Kids have ‘Right Stuff’

Midway through New Kids on the Block’s Friday performance, de facto leader Donnie Wahlberg stood onstage at Comcast Center and said it felt like home. Then he made himself at home and took his shirt off.

And so went a nearly two-hour performance by Boston’s one-time teen heartthrobs, who can still turn grown women into shrieking schoolgirls complete with signs, homemade T-shirts and marriage proposals.

The fivesome - Wahlberg along with Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and brothers Jordan and Jon Knight - never had the best songs or the best voices, but for the legendary group it was never really about the music. Their serviceable hits were just a backdrop to the mania that follows when five cute guys get together and do just about anything.

Twenty years later, the guys aren’t quite as cute, but no one seems to care. Jordan, Joe and Donnie still bring ample live showmanship to the table, and they pick up slack for fringe members Danny - who often appears to be going through the motions, but showcased excellent breakdancing skills during “No More Games” - and Jon, who often forgets the motions altogether.

Amid smoke machines, pyrotechnics and high-tech graphic displays, the suit-clad quintet alternated new tracks including “Summertime” and the sexy “Click Click Click” with old-school favorites “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “My Favorite Girl,” “Step by Step” and “Please Don’t Go Girl.”

The ballads featured Jordan on falsetto duty and Joey dropping to his knees, while high-energy numbers such as “Dirty Dancing” featured all-out choreography with occasional hip thrusts and crotch grabs for extra scream effect.

For smooth r & b thumper “Single,” the men somehow popped up in the crowd, heightening the hysteria. And when the Kids brought their own onstage during show-closer “Hangin’ Tough,” it was as if to say, “Hey, look, we’ve grown up.”

Jesse McCartney continues to do his best Justin Timberlake impression with a mix of vocals, slinky choreography and swaggering charm on hits including “It’s Over,” the explosive “Relapse” and T-Pain-assisted single “Body Language.” Yeah, the 22-year-old pop dream could have been a New Kid when they were new.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK, with JESSE McCARTNEY

Friday night at Comcast Center.

lauren-carter@hotmail.com

http://www.bostonherald.com/

*nkotbgirl.from.peru*