The Concert

I know that this happened last week, but still I feel I need to finish blogging on it. After making our way back to the car, and driving in rain and Philadelphia rush hour traffic, we made it to the Wachovia Center. We got there early (unless we had purchased the $300 VIP All Access passes, which we didn't), so we decided to walk over to the pub that was located in Citizens Bank Park. (Is there a bank that doesn't have a Philadelphia sports complex named after it?) It was still freezing out. We ordered appetizers and desserts. As soon as the waitress walked back with our order, she turned around and came back out with our nachos. It was almost too quick. I'd at least like to think they took some time in making my food rather than throwing some pre-cooked meat and vat of cheese on it. Danielle and I also had plenty of time to people watch. We felt out of place when we realized that people had dressed one of two ways for the concert: 1) slut 2) flash back NKOTB fan with large buttons and homemade shirts. We also discovered that there were a few men who were totally whipped and their girlfriends were making them attend the concert with them.

We went back to the Wachovia Center and were still too early, so we sat in the car (because it was too cold to stand outside) and watched the people tailgate in the parking lot in the rain. We finally decided that the doors should be opening soon, so we should go get in line. And that is when we first saw it...a very well-proportioned girl wearing ::drumroll please:: a custom made corset which appeard to be made out of NKOTB sheets....HORRIFYING (you can also make your old sheets into a dress if the corset is not for you...I saw that at the concert too). We finally got in and discovered that horrifying corset girl was two rows in front of us. YEAH! I had an older woman beside me that smelled like Bengay and we had an annoying group of girls behind us that sounded like a group of drunken dolphins.

The opening act was Lady GaGA. Bizarre. Luckily she is on youtube, so you can enjoy for yourself. Just click here. Please make sure you watch at least to the point where she is being posed in mid air by her backup dancers. Love the outfit by the way.

Lady GaGa was followed by Natasha Bedingfield who was actually pretty good except that the dolphin girls behind us kept screeching "Sing The Hills...Sing the Hills." OMG, SHUT UP! And Natasha Bedingfield is a big liar. When she went off stage, she said "NKOTB will be on in 15 mins" Um...try 35. Luckily, they had these big screens up that people could text things to and try to win front row seats for the concert. There were a couple of different categories.

1) Just looking for the front row tickets : "It's my friend's birthday" "I just found out I have cancer today, but I still came" "My brother is in Iraq"
2) The flashbacks: "I saw you in 88 and still love you today." "I saw you when I was 9 and now I have my 9 year old daughter here"
3) The dirty: "Jon, I want to S your D" Um...we all know what S and D stand for and you should be ashamed.
4) The play on words: "I'm your cover girl." "You said, please don't go girl and I didn't"
5) The funny: "Donnie, my husband said you can be my freebie"

Somebody texted "Go Steelers" and got booed.

So the concert started, and it WAS AWESOME. Though I'm still not totally convinced that Jon wasn't a body double since he was the only one that didn't talk or have a solo the entire time. There was a nice mix of old and new stuff and even some old songs that I had forgotten about (Like "Games"). Jordan and Joe even did songs from their solo albums. By the time it was over, I had lost both my hearing and my voice. It really lived up to 20 years of waiting (Danielle is still a little bitter that her mom didn't let her go when she was younger. Just ask her. My mom claims that I never asked to go to the concert when I was little.)

We got out relatively easy except for almost crashing into another car (but that happens every time you leave a concert) and seeming like we drove through the entire city of Philadelphia to get on the Turnpike. We stopped at the first exit for Starbucks which was a nightmare in itself. I almost had to jump behind the counter and start making drinks myself because I knew more that the people working there. In planning this trip, I somehow neglected to think about how late I'd be getting home (2:20 AM), but I still made it to work the next day. I was disturbed to find out the Terry says she goes out to the bars all the time till 2am and still makes it to work.