When the New Kids on the Block were at the apex of their popularity in the early 1990s, I was just a tad too old to appreciate them.
I was, after all, in high school and had moved on from embarrassing boy band obsession to even-more-embarrassing hair band obsession.
(My maturity did not prevent me, however, from becoming a fan of 'N Sync in my late 20s. But that is a whole other embarrassing story.)
Over the past few weeks, though, I've come to sort of regret missing New Kids mania, especially as I've watched excitement over the group's show Friday at Hartman Arena completely overtake a fun group of women who are only slightly younger than I am.
New Kids on the Block, or NKOTB as they are just as commonly known, is a once-popular boy band whose fame was intense but somewhat short-lived in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group's hits included danceable ditties such as "You Got It (The Right Stuff") and "Hangin' Tough."
At they time, they were five fresh-faced boys from Boston, and they inspired in preteens of their time the same hyperventilating, tearful devotion that 'N Sync did almost a decade later and that the Jonas Brothers do nearly a decade after that.
Now, the band members — Jonathan, Jordan, Joey, Donnie and Danny — are far from kids. Two of them are 40, and the rest are getting close.
Their once-ardent fans also have grown up, but that's not stopping them from rediscovering their inner hysterical preteen selves.
They include a local mother of four who has already attended several concerts along the reunion tour route and regularly announces her New Kids devotion on her Twitter account.
They include 27-year-old Carly Holmes, who giddily stood in line at Hartman Arena to buy tickets even though it would have been easier to order them online.
And they include Krista Rapp, 33, who credits NKOTB with helping her find her best friend of more than 20 years.
Krista was a Curtis Middle School student when her parents spoiled her with a $100 New Kids on the Block embroidered official tour jacket.
She wore it everywhere, including to band class, where she met fellow New Kids devotee Stephanie Kurdi.
The two became inseparable, and their parents agreed to drive them to New Kids' concerts all over the region. Krista estimates they went to five or six concerts in their early teen years.
They're still best friends. Stephanie (who now lives in Michigan) was maid of honor in Krista's wedding.
When they heard about the reunion tour, they knew what they had to do.
"It all came flooding back," Krista said. "We were pitifully excited. Embarrassingly excited."
In October, Krista flew to Michigan to attend a show with Stephanie. And later this week, Stephanie will board a plane to come to the Wichita show.
A funny story from the Michigan concert: The friends stepped into a bar across the street from the venue before the show and quickly realized that they were surrounded by women in their 30s, all wearing faded New Kids T-shirts and 1980s hairstyles.
"It's fun to just relive the memories and the friendships," Krista said. "We were so giddy and so goofy."
Denise Neilhttp://www.kansas.com/entertainment/neil/story/870759.html
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