“WE'RE still young, we're still hot!”
So says Joey McIntyre of early 90's American boyband New Kids on the Block .
He's talking of the group's decision to reform and hit the road again. They'll be stopping off at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena on January 28. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
Jordan and Jonathan Knight , Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood are back together for the first time in nearly a decade and have had great reviews in the US for their new album The Block, featuring new single Summertime.
It came about when Wahlberg was in New York for a costume fitting for the upcoming film Righteous Kill , which stars two of his greatest heroes, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, as well as 50 Cent .
Finding himself just around the block, Wahlberg visited the office of his longtime entertainment lawyer, Jaimie Roberts, who handed him a demo tape of a young singer-songwriter named Nazaree.
Since the days of New Kids and his time producing hits in the early 90s for his brother Mark as Markey Mark and The Funky Bunch, Wahlberg has been handed a mountain of demos in his time and he took the offering with no expectations.
But in the months that followed, he and the other Kids collaborated closely with Nazaree, who turned out to be a New Kids fan since childhood.
Things gelled and the result was a new album that blends the melodic soul of vintage New Kids with a contemporary, hip hop feel.
In the late 80s and early 90s, New Kids on the Block became a phenomenon, selling more than 80 million albums.
They had a series of hits including You Got It ( The Right Stuff ), Cover Girl , Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Hangin' Tough, I'll Be Loving You, Step By Step and Tonight.
They also sold countless concert tickets, T-shirts and even lunchboxes to primarily female children around the world.
The wait has been a long one, but it's nearly over.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 9.30am for New Kids on the Block's January 28 gig in Newcastle.