If the nineties was the decade of the boy band then the noughties must be the dawn of man band. It seems almost every ageing pop star has dusted off the mic for a second shot at fame recently.

So when US heartthrobs New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys announced they were teaming up for a tour, girls around the world screamed. The two bands have joined forces to form a super group with a suitably 21st century style name NKOTBSB. LOL. As they filed out – all nine of them – onto the Manchester Arena stage we all took a step back in time.

The concert kicked off with a surprising collaboration of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida before each band rolled out a series of hits including I’ll Never Break Your Heart, Quit Playing Games, and I Want it That Way from Backstreet Boys Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell. NKOTB – made up of Joey McIntyre, Jordan and Jon Knight, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood – also got the crowd going with The Right Stuff, Step by Step and Cover Girl.

Read full article on MENMedia.co.uk.

BBC One Breakfast

Two of the world’s most popular boybands, New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys, say they have come together for their NKOTBSB supergroup tour out of “respect”.

Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids On The Block told BBC Breakfast the boy bands bands were never in competition.

“When we were first presented with the idea of touring with Backstreet Boys, we thought it was insulting to sort of ask them to to open for us,”

he said.

“It was never a competition, always respect,”

Wahlberg added.

The musicians say they are performing “mash ups” at the beginning and end of the show alongside a collection of their biggest hits.

Watch the video of their “BBC One Breakfast” interview on BBC.co.uk.

By Olivia Kerr

It’s not often I enter radio competitions. But on the morning of Friday 20 April, I took the radical decision to enter a competition to win tickets to see Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block that evening in the Odyssey Arena, only to go and win a pair of tickets. Delighted would be an understatement, being a fan of both boy-bands.

The Odyssey Arena show was a sell-out, with the crowds being dominated by either middle-aged women, or young girls who long for the return of these 80’s and 90’s boy-band wonders. The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block definitely know how it’s done, JLS and The Wanted have a lot to live up to.

After the lights went out, and the crowd went wild, both New Kids on the Block and The Backstreet Boys put on a fantastic, exciting and energetic show. You would never have thought that the New Kids on the Block were in their early 40’s – they’re still dancing about to “The Right Stuff” like they were 16 again.

Read full article on InsideIreland.ie.

WATCHING NKOTBSB is like being reunited with an old boyfriend – well nine of them actually.

All those teenage feelings of obsession and angst, which age has taught us to be ashamed of, come flooding back.

Nights staying up into the early morning to catch and record a Backstreet Boys’ music video on retro music channel, The Box, suddenly feel like yesterday.

Last night at the Echo Arena, women in their late 20s and 30s (maybe older) released those repressed feelings, screaming themselves breathless as Donnie Wahlberg ripped off his vest and gyrated over and over and over.

Members of both bands, New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, paid tribute to Liverpool. BSB talked of having watched rap star Drake at the Arena the night before and of visiting The Cavern.

Donnie, a mad Reds fan, pulled on a crystal-encrusted Liverpool shirt at one point as the guys sang, My Favourite Girl, while band mate Joey McIntyre performed a sweet acapella version of Beatles hit, Help.

Read full article on LiverpoolEcho.co.uk.

Das CinemaxX zeigt am 29. April das New Kids on the Block Backstreet Boys-Konzert aus der Londoner O2-Arena in einer Live-Übertragung. Wir verlosen Karten!

Die größten Boygroup-Stars von New Kids on the Block und den Backstreet Boys geben sich vereint als NKOTBSB auf einer Bühne die Ehre. Die Tour rund um die Welt begann im Mai 2011 in Nordamerika und startet startet im April 2012 in Europa.

Ein außergewöhliches Kinoerlebnis
Auch Fans in Bremen können ihre Helden von früher hautnah und in Dolby Surround auf der großen Leinwand erleben: Am 29. April überträgt das CinemaxX das Konzert aus der O2-Arena in London via Satellit und lässt die Bremer Fans teilhaben an der einzigartigen Atmosphäre aus einer der größten Arenen Europas, so als seien sie selbst mit in Greenwich dabei.

Visit Bremen.de to read the full article and to enter the competition.

By Arwa Haider

Boyband juggernauts New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys talk to Metro about going on the road, inter-band rivalry and why they won’t be slowing down too much on tour.

