It’s been already a week since I’ve gone to Frankfurt to see NKOTB to perform in Germany for the first time after 15 years. This time around I got my 5* VIP, it didn’t get canceled, so I finally got to get up close to Donnie and rest of the bunch. 🙂

I flew into Frankfurt in the morning, met with two girls from Italy who I have talked to only via e-mails or Facebook. Cristina and Valerie flew in Frankfurt only few minutes after me, so we took a shuttle to our hotel to meet the rest of their friends. Among all those girls, I also got to meet Jana who is from Slovakia as well, but has lived in Italy for numbers of years already. We hit it off instantly…

I just dropped all my stuff off at Jana’s room (ours wasn’t ready yet) and we all took off to the stadium just to check it out and to see if anything is going on there. Jana and myself had to giggle a little when we saw the stadium, as it was tiny and it reminded to us as some of architecture from back home during “commie” years :p

Anyway, nothing was going on there, there were few fans there already waiting there, but it was way too cold for us to wait there for additional 3 hours before we would be let in. So we decided to go back to our hotel, grab something to eat, get some beauty rest, get all dolled up and head back to meet our men and have a blast for the rest of the night.

We came back to the stadium a little before 4 PM, since all 5* VIP were supposed to be let in around 4:30 PM. I must say that I Love All Access and their organization skills sucked BIG TIME! I’ve already read and heard things about them from other fans, but experiencing it yourself was a different story. No one knew what was going on till very last minute and nothing was on time. Everything took forever! 🙁 All we knew from the e-mail we’ve got few days prior to concert that as most of us had standing floor tickets, we had to make sure to tell security that we wanted to be escorted out inside before 6 PM, as that was when public was let in. Only like that we could have guaranteed ourselves a good spot in front of stage. I must say that our nerves were running high, as it was almost 6 PM, and our Meet & Greets haven’t even started yet.

I like knowing what is going on, so I can stay calm, so I went ahead and asked around. I was told that all the VIP fans will be sectioned off from the rest of people, which calmed me down a little. Our emotions were running high as we all paid a lot of money to not just get some time with the guys, but we were supposed to be guaranteed “front row” seating or standing in this case. 😉

Anyway, it was 6 PM and there was no sign of M&G starting yet… It was weird… So I went out again, and all of a sudden I realized that they already did, but no one said anything. I was in a group “K” with whole bunch of girls from Spain and Christiane from Germany who was a Donnie fan as well. When I realized that M&G were already taking place and group “F” was already going in, I stayed put. I warned Jana very quickly, since she was in “I”.

It all went soooooo fast. Before I knew it, Jana was out and I was waiting for my turn. As the group before me walked in, I was able to spot Joe and Jordan standing next to each other, but didn’t see Donnie. My heart was beating fast. I couldn’t believe it that I was about to stand by Donnie, able to touch him and say hi to him. That he will be there in person and not just on a poster or on a TV screen as I was used to.

Here it was, I heard: “Ok, you can go now!” I walked in as one of the first girls out of the group of ten. All I remember that I was frantically looking around as I was walking in to spot Donnie. I was so nervous that I didn’t see him right away. Then, HERE HE WAS!!!! I saw him second from right standing by Danny, as always. He was all in black as I can remember and wearing sunglasses. At first I was thinking to go say hi to everyone, but I had to act quick. I knew that we won’t have much quality time with them, so I wanted to get the best out of it. I stopped for split of a second, but when Donnie looked at me, I just said: “Well, I am just going to stay here with you.” I was shaking but he was sooooo sweet. He put his arm around me and I put my around his waist. At first I had no idea what to say, as I had so many emotions running through me and then all the other girls took their time to greet everyone. I asked him how he is doing and he just with a beaten up voice sad that he is just very tired and on top of it all he got very sick. I told him thank you for taking the time to meet with us even though he probably didn’t feel up to it, but he told me thank you for coming to the show and showing the support. That was when the Spanish fans came to Donnie and told him that they need to come to Spain too. Donnie just said that he knows that they do with a some Spanish accent and sense of humor.

All I remember that I kept rubbing his back very gently and wasn’t really aware of anything else. It was just all so surreal. I felt like that I finally got to see a dear friend of mine after all these years who I have always cared for, and who has helped me through some rough times in my life and now I was FINALLY able to thank him for that in person.

