NKOTB, BSB trigger boy-band fever

MANILA, Philippines - A boy band fever has been sweeping the local music and entertainment scene featuring a foreign act a few days leading to the back-to-back concert of New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and Backstreet Boys (BSB) on June 3 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Since news of the joint international tour broke out a few weeks ago, renewed public interest and attention have been triggered by the trendy pop genre that made waves in the ’80s and ’90s with the signature sounds from various groups of young musicians with refreshingly new talents and styles that inspired the boy-band phenomenon.

Two of the most successful boy bands ever, NKOTB and BSB, are out to awe millions of Pinoy fans with a once-in-a-lifetime musical treat when they perform together on one stage in one night and bring back their greatest hits that made them household words across the globe.

Billed as NKOTBSB Live In Manila!, the musical extravaganza from Ovation Productions marks the concert debut in Manila of the two legendary boy bands as a supergroup that will showcase the enduring sounds of the past generation through an array of their best-loved songs.

NKOTB will perform the chart-topping hits it has popularized since it started as a boy band in Boston, Massachusetts in 1984, such as Hangin’ Tough, You’ve Got It (The Right Stuff), I’ll Be Loving You (Forever), Cover Girl, Step By Step, and many more.

The group enjoyed early success in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s with the national attention it gained following the release of its second album, Hangin’ Tough, which produced several hit singles, such as the title track, I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) and Cover Girl.

Hangin’ Tough would go on to spend 132 weeks on the chart and won two American Music Awards in January, 1990 for Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group and Favorite Pop/Rock Album.

By the early 1990 — and with sales of 80 million records worldwide — NKOTB had emerged as one of the most popular acts in the US.

It performed an estimated 200 concerts a year, highlighted by an extravagant international concert tour that summer dubbed The Magic Summer Tour sponsored by Coke. Its 1990 pay-per-view special shattered cable TV history at the time.

After breaking up in 1994, the band reunited in 2008, heralding the event with the release of its first single since getting together anew, Summertime, followed by the second single, Single, in August, 2008, featuring R&B singer and songwriter, Ne-Yo.

On Sept. 2, 2008, it released its first studio album in 14 years, The Block, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Album Chart and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in the same month. It was certified gold the following month in Canada.

This was followed by the band’s reunion tour comprising 48 concerts in Canada and the US, 10 in the United Kingdom, one in France, one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and two in Germany.

NKOTB made history when it embarked on a joint global tour with BSB starting in the spring of 2011. 

The present members of the band are Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and Donnie Wahlberg. Its former members are Jamie Kelly and Mark Wahlberg.

The other half of the new supergroup, BSB, is an American vocal group formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida and which rose to fame on account of its self-titled debut international album (1996), its second international album, Backstreet’s Back (1997) and its debut album in the US.

It attained superstardom with its album, Millennium (1999) and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). The best-selling album of 1999 in the US with sales of 9,445,732 copies, Millennium remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 12 million copies in the US and certified 13 times platinum.

As of the end of December 2008, the album ranks as the fourth best-selling album in the US of the SoundScan era.

After a three-year hiatus, BSB regrouped on June 14, 2006 and released its comeback album, Never Gone, followed by two more albums, Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009). 

Never Gone debuted at No. 3 on the US chart with opening-week sales of 291,000 copies and at No. 1 in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Germany, India, Chile, Brazil and South Korea. It was certified platinum in the US and four singles from the album were released. It has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide.

BSB has sold over 130 million records worldwide and has been recognized by Billboard as the first group since Sade to have its first seven albums reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200.

In November, 2010, the group closed out the American Music Awards with NKOTB, with which it confirmed it was planning to embark on a joint international concert tour the following year.

Prior to the landmark joint tour of NKOTB and BSB, the new supergroup now known by the initials NKOTBSB released an album of their greatest hits, including two new songs, Don’t Turn Out The Lights and All In My Head.

BSB is composed of Brian Litrell, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough. Kevin Richardson was a past member.

(NKOTBSB Live In Manila! is presented by Ovation Productions in association with RJ 100 FM, The Rockwell Club and Edsa Shangri-la Manila. It is also supported by Manila Bulletin, BusinessWorld, Monster Radio RX 93.1, Mellow 94.7, Home Radio 97.9, MYX, ABS-CBN and OptimaSignsolutions. Tickets are priced at P12,500, P8,500, P8,000, P7,500, P3,500 and P1,000 and available at all SM Tickets outlets. They can also be purchased online by logging on to www.smtickets.com. For details, call 470-2222 or log on to www.mallofasia-arena.com.).