NKOTBSB 2012 : One Night, One Stage -- Once in a Lifetime

I had the time of my life last night.

Just the perfect way to cap my birthday weekend off that is to spend a fun evening watching my favorite band perform on stage. The only band that I spent my teenage years obsessing over to the point that I have kept every single magazine article, centerfold pull-outs, a card signed by all five of them and countless CDs and singles that I bought using my school allowance. My love affair with the Backstreet Boys began on the school year of 1996 and it goes on till this day.

To Nick, Howie, AJ, Brian and Kevin (who no longer joins the group), you got a loyal fan in me! :)

So when news broke out that the Backstreet Boys are teaming up with the New Kids on the Block, a popular boyband in the 80s -- expect to see the newly-constructed SM Mall of Asia Arena filled with eager fans majority of which are screaming ladies in their 20s/30s.

To be honest, I had second thoughts about watching this particular concert due to the high ticket rates and the uncertainty of who's going with me. It was until I received the best birthday gift of the year from no other than my bestest friend T who was determined to give me this as she was 101% sure it's something I will like love. You're right about that T, that's why I love you to bits! Luckily, my sister was game to watch the concert again with me as Paul made it clear that he doesn't want to be in the middle of a big sea of screaming fan girls. At least, my sister and I bonded while singing and dancing our hearts out to our favorite BSB songs.

Since we both got General Admission tickets which means seats are on first-come-first-served basis, we decided to head to the SM Mall of Asia as early as 4PM to be able to have early dinner and to just leisurely walk to the Arena at 6PM. That's two hours before the show...we figured we'll be able to score good seats with our plan. I was surprised to see a line forming already outside the venue as early as 4PM! Woah!

Luckily, going inside the venue was a breeze. We didn't have to line up that long. Yay!

I was impressed with the high-tech ticket entry machines installed by the entrance. It's similar to those seen in subway stations. All you have to do is to scan your ticket's barcode on the scanning box and tadah! the door opens magically.

Inside the Arena, there are a lot of snack stations and food stalls. I saw Krispy Kreme, Yellow Cab, Kobe Kroquette and Starbucks Coffee has a branch there as well. You'll surely won't go hungry when you're in here.

We were told to head up to the fourth floor where a door leads to a flight of stairs to get to the Gen Ad section. We passed through the Lower Box section, the Premier Suites which looked so pretty, the Upper Box and finally the gate to the Gen Ad.

Here's the line when we arrived at the fourth floor. Minuets after this shot was taken, more and more people filled up this section and since the security failed to device a good way to make people line up fairly or to at least cordon the place off... there was a slight stampede that happened the moment the gate opened.
People were screaming, pushing, shoving...it was pure chaos. It somehow showed how poorly disciplined some people were as they simply just wanted to get ahead of others...even those who spent more time waiting in line. Wish the SM MOA Arena management can do something about this.

It truly felt like a scene at The Amazing Race as people scampered to get a good seat. The cemented steps were steep at the Gen Ad area so my sister and I still had a good mind to take our time going down. Better safe than sorry! Luckily, we sat at the 2nd row which wasn't too bad.



The concert began at exactly 9PM after a series of opening acts. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of my favorite boy band!

I'm not very familiar with the songs of New Kids on the Block but I got to say Jordan Knight, at his age, is still very very very HOT!

  Those are seatmates singing their hearts out ;)
It truly felt like high school all over again. Girls screaming at the sight of their favorite boy band. Some loves the New Kids on the Block, others are Backstreet Boys fanatics. Nonetheless, it was fun singing along to our favorite songs. The NKOTBSB magic is alive and kicking!

I ♥ Nick Carter

I found out that after touring the world for more than a year, last night's concert was their last and they chose to have it in Manila! Sad but yay!

How can they not love the Manila crowd? The place was filled from the VIP area up until the last row of the Gen Ad section. People singing, dancing, cheering, screaming. It was truly a fun party last night!

I swooned as the Backstreet Boys sang I'll Never Break Your Heart and got 4 girls to serenade to. Lucky girls!!!

The concert went on for two hours with the two boy bands alternating as they sang their popular songs. They ended the show with their joint single "Don't Turn Off the Light Now" where we happily sang along. After all, I've been playing this for weeks prior to the concert!

People wanted more. We wanted more! After chanting N-K-O-T-B-S-B over and over again, they came back with more songs. People went wild!

Frannywanny, the happy concert camper!  It was one fun evening that I'll never forget. How I wish this won't be the last time the Backstreet Boys will come to the Philippines. I can definitely imagine myself doing this in my 30s, 40s and who knows?! even on my 50s! Haha!

I ♥ NKOTBSB!

Side note:
Don't you just love how all these great international acts are coming to Manila? A little more on the cultural side, check out Japan's world-renowned martial arts and drum-playing team who's coming to Manila as well this July. Learn more about DRUM TAO here!