#MCSFlashback: New Kids On the Block Live in Manila 1992

#MCSFlashback:
New Kids On The Block LIVE in Manila 1992
February 15, 1992 - Saturday - 8:00pm
Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium, Manila, Philippines.

It was their very first concert in Manila. Their second show was after 20 years with Backstreet Boys during the NKOTBSB Tour 2012.

LINKS:
http://cazseeker.multiply.com/photos/album/52

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NKOTBSB in Manila Concert Review: A Slice of Boyband Heaven

NKOTBSB in ManilaConcert Review: A Slice of Boyband Heaven

Written by Jamie Ortega

Photos by Magic Liwanag Photography

I am very much a 90s girl. I listen to 90’s music at work, I watch Dawsons Creek during my free time, and I was, and still am, a huge fan of 90s boybands. I don’t know why I love the 90s so much, probably because I was in high school during the ‘90s, and like most highschool kids my world revolved around my teen idols. So you can imagine my glee when I found out that super groups New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys would be having a concert in Manila. I forced myself to not watch any of their previous tour performances online just so I could feel the magic on June3, 2012 at SM Mall Of Asia when NKOTBSB Live In Manila came around. And boy, was it a good decision!

The night kicked off with a decent enough front act, the boy band VFort. I loved their original song Princesa, the song was so incredibly upbeat and peppy, with a sound reminiscent of another OPM group, ‘80s boy band Neocolours. I also enjoyed VFort’s

 Katy Perry medley which made a good number of people stand up and dance. So, good job guys! Before I go on with my review can I just say how much I loved this concert because it was full of surprises. The first surprise was when Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids On The Block introduced the other two front acts, Roscoe Umali and Prince Of R and B Jay-R- who are both Pinoys! In the dog-eat-dog world called the music industry isn’t it nice to see an American popstar like Donnie support Pinoy talent? Props to Mr. Wahlberg for doing that.

            Whoever thought of having these two groups tour together should be given an award because, judging by the insanely spectacular show the boys gave, the idea was absolutely brilliant. Kudos should also be given to Ovation for having a stage that gave enough room for the boys to walk around and interact with their fans with. (For those who weren’t there the stage was horizontal in length with a runway at the front.)  As soon as the lights dimmed for the third time, fans rushed to the sides of the runway and in front of the main stage to have a closer look at their idols. The boyband extravaganza (or marriage of boybands as some reporters put it,) was kicked off with an interesting mash-up of Singleby the Backstreet Boys and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida as the boys gave it their all wearing leather outfits and black top hats.

            What followed then was an interchange of performances which gave fans of the two groups ample time to scream, shout, and basically go ballistic for the boybands. NKOTBSB performed a total of 29 songs plus three encore songs making the show worth every penny. New Kids On The Block came in first with a rendition of Summetime followed by BSB’s The Call. As the show progressed, it was pretty obvious that NKOTB showed more skin. Jordan Knight was clad in a white, tight sleeveless top, Donnie Wahlberg paraded down the stage with his insane six-pack, need we say more?

            However, the Backstreet Boys made up for it by giving undeniably energetic, heart-pumping, kilig-inducing performances. I loved how they would go to the side of the stage, wave, cheer, and give out autographed pictures to the fans. The Call was followed by NKOTB’s Dirty Dancing and BSB’s Get Down mashed up with LMFAO’s Party Rock Shuffle. As expected, NKOTB’s hit songs garnered the most applause like You Got It (The Right Stuff) which had the boys lining the runway, singing into their mike stands while dancing in unison.

            Remember how I mentioned I was a kid of the ‘90s? Nick Carter was a huge part of that. I remember collecting BOP, Teen Beat and Tiger Beat magazines with

 his face on them. Which was why the  next number, BSB’s Larger Than Life, will forever be etched in my memory as a tattooed and muscled Nick Carter in a sleeveless black shirt, together with the rest of the Backstreet Boys, caroused down the runway. If at the start of the show NKOTB and BSB took turns performing, towards the middle of the concert each of the boy bands enjoyed a longer time in the spotlight with New Kids On The Block going first. NKOTB kicked off the “longer rounds” with a medley of love songs starting with Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) and Valentine Girls as Jordan Knight’s flawless falsetto reverberated throughout the arena. The boys, looking unbelievably dapper in suits and berets, succeeded in making the swoon meter at the venue go a million times higher. Valentine Girl was followed by more NKOTB tunes,

If You Go Away and Please Don’t Go Girl.

