Concert Review – NKOTBSB European Tour

Artist: Backstreet Boys & New Kids On The Block

Support act: Neverest, A Friend In London

Date: April 20th until May 14th, 2012

Venue: Several venues in Europe

City: Belfast,Dublin,London (x2), Rotterdam, Antwerp, Stuttgart, Leipzig & Oberhausen

Stars: **********  (out of **********)

Photos: all by myself

Since this is the show that I’ve watched 14 (!) times I HAVE to write a review about it. So I write one about the whole tour in general instead of just one night. Here I go…

One Night…One Stage…Once In A Lifetime…

In 2011 the New Kids On The Block had a surprise guest performance from the Backstreet Boys during one of their concerts. The crowd went insane, so the boys thought they should do something with that.

Check out the reaction of the crowd when the Backstreet Boys showed up:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkqZaNAwXnw&feature=related]

The great but also weird idea was to go on tour together. People reacted with mixed feelings…would this be such a good idea to put both bands on one stage. The first leg of the NKOTBSB tour in the USA & Canada went amazing, almost all shows were sold out and it was one of the most successful tours all over the world in 2011.

The tour is all about giving the fans the ultimate ‘boyband’ concert. They give you the ultimate love songs, show their sixpacks and even pick fans on stage to serenade to. What more could a girl or woman ask for. That’s the whole concept of the show. The stage has a 27,5 meters long catwalk that was named ’the penisstage’ by the boys, because it looks like a…well, yeah…the biggest one you’ve ever seen! It’s amazing because that way everyone in the audience gets to experience it up close and not only the first 3 rows in the audience.

The Show

The beginning of the show shows pictures from all of the 9 guys during the preparing of the show so the crowd can scream as loud as they can for their favorite boy. Then the curtains fall and on the mainstage all 9 guys stand on this high platform. They look like and boyband army all dressed in black with lights from the back. With a great medley of the songs ‘Single’ (NKOTB) and ‘The One’ (BSB) which sounds like ‘Viva La Vida’ (Coldplay) the crowd gets wild. It’s a great way to start the show.

Then there’s a mix of both NKOTB and BSB songs and they each sing one song and than the other boys sing one and so on. They are all uptempo songs which make the audience dance and sing along. Songs like ‘Summertime’ and ‘Get Down’ bring back great memories. All the old dancemoves are back and the boys show that they still have what it takes.

Cheesy romantic lovesongs

Then it’s time for some slow songs. NKOTB start with songs like ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ and ‘If You Go Away’. Even though Jordan once sang a few lines to me while holding my hand that I would break his heart in two if i’d go away…I just couldn’t really enjoy this part of the show. The songs are super cheesy and NKOTB are acting out every emotion to the songs, which look so overdone and fake that it made me laugh every time. Esp. Jordan and Joey are such dramaqueens when it comes to those songs. They act like they’re about to cry but it’s just too much.

After the slow section of NKOTB it’s time for the BSB to sing some of their slow love songs. They sings some of their emotional songs like ‘Show Me The Meaning (Of Being Lonely)’ and ‘Drowning’. In their white suits they look very pretty and classy and the best part of this section is during the song ‘I’ll Never Break Your Heart’ when they each pick a fan on stage to sing and serenade the song to. It’s super sweet and a dream come true for those lucky girls. (If you are still going to see one of their shows here’s how you can get on stage)

Up Close And Personal

After all the slow love songs it’s time to get our favorite old dancemoves back and get crazy on some oldskool NKOTB vibes. ‘Step By Step’, ‘My Favorite Girl’ and ‘Games’ make the whole audience shake their booties and enjoy the boys doing the same. When they sing ‘Tonight’ they jump of the stage and walk through the audience to get closer to the fans which is amazing. Everyone goes wild and the energy is crazy.

Then it’s time for the BSB to get closer to their fans. During their smashing hit ‘Shape Of My Heart’ two spotlights follow them while they walk through the audience to the stage. They shake hands, give hugs and the whole venue turns into a mad house. Followed by some golden oldies like ‘All I Have To Give’ and ‘Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart)’ they even bring out the old dance routines from ‘Get Down’.

Encore

Then it’s time for the last part of the show, ‘I’ll be Loving You Forever’ gets as super sweet as possible and ‘I Want It That Way’ is probably the loudest song by the whole audience which gives us all goosebumps. After that all 9 boys perform their awesome song ‘Don’t Turn Out The Lights’ , which not many European fans seem to know because hardly anyone was singing along but us. Then it was time for a freaky mash up battle between both bands, which they changed every night between the songs ‘Everybody’ (Backstreet’s Back) and ‘Hangin’ Though’ with lot’s of funny jokes and lot’s of confetti. They changed up their outfits every country, wearing a jacket with the countries name on it. They grabbed flags from the audience and run over the catwalk, shaking hand with the crowd and joking around.

The show lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes every night with so much energy that it (almost) never get boring). The difference between both bands is that the NKOTB are real show guys, they are really performing their show like it’s their job, they look over the crowd into the camera’s. There is not that much time to interact with their fans or improvise and joke around. The BSB are quite the opposite, they are trying to have as much interaction with their fans as possible, joking around on stage and you can tell they’re really having fun on stage. NKOTB dance better and BSB sings better live. But they’re a great bunch together and the chemistry between both bands is very visible during the show.

They def did a great job on making this a ‘Once In A Lifetime’ experience. It’s one of the best show I’ve ever seen. The perfect ‘boyband’ experience for all generations. Fun for both fan groups and also for others who love good pop music.

Setlist of the European Tour:

1. NKOTBSB: Medley “Single” / “The One” (contains elements of “Viva la Vida“)
2. New Kids on the Block: “Summertime Remix”
3. Backstreet Boys: “The Call
4. New Kids on the Block: “Dirty Dancing“
5. Backstreet Boys: “Get Down (You’re the One for Me)“
6. New Kids on the Block: “You Got It (The Right Stuff)“
7. Backstreet Boys: “Larger Than Life“
8. New Kids on the Block: “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)“
9. New Kids on the Block: “Valentine Girl“
10. New Kids on the Block: “If You Go Away“
11. New Kids on the Block: “Please Don’t Go Girl“
12. Backstreet Boys: “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely“
13. Backstreet Boys: “10,000 Promises”
14. Backstreet Boys: “I’ll Never Break Your Heart“
15. Backstreet Boys: “Drowning“
16. Backstreet Boys: “Incomplete“
17. New Kids on the Block: “Step By Step“
18. New Kids on the Block: “Cover Girl“
19. New Kids on the Block: “My Favorite Girl“
20. New Kids on the Block: “Games“
21. New Kids on the Block: “Tonight“
22. Backstreet Boys: “Shape of My Heart“
23. Backstreet Boys: “As Long As You Love Me“
24. Backstreet Boys: “All I Have to Give“
25. Backstreet Boys: “We’ve Got It Goin’ On“
26. Backstreet Boys: “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)“
27. New Kids on the Block: “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)“
28. Backstreet Boys: “I Want It That Way“
29. NKOTBSB: “Don’t Turn Out the Lights“
30. Backstreet Boys: “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)“
31. New Kids on the Block: “Hangin’ Tough” (contains excerpts from “We Will Rock You“)
32. NKOTBSB: Medley “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” / “Hangin’ Tough” (Reprise)

Here you can find some videos of the concerts