“We keep coming back because you keep coming back!!”  The sentiment that Donnie Wahlberg shared towards the end of New Kids on the Block’s two hour set rings more true each time they tour.  Since NKOTB officially reunited in 2008, Blockheads have indeed kept coming back to see their five bad brothers from the Beantown land and they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.  The Magic Summer tour was an homage to their 1990 tour of the same name, bringing us all back to a simpler time.

DJ Jazzy Jeff kicked off the night on a high note, hopping on stage right as the rain was ending which was lucky considering it had been pouring all day in Jones Beach (and this is a New Kids concert after all!).  Playing all of the hits including “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” theme, Jeff hit all of the right notes getting the crowd hype and ready for an incredible, magical summer night! 

Paula Abdul hasn’t toured too much as an artist but we’ve been lucky enough to see her several times and she is forever our girl! Paula is one of our favorite opening acts and as she took us through her creative process for putting a tour together from the setlist, to the costumes, to holding auditions for her dancers, she is still at the top of her game! 

Opening their Jones Beach show with some brand new songs off their latest record, “Still Kids” was a bold move but NKOTB know their fans and their fans know every word to every song.  

NKOTB have always kept us on our toes with their stage design and how they’ll make the next event better and more unique than anything we’ve seen before. For the Magic Summer Tour 2024, they introduced some of the best seats in the house – the Magic Seats.  They included a handful of lucky fans in their pre show huddle right before they go on stage and then the fans got to watch the first several songs FROM THE STAGE!!!  Talk about having a close seat! 

As Donnie, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan, and Danny sang and danced their way through the extensive New Kids catalogue, you could tell how much fun they were having interacting with the fans on stage. 

In classic NKOTB fashion, they included the fan favorite, quick change cam. This year it’s branded as “Club Quick Change” complete with a shiny wall and funky club disco lights!  Donnie and Danny of course were hamming it up the most. 

Joey brought out his eldest son, Griff, for a sweet moment harmonizing together as his son played the piano and an outstanding duet of “New York State of Mind”.  At the risk of sounding like our parents’ friends, “I remember when he was so young with the big headphones and cried he was so nervous on stage.”   And now he totally owns it, just like his dad!

How many times is too many to sing “la la la la tonight” because we definitely didn’t hit that at Jones Beach!  Donnie joked that we set a world record for the most times, but I think we would have stayed there all night singing anything and everything with them.

What we love most about NKOTB is they go for it 100% and give it their all night after night.  They know and love their fans better than anyone, and we love them right back!   We’ll be loving them forever and will be hangin’ tough until the next time their tour hits in the summertime.