            The Backstreet Boys didn’t disappoint either as they serenaded the audience with  Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely, 10,000 Promises, I’ll Never Break Your Heart, Drowning and Incomplete while wearing crisp white suits. A boy band concert wouldn’t be a boyband concert without the usual “sing to the girls onstage portion” and the Backstreet Boys did exactly that as they each serenaded a girl with Nick overtly flirting

the girl he picked (yes insert jealous font here!).

           

            Not to be outdone, NKOTB took the crowd’s energy a notch higher as they delighted their fans with hit tunes Step By Step, Cover Girl, My Favorite Girl, Games and Tonight. During Tonight the boys took time out to go down into the crowd, shake hands, kiss and hug lucky fans. Touched by the response of their Pinoy fans Donnie shared this message, "Manila, mahal ko kayo. Mahal na mahal kita," while Joey McIntyre expressed how lucky they were to finish the tour in the Philippines. “"This tour is so special. We're finishing it in the Philippines. We're so blessed to have such good memories here," McIntyre said.

            The boys indeed saved the best for last as Backstreet Boys took center stage once more performing some of their biggest hits like Shape Of My Heart, As Long As You Love Me, All I Have To Give, We’ve Got It Goin On and Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) with the crowd gleefully singing along. Another great aspect of the concert was how it allowed each member of the group to shine, like Jordan Knight who followed up the last Backstreet Boys medley with I’ll Be Loving You Forever, impressing everyone with his goosebump-inducing falsetto.

           

It was obvious how close the two groups have become, judging by their farewell messages to each other toward the end of the concert. It was the final stop in a long tour spanning several countries and they showed how special they are to each other by giving each other sweet and touching goodbye messages.” In behalf of Backstreet Boys, I would like to thank the five selfless guys we have shared the stage in the last year and a half. Without NKOTB, this would not be possible. Thank you, fellows," shared AJ McClean. Wahlberg in turn, shared, "I'm going to miss all of the Backstreet Boys -- they're great partners and even better friends. I want to thank the BSB fans for joining the New Kids fans. This marriage of two boy bands -- in the 15 years, we're gonna have boy band babies and they're going to come here in Manila," Wahlberg said. The boys fittingly ended the show with NKOTBSB’s latest single Don’t Turn Out The Lights.

Just before we thought we saw the end of one of the best shows this writer’s ever seen,  the Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block gave one last hurrah with an encore medley of BSB’s Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and  NKOTB’s Hanging Tough mixed in with Queen’s We Will Rock You. As this writer was fighting tears in her eyes, the two groups, wearing jackets with Philippines printed on the back, joined together for a touching group hug onstage with confetti falling on everyone. The entire concert was a dream comes true in so many aspects-having two groups I love onstage, performing in the flesh, making fans like me happy. Indeed, it was a night full of memories boy band fans will forever keep in their hearts. 

For more photos from the show, visit: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.419837051369912

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NKOTBSB Tour: New Kids On the Block & Backstreet Boys Live in Manila Aftermath

Ovation Productions presents...
NKOTBSB Tour: New Kids On the Block & Backstreet Boys Live in Manila!
June 3, 2012 - 8pm
Mall of Asia Arena

Here's the aftermath of the show:

 Front-acts: VFort and Roscoe Umali

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK AND BACKSTREET BOYS SET:

• NKOTBSB: Medley "Single" / "The One" (contains elements of "Viva la Vida")
• New Kids on the Block: "Summertime Remix"
• Backstreet Boys: "The Call"
• New Kids on the Block: "Dirty Dancing"
• Backstreet Boys: "Get Down (You're the One for Me)"

• New Kids on the Block: "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"
• Backstreet Boys: "Larger Than Life"
• New Kids on the Block: "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"
• New Kids on the Block: "Valentine Girl"
• New Kids on the Block: "If You Go Away"
• New Kids on the Block: "Please Don't Go Girl"

• Backstreet Boys: "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"
• Backstreet Boys: "10,000 Promises"
• Backstreet Boys: "I'll Never Break Your Heart"
• Backstreet Boys: "Drowning"
• Backstreet Boys: "Incomplete"
• New Kids on the Block: "Step By Step"
• New Kids on the Block: "Cover Girl"
• New Kids on the Block: "My Favorite Girl"
• New Kids on the Block: "Games"

• New Kids on the Block: "Tonight"
• Backstreet Boys: "Shape of My Heart"
• Backstreet Boys: "As Long As You Love Me"
• Backstreet Boys: "All I Have to Give"
• Backstreet Boys: "We've Got It Goin' On"

• Backstreet Boys: "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)"
• New Kids on the Block: "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)"
• Backstreet Boys: "I Want It That Way"
• NKOTBSB: "Don't Turn Out the Lights"

ENCORE:

• Backstreet Boys: "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"
• New Kids on the Block: "Hangin’ Tough" (contains excerpts from "We Will Rock You")
• NKOTBSB: Medley "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" / "Hangin’ Tough" (Reprise)

CROWD:

An estimated over 7,000 to 10,000+ fans at the Mall of Asia Arena for NKOTBSB Tour in Manila concert.

