VIA EXAMINER.com

Many inner 1990s high school girl hearts were fluttering, swooning over their celebrity crush. No matter what year you graduated from high school – 1990s or early 2000s – there was a little something for everyone. The Main Event tour brought five “New” Kids that aren’t so kid-like anymore, but more – Hot Damn!!

The New Kids on the Block The Main Event tour rolled through San Diego State University Viejas Arena on Monday May 11, 2015. The Main Event Tour included 2 special guest artists, TLC and Nelly. They were the perfect complement to their 1990s pop icon headliner New Kids on the Block.

The three-part musical event began with the hot ring girl cruising the stage smiling and laughing with a placard saying “Round 1”. The house lights went down and strobe lights danced through the venue.

The St. Louis rapper Nelly got the audience more than warmed up by dancing and swaying to his songs. Some of the audience were seen drooling and looked flush from the heat coming off the stage. As he rapped “Shimmy Shimmy Coco Puff, listen to it loud,” listening proved difficult at times while staring at those arm guns.

Round 2 the ring girl again grabbed the audience’s attention before the lights dimmed to welcome pop duo T-Boz and Chilli otherwise known as the Grammy-winning artists TLC. Under the cover of three huge canopy fans held by backup dancers, the DJ started the first beat while the dancers slowly unveiled the group and a few more backup dancers.

What about Your Friends, Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg, and Baby, Baby, Baby were the first three songs and continued hit after hit for about 45 minutes. The awe-struck moment –goose bump moment of the night was one of the last songs, Waterfall. The in-the-round main event audience was painted in a blue light and nearly everyone in the audience raised their cell phone for a somber lighter moment. At that point, the fans and the group were missing the middle of the group, the glue, the “L”, Lisa Lopes – Left Eye.

Round 3, the ring girl proudly strutted her thing, however, the audience was anticipating that first glimpse of their school-age infatuation. The lights went down and a few white lights shined on the stage. The Main Event – Let’s get ready to rumble announcer introduced the guys. Each walked to the stage under the shield of a black fight robe. Lights flicked off and on then a set of white lights peered down on each before unveiling themselves starting the night.

The New Kids on the Block have aged like a fine wine – very well. Aye aye yai! As the guys were stripping off the robes the lightweight tight t-shirt showed some amazing washboard abs under there. Jordan ripped his t-shirt off mid-show during his solo performance making some of the 40-somethings get in a tizzy and their heart flutters even faster. The guy’s performance was outstanding everything the inner high school crazed fans would ask for, to now grow into a sensible adult fan.

The square stage mechanics were amazing offering multi-level Olympic podium risers lifting each member as they sang. The side stages seemed to be rotating while they danced. Although a little overboard at some times, the confetti and billowing smoke added another dimension to the show.