Hangin' Tough Hangover: New Kids on the Block

"DONNIE WAHLBERG, Donnie Wahlberg?" said a man hawking tickets on the corner of F and 7th Streets, adapting his usual "Got tickets, got tickets?" catch phrase for the hordes of twenty- and thirtysomething women pouring into the Verizon Center last night.

To a non-New Kids on the Block fan, this fella wouldn't make a lot of sense. But if you asked, say, a 27-year-old girl whose parents didn't let her go to a NKOTB show when she was eight-years-old ... uh ... for instance ... she'd know this living Stub Hub was referring to the New Kid responsible for getting the guys together for this reunion tour.

A chance for unclaimed childhood nostalgia — and this time with beer!

Thanks but no thanks we told the guy; we had our tickets — the cheapest seats, which set us back $52 each to sit in the nosebleeds. Riding the Verizon Center escalator to the 400 level, the excitement was palpable. But at 9:15 p.m. the show had already started, with "You've Got It (The Right Stuff)" reverberating throughout the now empty stadium hallways.

"We're missing it!"

"First let's get beer!"

Popping off the escalator landed us in front of a vendor with overpriced brew. As we dug in our pockets for cash, the man behind the counter smiled and said, "Hurry up! Go over there!" He gestured to a woman, a Verizon Center employee with a gaggle of five women standing around her.

"She's trading tickets to the lower level — go get em!" said Mr. Beer Man.

Could this be happening?

We dashed over.

"How many of there are you? Just three?" A quick nod. She takes our tickets (section 404) and rifles through some others in her hands, rips them and passes them to us: section 105.

Wow.

We went back to the vendor and order our pilsners, leaving him a large tip for his kindness. Riding the escalator back down to the lower level, we couldn't stop smiling, knowing our fourth-grade selves just had a dream come true.

How was the show? We'll let the videos speak for themselves.

"Please Don't Go Girl" (Pardon the off-key singing .... )

Donnie Gets All Emotional ... Again

Look! Spinning New Kids!

Apparently, the guys pictured at left received the same upgrade as us. But as the shot of the Gallery Place Metro demonstrates, dudes were definitely in the minority for the New Kids. So, these two were undoubtedly brave men — brave men who knew all the words.

Photos & videos by Kris Coronado/Express