‘There are eight million stories in every boy band… so there are about 16million in this one.’ Joey McIntyre flashes a pearly showbiz trouper smile, despite the fact he’s been up since dawn for a TV shoot. Even at 39, he has a sparkly youthfulness that hints at his past in US late-1980s/1990s boy band New Kids On The Block – McIntyre was just 12 when he joined the line-up.

On his left sits the similarly bright-eyed Howie Dorough, 38, an original member of the Backstreet Boys. Now both men feature in the nine-strong man band, NKOTBSB – with New Kids Jordan and Jon Knight, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood and Backstreet’s AJ McLean, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell. It’s a pop mash-up sparking an age of hysteria. ‘The first time this idea was mentioned, around 2008, New Kids were just returning, so I wasn’t that interested,’ says McIntyre. ‘Perspectives change so much in the music industry.’

Blockbuster pop is certainly not limited to teenyboppers any more. The New Kids’ smash reunion tour came more than a decade after the band’s exhausted implosion; it also echoed Take That’s romance with an older fanbase. Backstreet, meanwhile, never really split, although various members battled addictions (McLean, Carter) and one (Kevin Richardson) quit. ‘Doing this brings out the good and bad in you, depending on how cohesive you are as a team,’ says Dorough.

Read full article on Metro.co.uk.

By Aidan Cuffe

It’s 2012 for those keeping track. It’s more Old Kids On The Block and Backstreet Men than the names they came up with 25 and 19 years ago respectively. Despite their additional years, their ability to drive women wild has not particularly diminished. What happens when you take two chart topping heartthrob boy bands, put them in one massively co-ordinated stage showpiece mixing a dash of pyrotechnics, a dollop of choreography and occasionally remove their shirts and rattle off hit after hit for two hours. Well you would be witnessing one of the best pop shows to roll in the town in recent memory.

I was in the minority as I wade through the sea of ladies to find my seat. Looking around, hoping to find others of the male species to validate my presence at this show was a fruitless endeavour. The atmosphere was out of this world, you could feel the electricity in the air as an X-factor style introduction sequence gets the crowd screaming wildly, as visuals of each member illicit vociferous shrieks.

Opening with a medley of Single* / I’ll Be The One to a backing track of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, it was clear from the start this would be an assault on all your senses. Out come the rising platforms, fog machines, pyrotechnics and dance moves. It’s a ’90s pop merry-go-round which becomes a chart hit tag team battle royale, in a fight for boy band supremacy. This format proves to be one of the key elements in making this such an entertaining show. Hits from the New Kids On The Block catalogue like Dirty Dancing, The Right Stuff, Cover Girl and Tonight all get an airing while the Backstreet Boys strung together hits like The Call, Larger Than Life, Incomplete and Everybody among some of the large list of chart hits on their set list.

Read full review on GoldenPlec.com.

During the fifties and the sixties, boy groups were known as combos, because they performed songs while playing instruments. In the seventies, combos became bands like the Eagles, Queen, and Nazareth. In the eighties, male musical groups became boy bands and the term lingers until today. During the eighties, New Kids on the Block were the most popular and the in the nineties Backstreet Boys is one of the most adored with lots of screaming female fans behind their back.

New Kids on The Block had split and individual members pursued a solo career either in the movies or in the music industry. Backstreet Boys did not split but retired and rested for a while and band members settled under a low profile. Recently, these two popular boy bands regrouped, reunited, and toured around the world, reminding their fans and current music lovers of the music they were loved for in the past. They can prove that they still have the charisma and performance power as if they never left our consciousness.

Here are the reasons why you should not miss them:

1. Joey, Danny, Jordan, Jonathan, and Donnie – these five guys from New Kids on the Block may not wear the same padded shirts, gel styled hair, and polka dot pants but you will still adore them despite their mature looks. AJ, Howie, Nick, and Brian will also prove to you that they still have the grooves that made them one of the best dancing boy bands ever.

2. Please Don’t Go Girl, The Right Stuff, and Step by Step were popular NKTOB songs in the eighties. Still, you will want to hear their latest offering from their reunion album “The Block” which went Number 2 on the Billboard 200 and received a Gold Record Award. Hear their new songs such as Summertime and Single and you will realize that they still have the “it” and they can still challenge currently popular boy bands and make a run for their money.

Read full article on Sosyalan.com.