Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Nokia Theater -- Los Angeles
After seeing the New Kids concert in Dallas with Angela, I had been looking even more forward to the night in L.A. I had bought tickets awhile ago for myself and my friend Aura, whom I had met at a Rockapella show several years ago. When I had read her blog showing how excited she was that NKOTB was back and touring, I offered to get us tickets. Later on, her cousin April, whom I also know from Pella shows, wanted to join us, so I got another ticket for her in the next section over. I had never seen a concert at the Staples Center, and I was happy that my first non-sporting event there would be my beloved New Kids.
Somewhere along the line, the Staples Center people realized that the NKOTB concert conflicted with a Clippers/Nuggets game. WHATEVER. So they moved the venue across the street to the new Nokia center, where I had been earlier this year, so at least I knew the layout of the venue. The Staples Center refunded my pre-paid parking fee, and assigned us 3 seats that were supposed to be comparable to the ones we previously purchased. Um, no. One of the seats was much closer to the front of the theater than the other 2, and on different sides/sections. So, being me, I took the one closer the front, and sent the other two to Aura and April, hoping that they would at least be next to or near the revolving stage in the back of the orchestra section. I mean, hey--I didn't want a family feud to occur over NKOTB seats! OK, so I also wanted to be up close. I'm lucky that I have such understanding friends as A&A. :)
Traffic to Downtown L.A. was horrific from the valley. It was the day before Thanksgiving, after all. But I was entertained for awhile by Liz's telephone call. Apparently, Liz sees me as some kind of pie afficionado, so I helped her think of places where she could get 4 or 5 pies for Thanksgiving Day without needing to have made a reservation. (Her husband's family decided at the last moment to have a big dinner even though she'd been asking about it for a couple of weeks already. They're stressed out, so that's excusable. What Liz didn't understand, though, is why one of the pies listed was pumpkin pie, since nobody eats it). All of the pie talk was making me hungry, and I needed to find a restroom, so I exited the freeway and went to Panda Express to get some dinner to go. No, I wasn't planning on eating Chinese food while driving, but I sure was tempted once I got back into the crawling traffic, with the yummy aroma of Beijing Beef and ChowMein wafting about inside in my car.
I finally made it to the Nokia, parked the car in the new very well-lit parking structure, and proceeded to eat my dinner. As I was eating, I people-watched and played a game in my head: "Clippers Game or NKOTB Concert"? I think I was more amused than I should have been, because I kept guessing wrong on purpose. There were a lot of Nuggets fans, which surprised me a little bit. I was already dressed for the concert, but did need to do my makeup and atchechapies and such. Since I still had plenty of time, I read a few pages in my book between the times that I was being distracted by the couple and child that had parked beside me. It seemed that they were arguing about something, and were trying to decide if they should still go to the game. At one point, she was ready to leave her man there, and just go home with the kid. I felt sorry for the kid because he had to hear the fighting, and because he probably just wanted to go and watch the basketball game. They ended up all going upstairs together, so I guess they decided to see the game. No, they did not appear to be NKOTB fans.
I went upstairs so that I could go buy the track jacket that I had been eyeing in Dallas. At the top of the stairs, a bunch of fans were staring at a tour bus, hoping that NKOTB would step out shortly. I stood around for a little while, but realized that I needed to buy merchandise so I went to the theater.