When the girls left, I asked Donnie whether they are planning coming back to Portland, OR, since they canceled their concert there due to their performance at AMA’s. I remember that I was so nervous that my voice has changed tone a little, so I had to repeat the question for him so he could understand me. He said that of course that they will be back there this summer. Then all surprised he asked me whether I flew to Frankfurt all the way from Portland to see them. That is when I told him that I just live there now, but am originally from Slovakia. “Really?”, he asked again. I can’t remember exactly how the conversation went on. But he asked me why Frankfurt. I said I was visiting my family in Slovakia and decided to make a trip to Frankfurt to see them. To that he said, “Ah, so you just wanted to kill two birds with one stone, right?” And I just giggled and said yes.

Then, it was picture time. I looked over to Danny and really wanted to at least say hi to him… but all of that happened so fast and I didn’t want to waste any of it, nor taking it away from Donnie 😉 I didn’t want to get away from him, nor loose my perfect spot from underneath his arms. All of a sudden, I just heard: “Pictures!” picture one and then two were taken. Donnie said something in German, but can’t remember to save my life what it was. It was something perverted and we all just laughed, go figure! 😀

Then we were told to leave and let the next group to come in. I started to go away, but then I just turned back to Donnie and asked him for a kiss and I GOT ONE!!!!!! I thanked him again and then I really had to leave. 🙁

When I walked outside, I saw Jana and that was when I lost it. I started to jump at her all excited that I got a kiss from Donnie. I was bouncing off the wall like I was 4 years old and just got the toy I have always wanted.

I had to put myself back together very quickly, as all I was thinking then that we needed to head inside to get a good spot in front of the stage. We stopped by NKOTB merchandise and Jana has bought few things. I got turned off by marked up prices, as they were so much higher than in US.

Then we headed inside and have already see a lot of fans inside, but our VIP section was taped off. I pictured that there would be a fence so, we wouldn’t get smooched when the guys would enter the stage, like it was in Vienna, Austria back in 1991. I got a little worried, but then let it go, as we still had a great spot, had 2-3 girls standing in front of us. So we were just standing there, having some till all of a sudden security lifted the tape that was “protecting” us from the rest of fans standing on the floor. All the girls rushed in and started to push. This was what I was soooooooooo worried about!!! I even called ILAA and asked him specifically about this and they swore to me that we will be safe. I felt horrible and mad. Plus, there were some VIP fans who were handicapped and got pretty much rolled over. We’ve tried to tell everyone to take a step back, but no one would move. They were just starring at us and laughing. It just wasn’t funny. The worst thing was that it was more then two hours before the guys were supposed to enter stage.

Jana and few other girls decided to go to VIP seating section that was in the back, rather than being in the middle of that craziness. Well, I told myself that I will have to make ti through somehow and will take pics for all my Italian friends. Jana took my bag, so all I had to hang on to was my camera and my feet 😉

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure at time whether I will make it all the way through the end, as it got very hot and more than an hour before the concert I felt dehydrated. However, the second NKOTB with my leading man, Donnie Wahlberg, appeared on the stage, all the adrenaline rush boosted all my energy levels and I was MORE than READY to PARTY!!!!! And we all did! 😀

Guys didn’t let us down and even Donnie, being so tired and sick, you couldn’t even tell when on stage. For me, he stole the show, as he always does. He knew how to make us scream, I mean scream very very loud, and have the time of our lives… He is a tease and what a hell of an entertainer!!!

The best thing that happened; especially, for all my Italians friends, was the end of the show. Monica, whose husband works for AC Milan, had made for all the guys AC Milan’s jerseys with their names on it. I mean, those things were original. Monica wanted to give those to guys during M&G, but the security wouldn’t let anyone bring anything. She was soooooooooo sad and I felt so badly for her. However, when the guys performed three of their songs on Stage B, which is usually located in the back end of the stadium, Monica was determined to get those somehow to them. So, she started to throw one jersey after another one at the guys while singing, as she was nearby. Since I was by the main stage, I couldn’t really see it. But when the guys came out for the finale, when they usually wear their Boston Celtics jerseys and saw them in stripped red & black ones, I started to wonder whether those were the ones from Monica. I kept telling myself that we were in Germany and New Kids probably wouldn’t dare to wear a jersey from an Italian team, as some people might not appreciate it. But when I reunited with the girls after the concert, I knew right away that the guys did put Monica’s jerseys on and they couldn’t have made all the girls even more proud and ecstatic.

Maybe theirs M&G experience didn’t reach their expectations, but the finale definitely made it up for all of it, for all of us!!! 🙂 You can watch a short video clip of NKOTB wearing A.C. Milan shirts in Frankfurt at the concert that has been posted on A.C. Milan website.

THANK YOU NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK for the night of our lives, from all of us!!!