I Have a Dream...

...and it came true at 8:30pm on Saturday, August 6 2011. After a satisfying pho dinner, much, much anticipation, a great opening act and a half hour break, New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys started their second last show in their NKOTBSB tour.

I. Went. Bananas.

Turn back the clock to 1999 when Millennium was released. An album packed with what are now BSB classics I couldn't help but fall madly in love with the Boys, but really, what isn't there to love? They cover all bases -- catchy dance beats as well as slower love songs, and they dance. They are what all boy bands will forever be compared to... and they will never measure up.

2001 comes around and for my 11th birthday I received Black and Blue.
Shape of My Heart is still my favorite on that album.

Fast forward to 2005 when my dear friend's birthday occurred shoftly after the release of Never Gone. Because I was too cheap to buy her the actual CD and I was feeling techy, I made her a mixed CD of past BSB hits as well as their new material. The love grew as I reacquainted myself with their biggest hits.

2008 rolls around and I am off to first year at Wilfrid Laurier. Thanks to a wonderful thing called DC++ I managed to download their entire discography and a tiny obsession begins.

All this time, I'm dreaming of one day seeing them in concert.

Summer 2011 my friend Eileen emails my girlfriends and I telling us that NKOTBSB will make a stop in Hamilton! Without hesitation we all agreed to get tickets for the show. The obsession grew as each day passed. The closer we got to the date, the more I was starting to  feel like I was a preteen again.
The week before the concert my sister and I listened to all their songs to prep us for the concert.

When the day finally came, my friends and I spent a couple hours making our tshirts. When they were dry, we ventured into Hamilton where we saw about 8 tour buses parked outside Copps Coliseum. We were going to see our childhood loves! As Copps is really close to our dinner spot, we walked there. Before we got close to the main entrance we saw a group of women crowded behind yellow tape. What were they there for? To catch a glimpse of the Boys of course! Determined to see Brian (our favorite), we stuck around. We waited around for about 15 minutes when one of the bus's doors opened. Women screamed as Howie D stepped outside and walked in our direction!! He stopped in front of the small crowd we were in and started shaking hands. I muscled myself in there and he touched my hand and WINKED.

Brian didn't end up coming out and the concert was starting. We didn't want to miss too much so we made our way to our seats. Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schue from Glee) was the opening act. He's amazing live! Sounds just like recordings. And he's way more attractive in real life.
Great way to start the show.

30 minute intermission.

Lights dim, fans scream, opening video introduces the groups and then BAM. The bands appear and sing some of their lyrics to Viva la Vida. Actually a dream come true. The concert was amazing! Could care less about New Kids but the Boys still got it! What made it even better is that they sang all my favorites!






Concert highlights:
- many crotch grabbing dance moves (so funny seeing 40 year old Kids dancing like that)
- seeing Brian
- Jordan Knight's comical high-pitched falsetto
- Donnie Wahlberg stripping
- BSB's amazing dancing
- "Don't Turn Out the Lights"
- "Everybody" encore
- experiencing this with my girls




I have never screamed so much or so loud in my life but it was definitely worth the sore throat!