashlyne’s CD Let It Out is going to be hitting stores June 7th, but was available for sale at shows or you can pre-order it for $8 at http://ashlynehuffmerch.com/. Look for ConcertKatie to be doing a giveaway for this album (& signed!) in the upcoming weeks!

Then there was a really, really long break before NKOTBSB was set to start. Ashlyne had finished about 8:15 or maybe even 8:20 and the main event did not start until 9pm.

I have to say, the intro on the screens got me SO hyped up, it was ridiculous. First they went through an intro on the side screens and then on the big main screen that was blocking the main stage. It went through all the band members and said NKOTBSB at least 5 times and everyone was to the point of “ahh! just drop the curtain already!”

And then the curtain dropped and the 8 guys were all there! (Jon Knight had to sit the show out because he hurt his knee/leg) For the most part, they just alternated with who had stage time and did a few songs before switching out. This gave the band members some time to sit out – but for us, not so much! It was basically upbeat hit after hit! Fortunately we were the front row of the upper level and able to sit pretty much the whole show and still be able to see fine.

It is going to be hard to remember *everything* that happened – especially since when all the guys were on the stage NKOTB was often on one side and BSB was on the other and it was hard to keep track of everything going on at once. I found it the hardest to decide who to focus on when both bands were on stage because I love both Joey McIntyre and Nick Carter so I was having an internal battle of “Who do I love more? Who should I be looking at right now?” If they were all up there. When it was just one of the bands it was a little bit easier – but at the same time I wanted to make sure I had photos of everyone and we’ll see how well I did with that when it comes to ordering prints for the scrapbook. (Although I took nearly 300 photos – you would HOPE everyone would be pretty well represented in there!)

During Tonight – the guys went out into the crowd. Donnie and Jordan were on the opposite side of the arena from us, but Joe and Danny were on our side and Danny was right below us! Danny went up through the stairs with security but the other 3 did not go up farther into the sections that I saw. It was funny to see the girls try and grab at Danny and security rip their arms off of him.

Right after, for Shape of My Heart, BSB came in through the crowds. It was the sections towards the back – Brian and Nick came down one side and AJ and Howie down the other. I gotta say – both groups are pretty brave for going out in to the crowd like that, I don’t think I’d want to try that if I were them!

At the end, BSB came out and did Everybody and then NKOTB came out and did Hangin Tough and then they kind of did almost a “battle” going back and forth between songs and walking towards each other on the catwalk.

I’m so glad I got to go – I’ve been in desperate need for a boyband show for a WHILE now! I just wish Jordin Sparks would have been there as well. She will be there Thursday but at $110 a ticket, I don’t think I can splurge on another. Word is Jon Knight won’t be back either – he seems to think he’ll be back on Friday.

(Setlist under the cut!)
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Concert NKOTB

New Kids On The Block 11/08/08

Katie November 9, 2008 0 Comments

Last night the New Kids reunion tour came back to Mohegan Sun’s arena and I got to see the “kids” for the first time after waiting nearly 20 years. I’m not really all that familiar with their newer stuff, so there were quite a few songs I didn’t know, but either way it was an incredibly entertaining show and the guys still got it even after all these years.

1. Single
2. Favorite Girl
3. The Right Stuff
4. Didn’t I Blow Your Mind/Valentine Girl Medley
5. Please Don’t Go Girl
6. Grown Man
7. No More Games
8. If You Go Away
9. 2 In The Morning
10. Tonight
11. Twisted
12. Baby I Believe In You
13. Give It To You (Jordan solo)
14. Stay The Same (Joey Solo)
15. Cover Girl (Donnie Solo)
16. I’ll Be Loving You Forever
17. Click Click Click
18. Summertime
19. Step by Step

Encore:
Hangin’ Tough/We Will Rock You

Natasha Beddingfield had a signing after the show – I didnt go but I did take a picture from the upper level while we were debating going to the club at the casino!