I heart NKOTB

The other "first" that I experienced last week was meeting the New Kids on the Block. I went to their concert this past October (check out my old blog for the post on my first NKOTB concert). Amy and Stormy (her cousin who we went with last year) bought tickets to the Greenville, SC show on Tuesday March 17th. They did not announced an Atlanta date, so Greenville was the closest venue. I didn't buy tickets because...well, I didn't want to spend the money on another concert. Anyway, well, Amy entered a contest to win tickets and backstage passes. Well...she won!!!! She got to take 3 other people with them. So I took the day off to drive to Greenville :) (it's about a 1 hour & 45 minute drive north of Atlanta).

First, Amy and I got to the arena a little early. We were hanging out with the rest of the groupies back by the buses and loading docks. All of a sudden there was an uproar...Donnie came out to greet the screaming fans! Amy and I were at the top of the hill. Amy ran down there, but I figured that I wouldn't be able to make it on time. But I got down there anyway. He was taking pictures with each girl in line. I lined up but figured since I got there so late, he would leave by the time it was my turn. But I was wrong. So below is a shot of Donnie and Amy and then a shot of me and Donnie. kee hee hee. I didn't think it would make me giddy...but it did :)

As I was taking a pic with Donnie, I congratulated him on their comeback. He told me that was really nice and he turned to me and told me I had a sweet face. Leroy thought that was quite the line and called me "sweet face" for the next few days. HA! Hey, I got a compliment from Donnie Wahlberg!!!!

Second, let me tell you about 5 star and 4 star ticket packages. 5 star, you are guaranteed a seat in the first 10 rows; 4 star, the first 20 rows. Both tickets you get some random stuff like a gift bag and a poster or something like that, and you get to go through a meet-and-greet where you can take a group picture with the guys. But since there are like 200+ chicks in this group, I hear they push you in and out so quickly that you don't really get a chance to talk to them or anything. Plus the pictures are with 20 other people. Large groups! (I did NOT buy one of these tickets!!)

So anyway, the contest that Amy won included backstage passes! There was less than 20 girls in the backstage passes group. The guys came out and we got to actually hang with them for a couple of minutes befor taking a group pic (groups of 4 only!!!)

All that to say that I got to get a picture with them in a much smaller group, spend a few extra seconds with them, and the cost: a vacation day from work and gas money to get there :) HA! sure beats paying $380 (yep, that's how much the 5 star tickets cost; $180 for the 4 star! Craziness if you ask me.)

Oh btw, Amy and I were at the front of the line and Donnie came and said "Hey, I've already met some of you." He looked at me, smiled and said he met me already. Then he looked at Amy and said, "Wait, I met you too, but you changed shirts!" Sure enough, she had changed her top from a black one to the cute plaid just before going backstage.

So then Joey came out (who was my favorite when I was younger) and I asked him "I have a friend who used to play ball with you guys back in the day. He told me the brothas used to call you "Cool Whip"; is that true?" He looked straight ahead and said, "No! That is aboslutely not true. That's Bull$#!T" Well then...you're not looking at me and your response makes me think it really is true. Anyway, I guess he had enough of me by then because he wouldn't even look at me. So I went on meeting the other guys. They were all very cool and I'm so excited that I got to meet them. Here is our group shot:

The Interscope rep who took us backstage revealed to us that they would be announcing an Atlanta date. Not sure when, but they will be coming back to Atlanta sometime this year. Hopefully they won't be back at Gwinnett Arena (security was like Fort Knox!!) So if it's at Phillips arena, I think I have connects who might be able to get me and Amy backstage again! Sure beats having to pay :)