Clare Henney: Hangin' Tough

For one night, my heart was broken — no wait, let me rephrase that: my heart was shattered to pieces with the fact that I was not able to watch the NKOTBSB concert at the SM Mall of Asia Arena last June 3rd.  To be honest, while BSB is OK, I was really more upset that I didn’t get to watch NKOTB.  After all, these were the guys that paved the way for what I’d like to call “white-guy boy bands.”  Prior to NKOTB it was all about the Jackson 5 and New Edition.  After them, BSB, Nsync, 98 Degrees followed.  They were the pioneers! I grew up watching NKOTB and was a big fan back in high school. I remember having all their cassette tapes and watching their concert videos over and over again at home. I read up on them so much I could practically call them family with all the info I knew about the guys.  I even tried to apply for a scholarship for a college in Boston just because the guys were all from there (the things we come up with as kids huh?).

I went to their concert at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum back in high school and hung out with my classmates to see them at the Manila Hotel. Even in my 20s I searched for DVDs of their old videos/concerts just so I could have a copy (because my VHS copies could not be played anymore).

As my friend said, it would have been full circle and would have given me closure of my NKOTB fandom if I watched their concert. But I didn’t. I really wanted to.  Thing is, I couldn’t afford it.  Yes, I could buy the cheapest ticket, but it would still cost me to hire a driver and a car to get to the concert because unlike my high school days where it would have been easy to commute home, it wasn’t the case now that I live in the province.  Add to that the fact that I would be watching on my own because everyone I knew was watching from the very pricey VIP seats. It was really a sad night for me seeing my Twitter timeline and getting all sorts of information and photos on the concert.  It was torture the following day because these things filled my Facebook and Instagram timelines too. It was so frustrating! After a while though I managed to be OK with things and got to watch the videos on YouTube.  It was nice that I at least got to see them that way and listen to my old favorites and feel like I was a kid again.  Would’ve been nice if I saw it live but what could I do?  No use crying over spilled milk, as the saying goes. It was good to see the kids all grown up.  Joey was the baby of the group and it’s good to see him as a grown-up.  Jordan Knight doesn’t seem to age and Danny Wood looks the same too.  Jon Knight seems to have aged but since he is the oldest (from what I recall) that isn’t much of a surprise.  Donnie Wahlberg, on the other hand, looks better now than he did back then.  Age becomes him. I don’t know if they’ll ever tour again.  I wish they would or at least come up with a tour video/DVD.  That would be awesome.

Photo Source:  Philippine Concerts