Night 2 of The Package Tour! For this show I splurged and got a package through VIP Nation for 5* 1st row. Which meant I got a seat in the first row as well as a M&G opportunity with NKOTB (in groups off 10). I had only met Joey before, not the whole group so I was pretty much freaking out over it from the moment that I bought the package. Fortunately my friend from college Sarah had also bought a front row package and she is a M&G pro with NKOTB so I knew that I would have a great mentor! I ended up finding a group for the M&G pic (2 girls to a guy, so you can get with your “favorite” you make a group a head of time) I figured I had NO chance of being with Joe, but since I had a pic with him already from a few years ago I’d go for my 2nd favorite, Jon. We had been talking and getting each other excited on Facebook and met up before check in. We checked in together to make sure we’d all be in the same group and got group B. Sarah was nowhere to be found so she was getting quite a few panicked texts from me!
We were taken upstairs to the club and given 2 drink tickets (if we were 21+) and would wait there to meet the guys. Sarah ended up showing up and was in group I. The final girl from our group showed up and was given I instead of B, so I told her I would trade with her because I didn’t mind switching to be with my other friends. Then I kind of panicked – no group had been arranged for group I! Sarah said it didn’t matter and we’d just do what we had to do and try to get me to Joe. The group was really cool and when they found out I hadn’t met the group before and I wanted to be by Joe no one had any objections! It was really quick and I really just said “hi nice to meet you” to all of them, but I got hugs from all 5 and Joe talked a bit more since we were near him longest. Since it was my first M&G he said they’d try to make it a good one. ha. It was Danny, Joe, Jordan, Donnie and finally Jon – who I was warned gives the best hugs and I would have to agree!
Also in our VIP package was a tote bag that contained our gift of tube socks (I’m pretty excited I can wear these with my brace!) and a speaker. I haven’t taken anything out of the bag yet though to check it out. Too busy!
Our seats were pretty awesome in the front row – except when everyone started their set out on the secondary stage – you had to stand up or else the main stage completely blocked your view of everything. And sometimes, even if you were standing there were bright lights in your eye and you had no idea where anyone was. Not that happened to me or anything. ok, it totally did. I was the perfect height for the light to hit me in the eye every now and then.
The show was changed up a little bit from the first night. Boyz II Men’s set was basically the same – and 3 of the 4 of us in our little group (Yes, I ended up with seats RIGHT NEXT TO Sarah’s even though we bought them separately and her friends were on either side of us!) got roses. I was the only one that didn’t because I can’t catch haha.
98 Degrees had new outfits for their show – although Jeff ended up with his shirt practically unbuttoned and his tie was going through the buttons on the shirt by the end of the night. I don’t know what he was doing! (But I was totally ok with it!) I thought they had the girls on stage for 2 songs and not 1 the first night, but now i’m not totally sure. They also had a CD signing after the show – it was supposed to be limited so I grabbed a CD and wristband right away when I got there, but the line was INSANE so I didn’t end up hanging around for it. When Justin was talking about it, Nick ended up explaining to us what a CD was. Thanks Nick, I had no idea.
And then it was time for NKOTB! I’m trying to remember what they switched up. For Step By Step the first night mics came down from the ceiling and they all ran from one to the next to sing, Danny’s didn’t come down and then Donnie forgot to run at one point – they didn’t end up doing that Night 2. They still did Step By Step, but with a different set up. I wonder if they’ll be scrapping that idea completely now. The acoustic medley was also a bit different – Joe did a Bruno Mars song and Stay The Same which I don’t think he did the 2nd night. (This is from memory I took no notes from the front row so sorry if I’m not totally accurate!) Donnie had a different shirt for Cover Girl so that he could rip it off and throw it into the crowd. For the finale they added Crash to the end of the set instead of just ending it on Hangin’ Tough.
Donnie also grabbed the camera from our friend the camera man (he put us on the big screens quite a few times!) and was zooming in on people dancing in the crowd. That he didn’t do the first night either. Overall, I thought the 2nd night was more fun, but it may have been because I was that much closer and it wasn’t all completely new and overwhelming. We’ll see how tonight goes…
After the show, as I mentioned, I opted to not stay for the 98 degrees meet and greet. It apparently went on til close to 2am! By that point I was already home and ready for bed! I did listen to their new CD 2.0 on the way home though, to make up for not waiting around.