Wow. My seat was in the front row of the orchestra section, after the break from the pit, on the right side of the house. I then felt really guilty about taking this seat, but that didn't last very long, since A&A were still having dinner, and I was just hoping that they'd get there in time for NKOTB to take the stage. I met the gal seated next to me, whose name was Cathy. She warned me that they were all crazy, and that I'd enjoy hanging out with them. I love sitting next to fans who are excited like me! I went to the souvenir line, which was really long, but at least it was more organized than the one in Dallas. They didn't even have my track jacket hanging. I was disappointed, but I saved myself a bunch of money and bought an expensive program instead. I met more people in line, including a gal who had gone to the first Staples Center show the month before, as well as another gal who had been shaking earlier in the day because she was so excited. She told her mom that she thought it was because she was cold, but her mom told her that it was her adrenaline. I think her mom's right. So does she. I thought I saw Aura in the restroom, but when I smiled at the woman, she just looked at me with no recognition whatsoever, so I felt stupid and texted Aura. She wasn't even in the building yet, so that wasn't her. Dummy. I went back to my seat and chatted a little bit with Cathy, who said that she's going to be going to London for the first time so that she can see NKOTB there, too. She'd also been at the Staples Center in October, and was willing to pay for the VIP tickets for this show, but couldn't get them. She reminded me a little of myself. I wonder why. ;)
The opening act was Ga-ga, whom I didn't really know, but at least she wasn't Tutu Girl from the Dallas show. I did finally recognize her hit song "Just Dance," so I didn't feel old and unhip anymore.
Everyone in my section then went nuts, because who should walk by but the Lachey brothers. I was just loving the Boy Band love. Nick was lookin' good! They passed by several times, which distracted us in our row quite a bit during the evening, but it was a good distraction. I wasn't that big of a fan of N*SYNC, but I do like some of their stuff. I think I enjoy Justin Timberlake's solo stuff more, though. But I digress.
Natasha Bedingfield then took the stage. It was her birthday, and her last date of the tour, since the USA portion of the tour was ending that night. She was as amazing as she was in Dallas. I really still have to get that other CD of hers. Perhaps I'll buy Justin's CD while I'm at it. At one point, I thought that she was pointing at me and waving, but I could just have been having a moment of delusion.
The big screen showed NKOTB's performance at this year's American Music Awards. I can't believe that I forgot to record that thing. Mmmm...they looked good on that screen. Before the show had started, I told the gal on the other side of me that they were going to be RIGHT THERE, and that I was going to freak out. She laughed and said she'd freak out, too. Once A&A arrived, I relaxed a little bit, and sent a text to the number on the screen (this time I could see the number without squinting), but they didn't show my text message on the screen because NKOTB was about to start.
They started with "Single" and the crowd went crazy. Once they transitioned into "My Favorite Girl," Donnie walked over to our side of the stage, and jumped on top of the speakers. I went bananas. I wanted each of them to do that, but they didn't. Donnie was the only brave one, and he didn't do that more than once. Maybe he got talked to. I don't care. It was awesome to us! The gals on the other side of the gal on my right were drinking beer and going even more crazy, and the staff had to tell them several times to step back to leave room in the walkway.
When they sang "The Right Stuff," Jordan walked over to our side, and I yelled "HI, JORDAN!!!" as if he knew me or could hear me or even see me. He's just still way cute. And right there! Sure, I wasn't in the very front, but I didn't need to look at any of the screens to see them well. I was quite happy.
During "No More Games," Jordan led our section in the "Wizard of Oz"-sampled "Oh-ee-Oh"s. OK, I'll sing for you, baby! Ahem. When they showed the Boston teams on screen, especially the Celtics, I sat down. I refused to cheer for the Lakers' rivals anyway, but when we were across the street from Lakers Home Court, I felt that everyone else in the theater cheering was a bunch of traitors. No, I didn't boo, but I did feel like we deserved to be in the Nokia at that moment, because I couldn't imagine myself being able to bear all of the Celtics fandom if we had been in Staples Center. I maybe would have worn a Lakers shirt just to piss them off.
When they got to the section with the revolving piano, I was disappointed to see that the piano was on the stage in front, instead of in the back of the audience, as in other shows. They did go up the aisle, though, to sing a little bit from the back. It really wasn't enough time, though, as compared to what I saw in Dallas.
Joe talked about the old days, what fans would do, like throwing stuffed animals and such, as opposed to now, when the fans throw underwear on stage. Yeah, that would have been creepy back then, but now we're older and allowed to be sluts, I guess.
