(no subject)

[beanside]

After a drive that was complicated and slowed by traffic, we arrived at the King of Prussia mall (which is impressively huge and faboo), where we met kimannebb for lunch. We ended up at Ruby's Diner. The lunch was excellent, and the chat was better (and no, you didn't talk too much at all! We had a great time.). Thank you, kimannebb; next time we promise we’ll give you more warning.

After saying goodbye to Kim and the mall from Hell, we headed back to our hotel. T nabbed a great offer from the Internet for the Wyndham, a gorgeous stone hotel dropped inexplicably in the midst of a business park. A pool, a 2-room suite and a pillow top mattress are belong to us. We stopped just long enough to gawk at the wonder that was our room before heading for the venue 3 1/2 hours early, relatively sure that this would guarantee us at least a seat.

Ha. Note to selves: never underestimate the mania of boyband fans. We took one look at the line, which was already looping around the block despite the rain, and headed straight for the nearest bar (located handily next to the venue). Whiskey Dix was a nice enough bar, but at that point, all we really required was a roof and a bathroom.

We got a nice stool, bar food, and a waitress who wouldn't have looked out of place in Coyote Ugly. Mrrow. And there we proceeded to stay, until we saw the line outside begin to move.

By that time, the line wrapped almost around a block and a half, so we wandered tot he end, and began to quietly snark at the teenies around us. Sadly, the worst of them were by far old enough to know better. Or as Jess put it, so tactfully, "Honey, he's still not going to fuck you."

The woman behind us in line had absolutely no clue what General Admission meant, and bitched bitterly about having to stand for the concert. By the time we arrived, the floor was thoroughly filled, and the balcony was beginning to fill up, so we followed suit for the earlier part of the evening, and headed up to the bar.

Found a table, had a couple ginger ales and relaxed until about five minutes before the concert started. In the meantime two local DJ's attempted to hype the crowd. *wince* My god, the squealing. The male DJ spent his mike time trying to guilt the audience into screaming, like a twisted version of a Jewish grandmother. Also, the female DJ had a very shrill voice, especially when she got excited. Finally, as they promised us that it was three minutes (uh-huh. Try ten.) until showtime, we headed downstairs to the floor.

We found a place towards the back of the crowd, about five feet from the thronging hordes, and settled in.

After much teasing, the boys finally came out, to do "The Call." The opening number found them in the same basic outfits, white suit coat and hats. Nick managed to stand out, wearing a pair of truly unfortunate pants (black, with wide white pinstripes).

Within the first five seconds of the song, a pair of panties flew from the balcony and winged Kevin in the head. He looked terrified for a moment, then managed a faint wave.

A couple songs in, they finally shed the coats, and we were treated to Nick's newly buff arms. Very nice. Howie chose a shirt that looked like someone had attacked it with a box of crayons, and Kevin persisted in wearing his long sleeved plaid shirt, and not showing us any skin. Bugger.

The first thing we noticed is that they seem to all be a bit more touchy-feely with each other than previously. Nick spent much time poking at the others, pulling AJ's hat over his eyes, roughing up Howie and his horrific suit. They seemed more comfortable and happy all around, and the solos are a bit more evenly distributed.

During the concert, they took turns between numbers chatting with the crowd. Brian rambled for a good five minutes until he finally caught himself and stopped, but he at least knew how to work the crowd. Howie did the best of all of them, keeping his patter simple and short. Nick barely spoke, which was for the best, as the moment he took the mic, the teenies began to shriek (and shriek, and shriek...) Kevin basically sucked ass on the mic, coming across as completely wooden (but sincerely wooden).

But on the mic, the real star was AJ, who sincerely thanked the fans for sticking with him and supporting him through his rehab. He told us that he's been sober for two and a half years, which got the biggest applause of the night. (Jess: And dammit, the adolescent crush still holds. Fuck.) He also is still wearing hats in an unsuccessful (but endearing) attempt to hide his receding hairline.

They played the hard rock version of "Shout" (an amalgam of the 60's version and the Tears for Fears version of it) from Nicky's concert, which was a nice bit of continuity for those of us who’d been to both. We screamed and headbanged to it, and enjoyed watching AJ and Nick seeming to truly come alive with it. Sadly, many of the teenys were deeply confused by it. ("Fist... in... air? But I might mess up my nail job!" Or, more likely, any vigorous motion might send them flying out of their wee little camisoles. One wonders what the point of wearing high heels and wee shirts to a concert is, when any good concert ends in the audience looking like they'd been hit by a truck, but that's just me.)

