Still Got The Right Stuff

Friday Mitch and I made our first visit to THE Mall of America since moving to Minnesota last month.  From here out I will refer to said mall as "THE Mall", as it is called around here.   Why else would you go somewhere else?  (I also want to add that we live approximately fifteen minutes away from the glorious four floors of shopping, where you can buy anything you could possibly imagine, tax-free.  That's right, no tax on clothes here.  Those Cook County people can take their 10% sales tax and shove it!)  

Mike and I were there for more than just shopping and dinner, which we did partake in.  I also enjoyed getting a few shots of LegoLand....

And Nickelodeon's Ultimate Adventure Park (formerly known as Camp Snoopy)....

But we really went for one main purpose.  We went so I could relive my youth crushes.....those guys you listened to on the radio and wanted to date.....those boys whose voices were sweeter than butter, who set the standard for "cool"......we saw these guys - 

Joey, Jonathan, Danny, Donny, and Jordan.  The New Kids On The Block are BACK!  

Best Buy just opened up in THE Mall, and to celebrate the store opening, they booked the hottest new(old) act in boy-band-land.  I decided we were going on Thursday when I heard about their performance on the news.  So, when Mitch got home from his professional responsibility test (which I'm sure he passed), we headed to the mall to scope out the best possible spot in the Rotunda for viewing.  We ended up on the fourth floor, where these pics were taken.  

After waiting for approximately two hours (I waited the entire time - Mitch fetched us Caribou Coffee and did a little light shopping - he clearly was not as interested as seeing them as I was), NKOTB finally came out to perform three tunes - two new ones, and one oldie.  I was really hoping for something to get my hand waving in the air like I just didn't care, like "Hanging Tough" or "The Right Stuff", or even to listen to Joey and Jordan's soulful singing on "Please Don't Go, Girl", but sadly, I didn't even know the name of the old one.

Here was their "custom" stage - 

And the crowd in the Rotunda - it picked up right before the concert - 

And finally, pics of the band during the performance.  Mitch was quite disappointed in their lackluster performance for a bunch of 30-ish-year-old screaming fans living out the dream like I was, but I thought it was still fun to watch them dance.  I mean, that's what they are so good at!

Here's me turning my back for a brief moment so that I could be in the picture with the boys - 

It was truly a childhood dream come true.  

Just so you can understand how wonderful it is, take the time to view one of their songs (a new one they performed) that I recorded.  (Side note - I posted this on YouTube last night, and I got almost 50 comments from people - a few great ones were "OMFG - I was there in the front row and center and if you would have seen this moment live, you would have had a heart attack.  Damn, those hips!" and "The Block is back - Oh Yeah!" and "I could just melt - they look amazing!")