The Cinderella Chronicles: They're (and We're) Still Hangin' Tough

It's officially the morning after the big concert. Exhaustion, sleepy eyes, and a super whiney kiddo hasn't kept me down, though. I think I must be running on adrenaline because that is truly the only thing I can think of that could have helped me muster the energy to get up this morning. Thank goodness all my classes are blogging today for their warmups because that means I get to give all of you a little review of the totally amazeballs concert!

Let's start this off right with some pictures from before the concert.

My little New Kids fan!

Ryley, Tommi, Chloe, and I once we got to our seats.

And, the lights went down!

Like mother, like daughter!

Making memories!

The view of the stage from our seats!

Kiddo bathroom break, but first, let's take a selfie!

After I got home last night, I was reminiscing about all the concerts I used to go to, and all the shenanigans I used to find myself in. (Talking my way onto the BSB bus, ending up back stage at Clay Walker, working "security" at Metallica just so I could get backstage, stalking various celebrities and following them back to their hotels...the list could go on...) Boy, has my definition of shenanigans changed a lot over the last 15 years. Now, it's bringing along a three year old to see the greatest boy band on Earth and trying to hold her the whole time while screaming, yelling, and acting a fool. I can remember the young 18 year old Lori sneaking past umpteen security guards and pushing my way to the front of the stage during Jordan's solo days being my NKOTB "shenanigans." Last night was a whole different NKOTB experience. I took Chloe with me and Tommi took Ryley. (Tommi's my BFFL. We met in fourth grade. She was new and her teacher posted her picture on the bulletin board. She was wearing this bright neon colored New Kids shirt, so I knew she had to be cool. The rest is history!) Back to the kids...Ryley did awesome! Chloe, on the other hand, did awesome for the first half of the show. What was I thinking?!?! She slept the whole second half of the show. HOW IN THE WORLD can she sleep at a time like that?!?! I mean, she was four rows from the greatest men on earth! Okay, maybe that's an over exaggeration, but they are pretty amazing and not to mention the noise level was off the hook. Yet, there my little girl lay, fully asleep while Tommi and I ~~screamed~~ sang our hearts out.

Getting to the show, it all started with Nelly and TLC as the opening acts. Nelly....well, to put it in the nicest way possible, I hands down, totally, without a doubt could have never seen him and been okay with that. He screamed into the mic the whole time, his voice sounded pretty terrible, his back up dancers must have had a night off from the club and really really needed to put some clothes on, and he and his "crew" cursed way too much. I'm not sure why he signed on to tour with NKOTB, the audience certainly doesn't suit him, but having to cover Chloe's ears a few times was annoying. Just listen to this video. He's literally screaming into the mic.

TLC was better! They kept it clean, sang all their hits, and danced their butts off all while wearing the most atrocious, hideous, what were they thinking gold shiny overalls. Overall, they entertained, though, However, I did come to one conclusion. T Boz, her voice is just strange, and I couldn't think of what it reminded me of for the longest time. Then, it hit me. She sounds like she's trying to channel her best Britney Spears voice while going hoarse! Seriously. YouTube her. She so does. Here's a snippet of her singing Creep.

Once the New Kids took the stage, the fun could finally begin. Chloe was excited but totally fighting off the sleepy eyes from song one. She did wave at the guys a few times when they came near, sang a few songs, and was full of smiles.

The guys opened the show with a few new songs from their album, 10, but quickly sprang into all our favorite hits. Here's the song list for the two hour show.

Block Party
Crash
My Favorite Girl
The Right Stuff
The Whisper / Single / Shout (Medley)
Let's Try It Again
We Own Tonight
Didn't I Blow Your Mind
Valentine Girl
If You Go Away
Please Don't Go Girl
Remix
Summertime
Dirty Dancing
Just a Friend
Good Vibrations
Tonight
Baby I Believe in You/Give it to you (Jordan)
Sweet Dreams/Twisted (Joey)
I Need You/Lean on Me/Cover Girl (Donnie)
Games
Step By Step
I'll Be Loving You Forever
Hangin' Tough

I won't bore you with a play by play of their every move, but I do want to share some of the highlights and, of course, a ton of videos! It was Danny's birthday, so they celebrated with us singing to him and cupcakes. His dad is touring with him, so he was up there for their little celebration, too.

A shirtless Jordan and Joe made for happy arena of middle-aged women. About mid way through the show, both guys did a few solo songs...shirtless. It. Was. Beautiful. Seriously...

The stage was set up so that there were these trap doors that led beneath the stage where changing rooms were set up. In these changing rooms were CAMERAS! Yes, you read that right, CAMERAS. I have a lovely little video of the guys changing outfits. Check it out!

Joe's son, Griffin, joined the guys for "Tonight," and he is so stinking cute! He looks just like his daddy! "He sang into the mic "Remember when we said girl please don't go..." and Jordan took it from there. Then, at the end, he started off the "la la la la la la tonight." What a lucky little boy!

We had awesome seats. We were on the floor, fourth row back and directly in front of a little set of stairs that leads off the stage and onto the floor in front of us. Lucky me! Donnie, Jordan, and Jon all came down at different times into the audience where we were. I think I was the most stoked about Donnie; I was so close to him! He is seriously such an awesome guy, and I just love him to pieces. BUT, that moment really was trumped when Jordan came down. He was on his way to sing to a girl in the risers, and walked right by me and...wait for it....touched my hand! Did you catch that? JORDAN TOUCHED MY HAND!!!! I then promptly checked to make sure my heart didn't stop beating. ;) That moment was definitely, hands down, without a doubt, THE best moment of the night. I have been loving the New Kids since third grade. I had to wait until I was 18 to meet one of them, Jordan. Sixteen years later, I'm now 34 and finally got to touch one of them. Maybe when I'm fifty I can finally get that picture with them I've been longing for. Hey, a dreamer can dream, right? Here's the video of him singing to the girl in the risers. Oh to be that girl...

Look how close Donnie was!

Jordan singing to a girl in the crowd!

All in all, a ~~good great amazing~~ spectacular time was had by all of us, and I can't wait until the next time we see them. Oh, and wanna know how the night ended? When the lights came up, and I went to pick up my sleeping child, she had not only missed so much of the fun, but was covered in green and white confetti. Bless her sleepy little heart. We just wore her out!