A few of their new songs were on display for the evening. Most were pretty good, but I have to admit a special love for one called "Poster Girl." This is largely because AJ and Nick persisted in making obscene gestures to it, thus terrifying Brian (who unwisely tried to poke in between them). There was something about a girl who liked to make love in the backseat, leading us to wonder if whoever wrote that line had seen Mallrats. ("I'm going to screw her in a very uncomfortable place." "The back of a Volkswagon?")

Of course it was the big hits that made the teenies scream the loudest, and they played most of them, finishing the night with "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)."

For having a three year lay off, they did pretty well together. Solid harmonies, fairly co-ordinated dance moves (though Kevin still has no rhythm). They seem to be getting along pretty well though there's still seems to be a bit of tension between Brian and Nick (though, I'm sure that the mic stand that Nick knocked into Brian's head was entirely accidental). The rest of the band were all about getting entirely into each other's personal space, and having fun. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves (though Brian doesn't seem to know what to do with Nick and AJ's increased raunchy behavior--the teenies loved it, though).

All in all, we had a great time, and should they tour this summer like the rumors have said, we'd have to seriously consider going. Any one want to go with us?

Comments

[kimannebb.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the concert was fun and that you were still able to see. Seeing is always good. I heard on the radio that people were "camping out" for the concert. Puleease. I don't know why they'd do that at a venue like the Electric Factory, but obviously I'm over my really teenie years. :-)

So glad that hotel turned out so nice and that you guys got around this area well. :-) And yes, more warning next time. ;)

[beanside.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Yeah, I'm a little past the teenie phase, I think.

We'll definitely be dropping you an e-mail next time we're planning a trip up there, because we both really enjoyed getting to spend time with you. (It's always nice to get to hook up with fandom people who 'get you'!)

[hederahelix.livejournal.com]

I'm glad y'all had a good time and got to see kimannebb before you saw the boys. Ah, the screaming. I had forgotten, what with it being almost a year since I last saw JC, what the screaming could be like. Earplugs can only do so much to drown most of it out.

As for the teenies and their poor concert wear choices, I will have you know that I wear camisoles and heels to shows all the time;-} But, being a grown up, I wear *platform* heels with rubber soles so that I can still move comfortably (ask kimannebb, who's worn them, and ctbn60 who's seen me print around a church and up a pair of stairs in them) and camisoles that aren't teeny tiny but that also stretch so I can bounce all I want and not pop out of them. Not that I've ever had much I needed to worry about popping out. I guess that's why one friend once described me a high but practical femme. Sure, I'll wear a dress and heels and makeup, but I can still jog in them if I have to. ;-)

At any rate, it sounds like you had a good time, and it sounds like the show was totally worth checking out. I'm glad they the boys seem to be getting along well. the highlight of my Duran Duran show was that they did all seem to be getting along after all those years apart, and really that alone would have made the show worth it.

Also, for future, Wyndham has this "Wyndham by Request" frequent sleeper program that comes with really cool extras--like a snack and wine at check in, free local and long distance domestic calls, upgrades to their conceierge level, etc. I found this out when my friends one year at a thing all had free high speed access in their rooms and I didn't. Just thought I'd pass that along.

[beanside.livejournal.com]

*laugh* If you have good platform heels, that's one thing, but most of them seemed to have gotten their shoes from Fredrick's of Hollywood. Stillettos, probably about five inches tall, no platform. (If I'd worn those, I'd have cut off my feet by the end of the night.) And the camisoles I'm talking about look like they were meant to be worn as nightwear (or for other bed-related things). No support at all, somewhat see-thru, and really, really tacky looking. I was wearing a top that I've used as a camisole before-a black tanktop with a pretty neckline, actually, cause I know better than to dress in heavy clothing for a concert I'll be dancing around at. I mean, I like to look pretty, but I need to be able to move freely in the pretty clothes.

And yes, it was totally worth it. *grin*

I did sign up for the Wyndham by request, but unfortunately their internet provider was having issues, so we weren't able to connect.

[one-more-cherry.livejournal.com]

So glad you had fun!

Heh, I'm on a bit of an "I Alone" kick, so your icon makes me smile, too.

[beanside.livejournal.com]

*laugh* I love that song, but my gawd, it makes no fucking sense, aside from that one line. I actually caught some of the lyrics, and I'm sitting there going "To cradle the baby in space? The fuck were you smoking?"

But yes, we had much fun.

[one-more-cherry.livejournal.com]

Bwah! Right?

I'm glad you did!