A few Saturdays ago, it was that time again. Time for some love, peace and good old nostalgia! I had tickets to the Total Package Tour with Boyz II Men, Paula Abdul and – most importantly – NKOTB!

I mean, they played 5 miles from my house, so it was absolutely no question that I HAD TO GO (but I also totally would have driven to the Bay Area again to see them, as I have done in previous years, of course!)

I went to the concert by myself. Again. But honestly, I didn’t mind. I mean, I invited J to come with me (and he has gone with me on various occasions in the past), but I had absolutely no problem whatsoever doing this for myself, by myself.

J dropped me off downtown around 6:30 p.m. and I made my way to the new Golden 1 Center. The new arena is huge and some seating is way up there under the ceiling (if you recall, I had seats there with my parents for Paul McCartney last fall!), but this time I had a great seat down on the lower level (not super-close to the stage, but close enough!) with a great view of the stage. I was so excited.

I was excited to see Boyz II Men (again!) and Paula Abdul as opening acts. They did a great job getting everybody warmed up, but of course, we were all there for NKOTB (ok, minus the guy in the row behind me who was clearly there for Paula! He kept screaming her name and I do admit, I enjoyed her performance more than I thought I would.)

Finally, 9 o’clock rolled around and it’s time for NKOTB. Yay! It had been too long.

The show started out with their new single ‘One more night’. Typical pop stuff. Yaddah, yaddah. I don’t think their music is the GREATEST (never have), but I do enjoy it and it’s ear-worm material for sure. Overall though, I am much more a fan of these five guys, who have come so far, and what they stand for: loyalty, love, and peace. They’re all about giving back.

The show was amazing. I said it before, I think they have become better entertainers with age. Everybody was just in such a good and positive mood, even though the terrible attack at the Ariana Grande concert in London had just happened! But what else can musicians/entertainers do but carry on and keep spreading their music and positive attitude?

They performed all five of their new songs and then a nice mix of more recent songs (from the last decade) and also some very old songs, some dating back all the way to 1984! It was awesome!

They also played a couple of songs from lesser known albums like ‘Dirty Dawg‘ (from their 1994 ‘Face the Music’ album) and even ‘This one’s for the children‘ from their Christmas album (in the middle of June, ha!), which I had never seen performed on stage! Very cool!

There was a woman in front of me, probably my age, who never had the opportunity as a teenager to see NKOTB in concert and this was her first time… after 25 years! I mean, you can’t beat that kind of ‘dream come true at last’-joy that she exhibited! It was amazing!

If you made it all the way down here to proceed and judge me, to roll your eyes and tell me that you think that NKOTB are stupid (wouldn’t be the first time I hear it) or that it’s embarrassing that they’re still touring or anything like that, I am just going to tell you right now that I DON’T FREAKIN’ CARE ONE IOTA.

I hope that you have something in your life that brings all the smiles and joy and all the good feelings to you because boy, do we need them in this day and age.

Now, where are my fellow blockheads?