This event was brought to us by Ovation Productions.

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New Kids On The Block: How the Boys from Boston, Massachusets Blew the World Away

Title: New Kids On The Block: How the Boys from Boston, Massachusets Blew the World Away

Written by Jamie Ortega

They made us reach for our dreams "Step By Step", and when things were too much to bear they reminded us to "Hanging Tough". Each song they sung was as breezy as "Summertime", and when we thought we’ve finally outgrown them they’d sing "Please Don’t Go Girl". With songs as sweet and lovely as these there is no doubt in anyone’s mind why Jordan, Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood made many a girl scream in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Styling is very much a part of any boy band, and this writer will always remember the New Kids On The Block boys for their slicked back ‘dos, leather jackets, and utterly charming smiles. Oh, and for an animated TV series they starred in, making them pretty much the only-quite literally-animated boy band in existence. But we are getting way too ahead of ourselves. For the second part of our MCS Exclusive let us relive the humble beginnings of New Kids On The Block!

In the early 1980’s talent manager Maurice Starr auditioned more than 500 teenage boys in Boston, Massachusetts, in the hopes of making a white counterpart of the boy band New Edition. A then 15 year old Donnie Wahlberg was first accepted into the group. Donnie recruited his younger brother Mark, as well as good friend Danny Wood. After hearing his exceptional falsetto, he convinced another buddy, Jordan Knight as well as Jordan’s older brother Jonathan Knight, to try their luck as well. As the group began to take shape, Mark suddenly quit. Wahlberg was eventually replaced by  Joey Mckintyre.

The group’s rise to fame wasn’t a steady one. Their self-titled debut album in 1985 received minor airplay around Boston but failed to capture nationwide attention. They decided to take a more hands-on approach, touring around the New England states, singing at bars, school dances, etc. It seemed as if their second album Hanging Tough would have the same fate until a radio station in Florida began playing the song Please Don’t Go Girl. The tune quickly became the most requested song in that radio station’s playlist.  Please Don’t Go Girl officially became the group’s first hit.

This was followed by their album’s second single, You Got It (The Right Stuff) which was given a huge boost when MTV began playing the song’s music video in regular rotation. By 1989 they bagged their next hit, the single I'll Be Loving You (Forever), which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in June. By the end of 1989, Hangin' Tough had climbed to number one on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and had gone eight-times platinum. They, subsequently, became the first 'teen' act to garner five top ten hits from a single album.

 Hangin' Tough would go on to spend 132 weeks on the chart, and in January 1990, the album won two American Music Awards for "Best Pop/Rock Album", and "Best Pop/Rock Group." With the success of three more singles, "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)," "Cover Girl," and "This One's For the Children," the group pulled off a rare feat of having three singles on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, but each from a different album. Their days of Hangin Tough were now over.

For their next album, Step By Step, the boys decided to have a larger part in the album’s creative process. Thus, Step By Step featured slightly more than half of the songs co-written and produced by the members themselves.  That turned out to be a good decision as their first single Step By Step, shot to number one on the Hot 100 Singles Chart and became the boys biggest selling single. The entire album was eventually certified triple platinum, selling close to twenty million copies worldwide.

What could possibly follow after being certified triple platinum? A concert tour, of course! The group performed at an estimated 200 concerts a year, the most memorable of which was The Magic Summer Tour sponsored by Coke. The international superstars slowly ventured into merchandising. The NKOTB –licensed merchandise included pretty much anything people could get their hands on including lunch boxes, buttons, T-shirts, comic books, dolls, trading cards and that very memorable Saturday morning cartoon.  In 1991 the group topped Forbes list of highest paid entertainers, beating out the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Bill Cosby!

Unfortunately, the next couple of years saw a huge dip in the boys’ popularity. Their fourth studio album after nearly four years entitled Face The Music, drew a lukewarm response from their fans. The most successful song from that album was Dirty Dawg which peaked at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The group finally decided to split in 1995. After the group's disbanding, majority of the members decided to focus on their personal lives. They began to settle down and started to have families. Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood maintained low profiles, while the other three members continued their solo careers individually.

