By THOMAS KINTNER The Hartford Courant
Good news for anyone sweating the gender imbalance certain to have reared its head Friday night at local dance clubs and watering holes frequented by the 30-plus crowd: the state's ladies have not evaporated. As it turns out, the fair sex was safe, sound and mightily enthused as it packed into the Foxwoods casino's MGM Grand Theater in Mashantucket for the first of a two-night stand by New Kids on the Block and cheered the group's every synchronized move.
• New Kids on the Block's Friday set list
Still very much the boy band that had a massive heyday in the late 1980s and early '90s, the five-man from Boston that reunited after 13 years in 2008 offered new material with the same balance of throbbing pop and pose-heavy dancing as tunes from its past, opening with the thoroughly somnambulant hook of "Lights, Camera, Action." Much of its material required little finesse, as "You've got It (The Right Stuff)" rolled out at volume sufficient to drown out anything else in the room, though if the band could have heard a phone ring as it danced, it might well have been Morris Day calling to say he wanted his steps back.
The hierarchy of the group's members was obvious when it forayed into the audience to bark "Tonight" primary leads Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg and Joey McIntyre were swamped as they climbed atop seats to sing, while Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood, whose vocal contributions amounted to little more than completing the set, roamed the aisles relatively unmolested. Jordan Knight spooned falsetto polish atop an acoustic offering of "I'll be Loving You (Forever)," but it was McIntyre's occasional showcases that were the most dynamic displays, particularly during a curious, shirtless solo turn when he threw his voice hard at melding "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Twisted."
Wahlberg is for all intents the group's vocal enforcer, a font of rough cadences and dreary raps who bludgeoned verbiage while diving into "I got It." The group was good-natured in its come-ons to the screaming, female-dominated audience, showing in the blowout repetition of "Full Service" how one applies meter to a slice of obnoxious, pseudo-sexual bravado.
Its four-piece backing band wasn't asked to do much but hit cues (and occasionally bolster live vocals with canned ones), which was generally fine in a show that was about bursts of light, thick sonic swatches and choreography. The booming electronic pop of "Summertime" came from the same well as the equally sizable shouter "Step by Step," merging paint by numbers pop with almost quaint heartthrob politicking. The closer in the encore-free show was the 1989 chart-topper "Hangin' Tough," whose nostalgia quotient had far more to do with its energy than anything notable in its bargain basement pop construction.
New Kids on the Block's Friday set list: "Lights, Camera, Action," "One Song," "Looking Like Danger," "My Favorite Girl," "You've got It (The Right Stuff)," "Click Click Click," "Dirty Dancing," "Tonight," "I'll be Loving You (Forever)," "If you go Away," "Single," "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)/Twisted," "Never let you Go," "I got It," "Full Service," "Summertime," "Close to You," "Step by Step," "Hangin' Tough."
New Kids on the Block perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket. Tickets are $75 and $55. For more information, call 800-200-2882.
Good news for anyone sweating the gender imbalance certain to have reared its head Friday night at local dance clubs and watering holes frequented by the 30-plus crowd: the state's ladies have not evaporated. As it turns out, the fair sex was safe, sound and mightily enthused as it packed into the Foxwoods casino's MGM Grand Theater in Mashantucket for the first of a two-night stand by New Kids on the Block and cheered the group's every synchronized move.
• New Kids on the Block's Friday set list
Still very much the boy band that had a massive heyday in the late 1980s and early '90s, the five-man from Boston that reunited after 13 years in 2008 offered new material with the same balance of throbbing pop and pose-heavy dancing as tunes from its past, opening with the thoroughly somnambulant hook of "Lights, Camera, Action." Much of its material required little finesse, as "You've got It (The Right Stuff)" rolled out at volume sufficient to drown out anything else in the room, though if the band could have heard a phone ring as it danced, it might well have been Morris Day calling to say he wanted his steps back.
The hierarchy of the group's members was obvious when it forayed into the audience to bark "Tonight" primary leads Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg and Joey McIntyre were swamped as they climbed atop seats to sing, while Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood, whose vocal contributions amounted to little more than completing the set, roamed the aisles relatively unmolested. Jordan Knight spooned falsetto polish atop an acoustic offering of "I'll be Loving You (Forever)," but it was McIntyre's occasional showcases that were the most dynamic displays, particularly during a curious, shirtless solo turn when he threw his voice hard at melding "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Twisted."
Wahlberg is for all intents the group's vocal enforcer, a font of rough cadences and dreary raps who bludgeoned verbiage while diving into "I got It." The group was good-natured in its come-ons to the screaming, female-dominated audience, showing in the blowout repetition of "Full Service" how one applies meter to a slice of obnoxious, pseudo-sexual bravado.
Its four-piece backing band wasn't asked to do much but hit cues (and occasionally bolster live vocals with canned ones), which was generally fine in a show that was about bursts of light, thick sonic swatches and choreography. The booming electronic pop of "Summertime" came from the same well as the equally sizable shouter "Step by Step," merging paint by numbers pop with almost quaint heartthrob politicking. The closer in the encore-free show was the 1989 chart-topper "Hangin' Tough," whose nostalgia quotient had far more to do with its energy than anything notable in its bargain basement pop construction.
New Kids on the Block's Friday set list: "Lights, Camera, Action," "One Song," "Looking Like Danger," "My Favorite Girl," "You've got It (The Right Stuff)," "Click Click Click," "Dirty Dancing," "Tonight," "I'll be Loving You (Forever)," "If you go Away," "Single," "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)/Twisted," "Never let you Go," "I got It," "Full Service," "Summertime," "Close to You," "Step by Step," "Hangin' Tough."
New Kids on the Block perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket. Tickets are $75 and $55. For more information, call 800-200-2882.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
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