Over the past few years, a number of performers, including Kiss, Aerosmith, The Eagles, and Elton John, have announced farewell tours. While the band intends to keep rocking for the foreseeable future, three of the five musicians were introspective as they promoted their most recent works. New young on the Block are definitely no longer “kids.”
“There are times these days when we have to face our mortality, rather than wondering when our career will end,” Donnie Wahlberg tells USA TODAY. His four bandmates—Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Danny Wood, and Joey McIntyre—joined the actor and artist.
“I feel quite young. I have a limitless supply of energy. However, from what I can see, you are aware that 54-year-old Matthew Perry passed away a few days ago. Me at 54. Right now, there are a lot of reminders of how fleeting life is,” says Wahlberg.
Therefore, NKOTB has decided to revisit two significant events in their history: the reissue of 2008’s “The Block,” an album that marked the band’s comeback after a 14-year break, and the rebirth of the 1990 “Magic Summer Tour” as a three-month journey in 2024.
“Without (‘The Block,’ we wouldn’t be here,” 54-year-old Wood remarked. “At that moment, everything just fit perfectly.
We had all been going through things in life, and I was just getting divorced, so when (Donnie) called, it was like a breath of new air.
“The Block: Revisited” includes all of the original songs along with remixes and voice memos from Wahlberg’s late mother and McIntyre’s late father. The 2008 release featured collaborations from New Edition, Ne-Yo, Akon, and Lady Gaga, who was then a rising singer-songwriter and promoting her first single, “Just Dance.”
“She was a star from the start…Wahlberg recalls, “I’m not surprised at all by her accomplishment. She was kind, considerate, and a fan. that resulted in her being the opening act for our tour during the recording process. And we observed it take place. We witnessed her perform “Just Dance” at the start of the tour and experienced what it was like when it was over.
Not only did “The Block” get the band back on the road and in the charts, but it also gave rise to the yearly NKOTB Cruise and the fan festival “BLOCKCON.” The men attribute the band’s longevity to the passion of its cherished “Blockheads.””All I know is that the Rolling Stones recently released their newest album, “Hackney Diamonds,” and they are eighty years old.
We truly are family, we and our fans. We are affected by what happens to them, and vice versa. I believe we’ll approach it properly, of course, with plenty of relaxing breaks in between.Regarding the tasks that remain to be completed: Wood says he’d love to shoot a documentary on NKOTB and go on tour one day with the group’s idols, New Edition. A tell-all memoir, however, does not appear to be on the list, despite the fact that one group member has already written one and even enlisted the assistance of another.”I wrote my memoir,” admits 54-year-old Jonathan. “After reading it again, I thought, ‘There are times when sharing is excessive.'”
Wahlberg also insisted that if the Knight brother decides to write a memoir, he still has first dibs on the preface, despite his initial joking that the guys “love each other too much” to publish it.