Amid staggering clamor from their fans, the group reunited for a reunion tour 13 years after their break-up. The tour began on September 18, 2008 at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, touring the United States with Natasha Bedingfield and Lady Gaga as their supporting acts. They proceeded to take over the world with a total of 48 concerts scheduled for Canada and the United States, ten in the United Kingdom, one in France, one in Amsterdam, Netherlands and two in Germany. To make their fans even happier a  NKOTB-sponsored "theme" concert cruise traveled from Miami, Florida, to the Bahamas from May 15–18, 2009. On November 3, 2010 it was formally announced, in all major media outfits around the world, that two of the biggest boy bands the music industry has ever witnessed, NKOTB and Backstreet Boys, will be circling the globe together, making boy band fans happier than they’ve ever been before! 

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MCS Exclusive: Ovation Productions - In A League Of Their Own

Title: Ovation Productions- In A League Of Their Own

Written by Jamie Ortega

All hail to the power and might of an industry trailblazer- someone who sees the potential in something and carves his own path, paying zero attention to the naysayers. 33 years ago, back in 1979, when concert production and promotion wasn’t really the “in thing,” Renen De Guia promoted his first concert. He was working as the Artists & Repertoire Manager for Polygram Records and met then teenage superstar Leif Garrett during the singer’s promo tour in the Philippines. Renen promoted the concert of Lief one year after.

You could definitely say everything just fell into place for Renen, as, together with his equally hardworking and brilliant wife business partner Celina Pe De Guia, subsequently produced and promoted some of the biggest names in live entertainment from every genre and era in existence-rock icons like Bon Jovi, Sting, and magician David Copperfield- just to name a few.

Seeing the potential in not just producing and promoting concerts, but also in delivering superb concert merchandise, the De Guia team began the highly popular TOP40 t-shirts business which has since expanded into a full-blown garmets manufacturing and retailing business. They’ve ventured into music retailing as well, with the establishment of Pop Station Records.

1995 to 2005 brought about a scarcity of concerts, particularly because it was a period wherein Ovation decided to lie low and mellow down. Why?  Like any other visionary, Renen decided to withdraw from his worldly routine, assess his life, and his business. He ultimately became a better person out of it as he became a Born-Again Christian. 

You simply cannot bring a superb company down, and Ovation Productions Incorporated regained a foothold, bouncing back into the concert industry in October 2005 by producing the Beach Boys’ Manila concert. Following their reemergence, Renen and Cel made several critical changes in their organization, closing down Pop Station Records, re-energizing Top 40 shirts, and establishing Fig Tree Christian-themed shirts.

Fast forward to the present as the entire Philippine music and concert industry bears witness to the success and trailblazing power of Ovation Productions. Even other producers admire Ovation for their longevity, power, and ability to forge professional, respectful, and loving partnerships with the media, their clients, and their loyal stable concert goers. Indeed, they are definitely in a league of their own.

 Manila is all abuzz with their newest shows-Lady Gaga The Born This Way Ball at May 21, 2012 8pm Mall Of Asia Arena buy your tickets at all SM Tickets outlets and,

 The back to back boyband experience of NKOTBSB live in Manila on June 3, 2012, 8pm at the Mall Of Asia Arena. Tickets are still available at all SM Tickets outlets.

Check out our special Ovation Productions page here: http://manilaconcertscene.blogspot.com/p/ovation-productions.html

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NKOTBSB Tour: New Kids on The Block/Backstreet Boys Live in Manila

For the first time! Two of the best pop groups in the history comes to Manila in a one night only concert this June! New Kids on The Block and Backstreet Boys LIVE! Part of their NKOTBSB Tour Asia leg.

Ovation Productions presents..
NKOTBSB Tour: New Kids On The Block/Backstreet Boys Live in Manila!
June 3, 2012 - Sunday - 8PM
SM Mall of Asia Arena

Ticket Prices:
SVIP (1st 3 rows / Reserved Seating) - P13200
VIP (Reserved Seating) - P8980
Lower Box VIP (Reserved Seating) - P8450
Lower Box (Reserved Seating) - P7920
Upper Box (Reserved Seating) - P3700
General Admission (Free Seating) - P1060


Seatplan:

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE AT SM TICKETS OUTLETS
Call 470-2222 or visit www.smtickets.com


LINKS:
http://nkotbsb.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ovationproductions
http://mallofasiaarena.com/

VIDEOS:
-NKOTBSB performing at Dick Clark's New Year's Eve Countdown Party

-Don't Turn Out The Lights by NKOTBSB

-Hangin' Though by New Kids On The Block

-Quit Playing Games(With My Heart) by Backstreet Boys

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