OK, so this night I was closer to the stage than in Dallas, and much happier to see Jordan's bare chest in "Baby I Believe in You." Hello, Beautiful! He's just ... swoonworthy. At this moment, I was so hating the fact that I didn't have a smaller camera to hide in my purse, because I'm sure that I could have taken some awesome pictures (they were not caring at the security line). But at least I could concentrate on the show instead of the photography, right? I did try to get a couple of shots from my cell phone, but they were too bright.
After they sang, "I'll Be Loving You Forever," Donnie asked if we were ready for more. We screamed. He asked, "Are you sure?!" We screamed louder. Then Jordan repeated Donnie's words, "Are you sure?" and snickered. Yeah, Donnie, like we're going to say that we've had enough, and they should just go home already. I only think that during the Celtic stuff. Not the going home part, but the ENOUGH part.
They sang "Click Click Click," and I mimed the camera action at the same time as Joe. He saw me and pointed, smiling. I beamed. During the final pose, Joe lifted up part of his shirt and said to us, "Jordan said that he'd give me $2,000.00 for showing skin... He gets big bucks just for ' Baby, I Believe in You'." We just kept on screaming. Joe did win the pose-off, though.
We all sang "Happy Birthday" to John, who is celebrating his 40th this year.
There are some classical instruments played on the recording of "Step by Step," which are simulated during the stage show by the synthesizer. I mimed one of the violin riffs at the same time as Jordan. That was cool.
Joe told us that the thing to say now is "LET'S GET LOUD!!!" So we yelled it at him. Then they showed the whole Boston Celtics "Let's Get Loud," and I just stood there. I would have sat down, but there were a lot of people getting in front of me at this point because it was just crazy. Staff was frustrated with all of the non-listening. But it was still OK.
I met up with Aura and April for a brief chat before their ride arrived, then I went back to the parking structure. People were again gathered around across the street from the tour bus, hoping that they'd see the guys one more time. Yeah, I stayed for awhile. Then my feet told me to get the hell home because they were hurting, and because I had a pie to bake.
Remember those girls drinking beer in my row? Somehow that beer got into the plastic bag holding my expensive program, and got it a bit wet and drunk. I was quite angry, and tried to salvage it, but it still sucks.
I got home and realized that I didn't have condensed milk. It was too late to go to the grocery store, and I was exhausted. There's not really a substitute for that and I was already trying out a new recipe, so I decided to bake the cake before going to bed, and would go to the store in the morning.
Thanks, NKOTB for the great time! Thanks, Aura and April for not hating me!
Once the concert ended, I already missed them. Was I ever going to get to see them again?
Well, apparently maybe, since they have just announced that they'll be back in the USA in 2009. YAY! Hmmm....maybe they'll have an even cooler jacket next year.
That's our house, on the left. Isn't it nice?
We shopped in the store for awhile and Jenn absolutely loved a toy talking bird that mimicked everything that anyone said near it. We didn’t have room in our luggage, though. I bought a harmonica for Kevin for his birthday, as well as a couple of Christmas gifts for other people. After asking strangers for change for my dollar, I bought a local paper and found that Rockapella was indeed listed as one of the events on their calendar. I also found a hilarious “Dear Abby” type page, which will be posted at a later time. We returned to the hotel and spoke to the desk clerk to arrange for Karla and Wendy to stay in the adjoining room, and also tried to get reservations for seats for the concert, but that was a no go.
Scott said, “Oh, that was your nephew?” I explained to him about Brady being antsy and wanting a drink. Karla gave him a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes baseball shirt, which he really liked. He really, really liked it, because he was raving about the color, along with the fact that it had the name of his favorite city to pronounce, which he did for us a couple of times to make us laugh. He said that he went to the World Series and had tickets for two more games, but they didn’t happen because Tampa lost. Wendy asked Scott to go to her house after the RC concerts, so that he could sing “Angels We Have Heard on High” on their answering machine. He said OK. Karla was happy because Scott actually did the math when she told him that she was excited because this was her 91st show, and her room number was 91x3. I asked her if she thought JT did the math so that he could join us later on as a surprise, but she doubted it. I suggested that we just walk around the hotel grounds and call out his name.
where we enjoyed our delicious dessert and drinks. 
Ummy Yummy. 
