New Kids On The Block brought the Mixtape Tour to Houston and wow was it an incredible night. The tour featured NKOTB, Rick Astley, Salt N Pepa and En Vogue, it was an incredible lineup of people who I listened to growing up. The best way I could describe the atmosphere is an 80’s throwback, fans were dressed up in neon clothing, old band/artist t-shirts and many made signs for the performers. It was nice seeing adults make the most out of this special night.
It was time for the show to start, the lights went out and the screens played a montage of the artists throughout their career, the crowd cheered in excitement reminiscing the past. New Kids On The Block came on stage and opened with “Block Party”, the fans cheered and screamed at the top of their lungs, there was pyro, confetti, and streamers, it was such an incredible opening to a show. They continued to perform songs from their discography such as “My Favorite Girl”, “Dirty Dancing” and “Cover Girl”. The next song that they played was their hit song “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”, immediately the crowd cheered and screamed along with them. My mom would play this song when I was a kid and I even caught myself singing along with everyone.
NKOTB left the stage and En Vogue performed next, the trio performed “Never Gonna Get It” and “Free Your Mind”. They lit up the room with their talent, choreography and incredible outfits. Following En Vogue was Rick Astley, he performed on the B stage and fans cheered in excitement to have someone so close to them. He performed his songs “Together Forever” and “It Would Take A Strong Man”, smoke machines and lasers filled the entire room, it was incredible to see.
NKOTB came back on stage and performed a medley of songs from “House Party” to “Twisted” to “Sweet Dreams” as well. After their final song for this set they told the crowd that Only Salt from Salt N Peppa would be performing as Peppa was unfortunately injured. As soon as Salt came out, the crowd cheered and supported her performance, songs from “Let’s Talk About Sex” to “Whatta Man” were performed, the crowd screamed both parts and helped fill in for Peppa during her specific parts. New Kids On The Block came back to B stage and sang “Please Don’t Go Girl”, “Tonight” and even performed an 80s medley of hit songs from “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, all of these songs made the crowd scream louder than I heard the entire night. The band then took a moment to spread out and go into the crowd, they took photos, hugged fans and bonded with them while singing, so many fans had their dreams come true by experiencing this moment.
As the show was coming to an end the performers were playing their final songs. Rick Astley sang the iconic “Never Gonna Give You Up”, Salt Performing “Shoop” with Donnie, to En Vogue singing “Hold On”. NKOTB started closing the show by singing their hits “I’ll Be Loving You” and Step by Step”. For the final song, all performers came on stage and sang “Never Gonna Give You Up”. It was such an amazing moment. Please make sure you attend this tour if it comes near you, you won’t want to miss it.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
SALT OF SALT – N – PEPPA
EN VOGUE
RICK ASTLEY
FINALE
Photos + Review by Michael Perea | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!
