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In 1988 when I was 9 years old New Kids On The Block released their first album. I was never really a huge fan although my friend did have all the albums and we’d spend hours making dance routines up to the songs. I love a good pop concert which is how I found myself at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Friday 16^th January for the first night of the UK leg of their comeback tour. It was 17 years ago since they last played a concert in the UK and this showed in the average age of the audience who mostly ranged from 25-40 years old, all re-living a moment of their youth.

I didn’t know what to expect so was surprised to discover that they are actually very good live; the dancing wasn’t too bad either! When they did Step by Step I was transported back to the early 1990’s and forgot that 20 years had passed since they’d last performed that dance routine. Over a 2 hour set they performed all the old hits including ‘Cover Girl’, Step by Step’ and ‘Hangin Tough’. The old was mixed in with new tracks from their current album ‘The Block’. My favourites were ‘Single’ which opened the show and ‘Dirty Dancing’, which was performed on a small circular stage at the back of the arena.

They came out for the encore of ‘Hangin Tough’ which bought the house down in Manchester United football shirts. I just thought typical foreigners, as usual forgetting that the current richest football club in the world also come from Manchester and no they don’t play in red! I put this little irritation to one side and danced with the rest of them, hands in air, side to side, just like I did at 9 years old.

As come back tours go it wasn’t the best and I was there at the reunion tours for Take That, Spice Girls and Boyzone. I enjoyed it and I was glad I’d witnessed their comeback, a special moment in the history of the New Kids. If they want to continue after this tour they have a long way to go before they’ll reach the heights of our own Take That, originally billed the answer to America’s NKOTB.

These days Take That are in a league of their own, far outweighing the likes of the New Kids. This concert showed the huge gap between the two bands, the stage design, effects and overall presentation was basic. You could tell that not much money had been spent on putting on a big production that would wow their fans. NKOTB or The Block as they prefer to be called now, may be back, but the question is for how long?